Biggest attraction in town
I get back
to Sapporo on the train and I start walking out of the main railway station in
the city. I walk out to do some sightseeing in the central parts of town. The
first thing I pass by is a little park with an old building in the centre of
the park. It is the old government offices of Hokkaido. When you look at the
building it doesn’t really look all that big - but at its time it was the
biggest building of its kind around the town - look up towards the top of today’s
modern buildings in town that’s a bit hard to believe. Inside the park is
something white looking like snow - I know Sapporo is sort of a winter paradise
but snow this time of the year? And with temperatures in the high 20ties - just
doesn’t seem natural. The white stuff is not really snow but something the
trees seem to be dropping.
I walk
along the roads and get by a small building - this is the main landmark of
Sapporo - the most famous of all the buildings around town. The clock tower -
and it is tiny. It sort of make me think about the reactions of other tourist
going to Brussels to see the Maniquen Piss just to realize he is a tiny boy -
or go to Copenhagen to see the little mermaid - just to see this is a tiny
statue not resembling the Statue of Liberty in size. At least I came prepared I
knew the clock tower would actually be a small building so I am not too
disappointed.
I walk down
to the central park of the city and right in the middle of the park - is a TV
tower - it sort of reminds me of something I have seen before I am just not
sure where. Maybe it is just because all TV towers of the world look the same?
I get back
to where I stay and I am recommended a place nearby to go and eat. I don’t know
if the people where I stay just feel sorry for this poor restaurant owner
because he seem to be really hard hit by this financial turmoil. They have
reduced the waiting staff to next to nothing instead all the food is just
running around on a conveyor belt and you take your pick of what you want. The
situation is actually so bad that the bank had reposed the restaurants stow,
hence they were unable to fry the food. Instead of admitting to these problems
the owner had decided to act like nothing had happened and serve the fish raw
instead - and then claiming it is some sort of local specialty - like he is
really fooling anybody with a claim like that.
Well even though
the fish was raw it tasted ok and you got a bit of the local atmosphere - every
time a costumer came or left everybody shouted something in Japanese. I assume it
was either hello or thank you for eating here. When I was ready to pay my pile
of used plates were simply counted and the bill came along.
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