Take a trip to Sapporo

Sapporo is one of the newest cities in Japan. It is also one of the nicest. With its 2 million inhabitants, it is considered a middle tier city, according to Japanese standards of size. It has little traditional architecture, but it doesn’t lack in Japanese style, even it is a rather modern style.

It is one of the rare Japanese cities organized with a grid system. It has streets that run from East to West and from South to North. Every street address follows the coordinate system. Therefore it is very easy to find a street, if you know that it is on East X and South Y. The only drawback to this system is that blocks are very large. In all cases, it is much easier to find an address in Sapporo than in other Japanese cities. If you are walking around the city, don’t forget to take the address of your hotel, hostel or accommodations written down on a paper. Otherwise, you might have trouble finding your way back.

One of its more famous monuments is the Clock Tower. It is rather a small building, with Western influence. It is the oldest building town and therefore is the symbol of the city. Although all Japanese tourist will visit this clock, it is not a surprise that almost no one has ever heard of it outside Japan. For most people it is a disappointment to come to Japan to just see a clock with Western style.

Ishiya Chocolate Factory is well-known by any Japanese children. Although the visit to the factory is a must see, if you have children, adults more interested in culture could find it boring. If you visit it anyway, don’t forget to buy some white chocolate from it, since it is unique.

Sapporo TV tower is an example of the Western influence in Japan. It is a replica of the Eiffel Tower but much smaller. Japanese tourist would visit it. Most Western tourist see no attractiveness in it.

Sapporo Beer Museum is of some interest. Entrance is free, what is quite uncommon for Japan. It is not very big and no beer is given away for free. It is an interesting visit that should last no more than one hour.