After an overdue COVID pause, we finally were able to travel to Japan. This was not without it’s challenges. First, with the war in Ukraine, prices were extremely high and the typical flight path over Russia was not an option. Luckily, we spotted a good deal via Munich. Not perfect, but still got the job done and left some euros to spend on other things. Secondly, as the only non-Japanese, I needed to apply for a visa to enter the country. But with the organized Japanese bureaucracies, I was able to navigate the process without too much hassle (with thanks to Megumi for the critical documents).

With all the basics out of the way, we needed to organize what to do. Tokyo is woefully hot and humid during the summer, so we initially considered flying down to Okinawa for a beach holiday. But then after doing a bit of research, I figured I could make it all the way to Sapporo after landing in Tokyo. Once the idea was hatched, Chika took over. The result was one of the best trips ever to Japan.

We first began orienting ourselves in Sapporo. As with almost every activity, we sought out special foods in the region. We by accident discovered a strawberry sweets shop (cakes, ice cream and more) which still lingers in my tastebud memories. In the evening, we had dinner at the Sapporo Beer Garden, a 2 hour feast of unlimited beer and BBQ (delivered by robots!)

The next day, Chika organized a rental car and we headed northwest to Otaru. We ate amazing sushi, hung around the port, and stayed in a wild backpacker Airbnb unit (there were 4 bunk beds in a loft apartment). We dined in the morning on fresh crab (kuni), fatty tunny (toro), salmon caviar (ikura), and sea urchin (uni). This was followed by a tour of (and tasting in ) the Nikka Whiskey Distillery, my first love when it comes to Japanese whiskey.

Next it was time to travel into the mountains. I had no idea where were going or what was in store. After a few hours we finally arrived at Hoshino Resorts RISONARE Tomamu, a magestic resort complex nestled in the mountains. To my amazement, we had a 2 room suite, complete with our own whirlpool and sauna — I had died and gone to heaven.

The first night, we went to the grill restaurant Agi, where we dined on steak, lobster, and more on the 32nd floor. And what the perfect location to watch the fireworks that evening.

The next morning, Chika and Kai woke before 5am to experience the “cloud walk” at the top of the mountain (Teo and I enjoyed sleeping in). This was followed by a special breakfast for the tower residents.

We went out to explore the local activities, which ended up being fishing (which was great since the boys really wanted to go). This was followed by a visit to the amazing aqua complex with a giant wave pool. Sadly, Teo tore his toenail running around the pool. We quickly adapted and switched the dinner into a parallel activity — takeout for the boys, while Chika and I got to sneak off for a shabu shabu date night.

The next morning, we hit the one of the main breakfast buffets and enjoyed so much great food — including the famous Hokkaido melon. Afterwards we had one final swim and then headed back to Sapporo.

Now when Chika suggested we needed an extra day to spend at the Chitose airport, I was skeptical. Now I am a believer. I’ve never been to an airport with such amazing variety of foods. We ate ramen the first night for dinner, and then returned the next day for sushi lunch and ice cream. And we also bought many things to eat as well.

Finally it was time to head back and hit Tokyo. Except there was one unexpected glitch — Megumi had tested positive for Corona while in Kanazawa. As Chika was busy with meetings, it was me and the boys on a solo mission. We enjoyed ourselves visiting their favorite Skytree Pokemon center and enjoying soup dumplings and matcha soft serve ice cream. We enjoyed dinner one night with our friends Hiroe and Chinatsu (to celebrate a special birthday it turned out) at Gonpachi, an izakaya made famous in Tarantino’s Kill Bill movie (I showed the boys the fight scene before going). Any my friend Hideto managed to survive about 4 hours with me and the boys before heading for the comfort of his home, but not before some excellent beers and burgers.

The last night, I escaped briefly to meet my friend Phil who always manages to find the best restaurants. Everything was amazing, but the egg, truffle, rice ending was sublime.

On the last day, Megumi was doing better so came with mom so we at least got to meet. We had a great sharkfin lunch after which I went out shopping to take advantage of the favorable exchange rate before heading to the airport to catch our night flight home. I won’t go into the details of our voyage, but let’s just say we had some adventures and entertaining moments to be told over a tasty beverage or two.

While I have always loved Tokyo, I now have a new flame in Japan. I’ve got Hokkaido on my mind.