15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 07 – Hokkaido University and Museum

There are a lot of pictures of Hokkaido University in spring and summer, and they look gorgeously lush – what with its large university grounds with many tall elm and poplar trees. Winter is quite different, with the campus trees

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 07 – Sapporo – Nijo Market

We were initially planning to do our Otaru day trip on Day 07 today – but only realised the night before that we’d need to pick up the Otaru Aquarium pass at JR Sapporo Station Information Office. Whoops. Our plan

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 06 – Shirahige Falls and Ningle Terrace

We said goodbye to Asahiyama Zoo, and headed for a late lunch at the Herb Garden Furano as part of the day tour group arrangements. The buffet-styled lunch was alright though nothing particularly special. The restaurant has a large souvenir

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 06 – Asahiyama Zoo – Part 2

I lugged the Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 lens all the way from Singapore to Japan just to take close-ups at Asahiyama Zoo, and the two hour visit – short as it was – netted a tidy number of keepers. We didn’t

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 06 – Asahiyama Zoo – Part 1

We booked for two day outings this trip – one to Asahikawa, and the other to Lakes Toya and Shikotsu. Sure, the places are fairly on the map and well-traveled to places for both of these day trip days, and

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 05 – Sapporo – Winter Illumination @ Odori Park – Susukino

We descended Mt. Moiwa after I had my fill of evening shots of Sapporo city from the summit, and headed back to downtown for a quick look at part of the winter illumination at Odori Park, and also Susukino. Some

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 05 – Sapporo – Mt. Moiwa

There seems to be a varying list of what makes Japan’s list of cities with the best evening and night views. The views in Mt. Moiwa, Nagasaki, and finally Hakodate seem to make the lists routinely. I’d missed the chance

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 05 – Sapporo – Shiroikoibito and Odori Parks

Day 05 is when we finished our first segment of our 15 day trip, and headed to its main event: a ten day stay in Hokkaido. We’d initially booked an 8AM ANA flight from Haneda to New Chitose airports. Hotel

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 04 – Hakone – Gora Park

The Hakone Ropeway brought us from Owakudani to Sounzan stations, the latter being also the terminal point of the system. The plan from earlier on was to next make our way to the popular open air museum – famous for

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 04 – Hakone – Togendai to Ubako to Owakudani

We disembarked off Togendai, and lunched at the Togendai View Restaurant. Seating was plenty even on a fairly busy Sunday weekend, and prices of items were between ¥1000 to ¥1400 – slightly high for the general quality of food offered,

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 04 – Hakone – Mishima Skywalk and Sightseeing Cruise

The Mishima Skywalk is a relatively new construction: it was completed just three years ago, and its sole purpose is as a visitor attraction for Hakone: this longest in Japan suspension bridge offers visitors panoramic views of Mt. Fuji and

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15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Day 04 – Hakone – Hakone Shrine Torii Gate

There are two popular places to get a good view of Mt. Fuji – the 12,389 feet tall mountain of Japan – Hakone, or Lake Kawaguchi. Both places can be included in the same trip, though most people seem to

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