just to pass the time: Winter Holiday in Hokkaido (4)

1st January 2013

The first day of 2013, we decided to go to temple to pray. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Japanese will go to temple on the New Year's morning to pray. Actually, when Japanese still followed the Japanese calendar, their New Year was same with the Chinese New Year. However, when they started to follow the Gregorian Calendar, the New Year was synced to 1st of January.

Anyway, we went to a temple near a zoo. A lot of people were inside the train and most were heading to the temple. The train was not so crowded because we were quite late, people would normally go there as early as possible to pray. Actually, in Japan, JAL and ANA operate special flights to watch first sunrise of the year around Mt. Fuji on 1st of January. Although pricey, all seats were fully booked every year. Interesting!

After walked out from the train station, we could see volunteers or polices patrolling to control the crowd. There were too many people, so we were walking bumper to bumper to reach the temple. The view was breathtaking. The view was like a scene from a Korean drama, Hahahah!

went to a temple to pray in New Year

winter sonata feel here!

Since the crowd was too big, the temple committee prepared a huge cloth to lay on the ground, so the devotees could throw the coins from afar before praying. (*normally, the devotee would throw the coins into a special wooden chest in front of the altar before praying.) However, I walked till very near to the altar and prayed. Then, we toured the stalls that were being set up for the new year. I bought a delicious pancake.

delicious street food

Next, we went back to Sapporo and looked for a restaurant for lunch. We decided to have miso ramen in a famous ramen shop, Sumire すみれ. It is a very popular shop, we had to wait for quite a long time. The weather was so cold outside, so although the waiting area is very small, we still waited inside for warmth. I tried the instant miso ramen before and I kind of like it. However, the miso ramen from this shop was too oily for me. But, seeing the other customers, they seemed to really enjoy the ramen. So, everyone have their own taste. Hahahah!

cute outdoor decorations

Sumire すみれ - famous miso ramen 味噌ラーメン

After ramen, touring time. We walked around Sapporo City. First, we went to the Former Hokkaido Government Office Building. We could just walk outside the building and admire the beauty of the old building. Ah, very beautiful encased under the whitish snow.

Former Hokkaido Government Office Building

Then, we went to the Hokkaido University. Hehe, the first time went to a university in Japan. So many trees, I could imagine people studying under the tree during spring and autumn, not so applicable in Malaysia though, the scorching sun will cause a person to faint first before he or she even finished a page of the book!

Somewhere inside University of Hokkaido

Actually, I don't feel anything special about Hokkaido University, we were just outsiders who were there to see the view. Only the students there could appreciate the beauty and the atmosphere there. I missed my alma mater's library, the only regret I have now is I discovered the library late, I only started to utilise the library from second year, if I started earlier, I could read more books!

Then, we went to the Sapporo Beer Garden. First, we thought of seeing how the beer is produced, however, since that day was public holiday, the factory was closed. We could only visit the souvenir shop and restaurant.

Sapporo Beer Garden

There was a beer brewing kettle outside the factory and it was half buried under a pile of white snow. The very interesting ending of the signboard there stated "This is not an unidentified object!". Hahahah! It does look like something that is difficult to be identified though!

beer brewing kettle

It was getting late and our tummy need input again. We decided to eat crab for dinner. Too bad many of the seafood restaurant were fully booked. Finally, we only managed to get a place after we agreed to the individual seat, no table for us. However, we had a really nice crab dinner! There were raw crab, sushi crab, steam egg with crab meat, crab soup, etc. I had the cheaper course, one of my friends had the 8000 yen course and he had a really long crab craw. Delicious!