Blogs from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, Asia - page 13

Before I left for Japan, my Uncle bought me a book entitled "1000 Places to See Before You Die." Although a bit overwhelming (as I want to see them all!) the book mentioned a few places in Japan that I was hoping some of which might be possible to visit this year. One of the places mentioned was Sapporo, which is in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido, particularly for the Yuki Matsuri, the Snow Festival (yuki means snow and matsuri means festival). Every February, for 2 weeks, Sapporo is transformed into a winter wonderland, in which 3 special areas of the city contain numerous, elaborate, intricate snow and ice sculptures beyond belief. As this event is so popular, with thousands of visitors during the 2 weeks, 5 of us booked our air tickets and hotel in ... read more

http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_Ih.html DAY 1: Saturday, February 4th The adventure started bright and early (6am!) when I rolled off my futon at Ryokan Casey (a.k.a Casey Hotel... a.k.a Casey's apartment where I spend every weekend). Out of excitement I jumped up and shouted "We're going to Hokkaidooooo!!!" only to be shot down by Casey who quickly reminded me that it was still only 6am, and far too early to be genki. Man.. I was soooo excited! After a quick breakfast we headed out to meet the guys before busing it to Hiroshima Airport. Well, upon check-in we were given a strange warning that "if you can't land in Sapporo than the plane will have to fly back." I think everyone was just kinda thinking 'strange, never had a warning like that before.' So, we checked-in and began our ... read more