Sapporo. – Beach and Beer

It’s hot, it’s humid and you are next to the sea. So why not go for a short stint at a nice little sandy beach?
Zenibako is that beach for if you are in Sapporo. Just a short train ride from the main station. 
The first thing I heard when alighting from the train was a helicopter. Seemingly searching for something. Or, to be more precise, someone. Turns out there are two people missing in this area. Which has all kinds of rescue personnel working to at least recover the bodies. Helicopter in the air, all kinds of boats in the water and divers on standby next to the command post.

As all of this was a ways away from the official beach, which was secured against the big waves by quadropods and against accidents by life guards on towers on the beach.
The buoys were seemingly quite close to the land. The water not even waist deep at this point. Still, if you dared to go out further, you would get a personal visit by an unhappy life guard.
I guess having a lot of guests that don’t know how to swim and rescue currently searching for two missing people does not make for a very lenient life guard.
The water was warm like bath water and the sand kept on anything that was wet. As expected from a nice beach.

Back in Sapporo it was time to have a little bit of a walk through the squares and visit the clock tower. The whole area that is now high rises used to be university grounds. As usual the city growth pushed the university out and bigger buildings in. The last surviving building being the martial arts training hall with it’s historical clock tower. The clock being an import from Boston way back then. The pendulum extending into the floor below and the hands of the four clocks one floor above being directed by one central clockwork.  The bell mechanism almost it’s own mechanical computer. An interesting mechanical setup all together.
The museum shows some of the history not only of Sapporo but the whole of Hokaido using pictures and maps.

To give people a nice excuse to meet during the summer month there is a beer festival going on  from the mid of July until the mid of August.  With different breweries having their own beer gardens. Of course a visit here was a must for us as well. Even if it would just be to check out the big beer coolers.


After dinner – curry soup – the next stop was the Hokkai Bon dance. Which is a part of the week long festival for the dead “Obon”. A big wooden structure in the middle, on top a few Taiko drums, and on the middle height some singers and flute players. Around the structure people dancing. The singers take (indistinguishable) turns singing,  as do the drummers.  That way the one song goes for about 2 hours non stop. You want to take part in the dance, you enter.  You want to leave, you leave.

To get a good view of the town at night I also went up the Sapporo TV tower. Built after the model of the Eifel tower and illuminated with a lots of lights at night. The platform is at 90m and give you nice long views. Especially on a clear night.
Unfortunately it started to drizzle right before I went up. But still.

The drizzle was going to turn into a regular rain shower later in the night. But that’s for another day.