This article is reposted from a WeChat reader’s public account, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. Original link.

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Heading north all the way, it takes about 2.5 hours to return to Sapporo from Biei via Asahikawa. The scenery along the way was also a continuous stretch of lush greenery.

The original plan for the day was to make up for the Biei sights we had missed, but since we had already covered them all the day before, we went instead to Shiroi Koibito Park in Sapporo, which had originally been an optional stop on the itinerary.

The park is divided into a free area and a paid area. With a ticket to the paid area, parking is free for 3 hours. There were also staff directing traffic the whole time, so everything felt very orderly.

The interior decor has a very European style.

The park is split into several sections. After we went in and bought tickets, we first signed up for the chocolate-making activity. You can register for this activity online in advance; if you register on-site, you may have to wait, and spots may already be gone. We signed up for a session two hours later and then went to find somewhere to eat.

We wandered around with the map for quite a while before finally finding the restaurant. Ordering was still done on a screen at the entrance, which is great for introverts. The desserts and ice cream were both a bit too sweet for us; the flavor was basically an ice-cream version of Shiroi Koibito chocolate. The kids’ meal also came with a puzzle.

This was the kids’ meal, and it came with two small jellies.

A beef rice bowl. It was decent, though not as good as the one in Furano.

Curry omurice. I quite liked the texture of the egg, but otherwise it was just a standard curry rice dish.

After eating, we went upstairs to the children’s play area for a bit. It’s very small and better suited for toddlers.

There’s a garden in the middle of the park, and it was quite pretty.

There were also activities in the tall tower, but on the day we went, the stairs leading up to the tower were blocked off.

We took the kid to see this small train that used to operate inside the park but has now been retired because it’s too old. At the entrance, you can pick up a train conductor’s hat.

This sculpture was pretty amusing too, and the kid thought it was hilarious.

After that, we went to see the chocolate factory, which is very satisfying for people who like things neat and orderly.

The screen shows how many chocolate biscuits have already been produced today.

That said, the setup felt a bit too high up and too far away, so it wasn’t quite as satisfying to watch as I had hoped.

There were also some cute interactive installations.

Everyone washed their hands first, then put on hats and aprons. When making the reservation, the kid had chosen the color and style, and the staff led us to the corresponding station based on our number tag.

The instructions were very detailed, and there was also an English version, so it was very easy to follow.

The kid did everything on their own the whole time; I was only responsible for reading the instructions aloud on the side.

At the end, we packaged it up according to the instructions.

After leaving Shiroi Koibito Park, we first returned our rental car. The staff at Nippon Odori Station had a pretty bad attitude that day, so the experience wasn’t great. After that, we took a taxi to the hotel.

This time we stayed at JR Tower Hotel Nikko Sapporo. As soon as we arrived, bell service helped with our luggage; the lobby was grand, staff brought us tea and juice, and the front desk was also very friendly. Our first impression was excellent. But the moment we got to the room, we were completely stunned—because bed sizes in Japan don’t follow a uniform standard. The booking said it had one king size bed, but when we saw it in person, it was way too small for the three of us (we later found out it was only 1.4m). For a family of three to sleep on that bed, especially with a kid who has terrible sleeping posture, it was obviously going to be incredibly cramped. We called the front desk to ask whether we could add a bed or upgrade to a larger room; they said “please wait” and then hung up. We waited several more minutes and never got a call back, so we had to call again. This time the front desk rather rudely told us there were no other rooms, the hotel was fully booked, and adding a bed was not possible either. The room itself was also extremely small—the kind where even if you could add a bed, there would be nowhere to put it. At that point, I even considered booking another room at the hotel next door, but my partner said forget it, it would be too much trouble, and we should just squeeze in for the night.

I didn’t have much time to stay upset, though. We hurried out to buy a suitcase first so we’d be ready for the next day’s shopping. Buying the suitcase turned out to be a whole ordeal too, but I’ll cover that together with the shopping day.

We passed this tower in Odori Park. I hadn’t done much homework on central Sapporo, so I didn’t even know what it was called.

For dinner, we booked a teppanyaki restaurant called Steak&Wine Ishizaki, rated 3.71 on tabelog. https://tabelog.com/hokkaido/A0101/A010103/1002853/

It’s near susukino, just one stop from Odori. Before going, I was a little worried from the restaurant’s name that it might lean more Western, but that wasn’t the case at all—the overall style was still very Japanese.

Each teppan grill had only about five or six seats around it. At first, our table was just us, and it wasn’t until halfway through the meal that two other diners arrived.

The menu allowed both à la carte and set-course ordering. We ordered two set menus and an extra meat dish à la carte for our kid.

The small salad was actually pretty good, and we finished all of it.

The first thing served was abalone, and it was really salty! Learning from last time, I decided to say something to the chef, who adjusted things right away. Every course after that was delicious.

Foie gras with vegetables—even the vegetables were excellent. After finishing mine, I even wanted to steal the portion from my kid, who normally doesn’t like vegetables. But unexpectedly, my kid loved it too and didn’t give us the chance..

This wagyu toast paired with fried garlic slices was fantastic. The toast was lightly griddled, fragrant and soft with a slight crispness, while the wagyu was packed with juices. The combination was perfect.

The greens were also delicious.

Other than the first dish being too salty, everything after that was very good.

Our kid had their own utensils, and there was also a high chair, so it was very family-friendly for those traveling with kids.

I forgot what this dish was..

We still went with fruit wine, which was fairly ordinary.

The chef made fried rice for our kid first, which was a nice touch. Our kid finished all of it.

This was our chef. There was one flare-up during the whole meal, which I thought was just right. The teppanyaki places in Hawaii do that way too often. More importantly, this place really was much better than the teppanyaki we had in Hawaii, and the whole family was very satisfied. While chatting with the chef, I even told him they should hurry up and open a location in Hawaii.

Good food always puts me in a great mood, so I wanted to keep shopping a bit longer. On the way, we saw the giant sign for a crab restaurant.

Around 9 or 10 at night, Tanukikoji was still extremely crowded, even though many stores had already closed.. We browsed daiso and drugstores. After buying a suitcase, we felt much more confident shopping, and once again we ended up with a huge haul.

This giant tanuki at Tanukikoji looks cute every time we pass by.

At the end, we took a taxi back to the hotel. That night turned out exactly as expected—we slept terribly. Our kid took up half the bed alone, while my partner and I squeezed into the remaining 70 cm on the other side, waking up on and off all night. I couldn’t help thinking that from Lake Toya onward, our hotels on this trip had somehow kept getting worse and worse. Not only was this our first time in 5 years cosleeping with our kid again, but by the end of the trip, just when we were almost headed home, we still had to cram into such a tiny bed. Looking back, I realized I’ve probably been spoiled by big hotel chains, so it’s easy to overlook details like this when booking. In the future, if I book a non-chain hotel in Japan, I really need to check the bed size carefully.

2023 Japan Trip Series

This series covers the author’s travels in Japan before returning to the US, after first going back to their home country for a visit.

About the Author

This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account “懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐,” run by a reader from our WeChat group. The articles are all original and very high quality; if you’re interested, feel free to follow the account.