White Lover-like Sapporo, Hokkaido, full of cherry blossoms and snow

When I mention Sapporo, the first person I think of is Junichi Watanabe. When I was very young, I would go to Xinhua Bookstore to read books after class. At that time, I had just entered junior high school and had no idea about various literary categories or the fame of the writers. I only saw a book called Paradise Lost with a cool cover and read part of it with great difficulty. I have long forgotten the plot now. I only remember the title of the book and Watanabe who lived in Sapporo for many years.



Paradise Lost is the title of the book Paradise Lost. I will borrow this name and change it to Paradise found to express my unreserved love for Sapporo. Whether it is the aesthetic of the soul lost in Lake Akan, the high suicide rate in Japan, or the stereotype of the long winter and lack of sunshine in the northern region, Sapporo should be a depressed and quiet city. However, I stayed in Sapporo for four days during this trip and felt the strong atmosphere of life in Sapporo. Just like the BGM at the beginning, this is a lovely city full of sunshine, snow and cherry blossoms all the time.

Looking out from the flight from Kansai Airport to New Chitose Airport, it felt like a snowy PUBG map. I deliberately chose a seat near the left window, hoping to take a photo like this when the plane crossed the Tsugaru Strait and stepped into Hokkaido. The feeling of the plane flying low over the snowy fields by the sea was really great!



I've heard that there is a kind of twilight color at sunset. At Hokkaido Jingu Shrine, I finally encountered a perfect sunset. Twilight color is probably like this. After dark, the blue-purple color behind the snow-capped mountains and the warm color of the street lights are in sharp contrast. Coupled with the reflection of the snow, it is a very warm color. At sunset, the tour group has long dispersed, leaving only a few tourists. This is the best time to take pictures.



Hokkaido Jingu Shrine is actually just an ordinary park, but under the cover of ice and snow, and with the filter effect of twilight, the colorist of nature, it instantly becomes beautiful.



The small lights on both sides of the road look so cute hahaha. The snow on them has accumulated into mushroom shapes. I really want to touch them.





These two photos were taken when I first arrived at Hokkaido Jingu Shrine. It was about 4pm at this time, and the whole park was in warm tones. The latter photos were taken at around 5pm when the sun had already set. The contrast between the warm and cold colors looks very comfortable.



The place where I live is called Bashirabashi, and Nakajima Park is right outside. Therefore, I also learned my first Japanese word, bashi, which means bridge┓(´∀`)┏ (Editor's note: when a bridge appears alone in Japanese, it is pronounced hashi, which is a variation of the pronunciation here). The two photos above were taken at the shrine in front of the hotel when I got up at seven o'clock in the morning and went out. It seems that the Japanese have the habit of getting up early to pray at the shrine before going to work. The uncle in the first picture also looks particularly cool.





Hokkaido University and its Corgi (? What kind of dog is this?) I saw many grandpas and grandmas walking their dogs at Hokkaido University. The dogs were all small, but they were not afraid of the cold and kept digging in the snow...

In fact, I didn't take many photos in Sapporo, and I didn't go to many places. I haven't been to Odori Park yet. The reason why I say this is a city with a strong atmosphere of life is that it combines classics with modernity. If you want to return to nature, you only need to drive an hour to Jozankei, soak in an open-air hot spring, and then go to the mountains to ski. If you want to experience modernity, the business district outside Sapporo Central Station can fully satisfy your wishes.



Skiing is super super super fun. You can't bring your camera up the mountain, so you can only take two photos with your phone. The battery of your phone drops by 5% in 1 minute on the mountain, and it shuts down directly when it drops to 15%... Then the power bank also broke down at the ski resort. When you go to a cold place, remember to bring a warm baby to wake up the phone when it strikes... The International Ski Resort in Sapporo is an hour's drive from the city. The beginner track here is roughly equivalent to the intermediate track in China. The mountain is about 800 meters above sea level. The entire beginner track is more than 3.2KM, with an average slope of 10° and a maximum of 25°. This is too unfriendly for a novice skiing for the first time.

However, the scenery on the mountain is really great. The visibility was very high that day, and you could see the snow-capped mountains and forests in the distance. The sunlight in Sapporo in winter shines obliquely, which is not only warm, but also casts a layer of gold on the trees in the distance. While sledding in an S shape, I looked at the jungle gradually growing in the distance, and fell in love with this sport in an instant! ! The snow at the ski resort is soft and it doesn't hurt to fall! Rolling in the snow for a few times and eating a few mouthfuls of snow doesn't make me feel cold. This way of embracing nature is really great. Hahahaha. I finally found another way to embrace nature besides looking up at the stars~



This is the valley formed by lava after the volcanic eruption. You can smell the strong smell of sulfur when you walk in. The places where smoke comes out are springs. The sewer pipes in the hot spring town of Noboribetsu smoke every three hours or so. You can hear the hot springs gushing out from below when you get close. I heard that there are more than ten kinds of hot springs in Noboribetsu. Due to the special natural regulation here, the hot springs contain various trace elements that can treat high blood pressure, etc. It feels very cool.




I soaked in the Nikki Hot Spring at the Daiichi Ryu Honkan above, which cost 2,000 yen. In fact, the time for soaking in the hot spring is very short, usually less than one hour. There is nothing happier than being outdoors on a snowy day, looking at the snow-capped mountains and enjoying the warm smoke while bathing in the hot springs. Although the candid meeting in Japanese hot springs was a little uncomfortable at first, hahaha, the experience was still great. Daiichi Ryu Honkan Hot spring bathing is separate for men and women, but you are required to be naked┓(´∀`)┏Japanese hot springs are like this. You can see the snowy mountains and Hell Valley in the distance from the indoor hot springs. Don’t miss it if you have the opportunity to go to Noboribetsu~



This photo was taken using the stitching method and is very wide. It is an iron pool in the Hell Valley. Due to the thick snow, many roads on the mountain have been closed. I can only take a few photos from a distance and have no chance to get close to experience the legendary natural hot spring pool.