Good morning from Otaru! Today, we had our first Kaisendon of the trip, which was delightful as expected.

Fancy melons were everywhere in Hokkaido! We sampled many types and found that the mid-range melons (priced around 450JPY) struck the best balance in terms of bang for the buck yen

Default canal area tourist photo

Viewpoint from the Mt. Tengu Ropeway. One can see the Russian coast from here

A small shrine at the top

Afterwards, we made our way to Ezo; to check out the Rising Sun Rock festival

The event was huge and had heavy sponsorship from Coleman and Columbia sporting goods… It’s interesting to see the classic American brands doing so well abroad (when they’re not in the best shape at home)

We caught some of the Bawdies show

The festival had many photo op stands/points set up. This was one. More events should do this.

Some famous band and Coleman chairs… everywhere…

Afterwards, we made our way to Sapporo for our last night in Hokkaido. The hotel had one of those garages that stored your car in a tower (the two platforms in the top corners of the photos were other cars)

Sapporo ramen was consumed!

Aaron’s birthday face.

^taken at Japan’s favorite shop, Don Quixote!

We made one last stop at an arcade, hoping to find Tekken, so we could challenge Aaron to a duel. We found the Tekken game to be occupied, and we also had a Pokken sighting, and some dude who was NOT from Seattle…

^I want that polo though

Next up, Turkey!