The day started off bright and early, we knew the zoo was a decent trek from our apartment in Sapporo and still not familiar enough/confident in our ability to take the bus, we opted to just suck it up and take a taxi to the Murayama Park area instead. This afforded for a little more time to make a small breakfast, get a good amount of water in me and see the city via car on the way to the opposite side of it all. I can't recall the exact price, but it was between 3,000-3,500Y. Not something I'd do every day, but something I don't regret this one time either. We arrived before the zoo opened (Japan does not wake up at the crack of dawn, that's always a fact), so we walked around the park area for over an hour waiting for 9:30AM to come around.
The park was tranquil first thing in the morning. A few people walking their dogs or out for jog, but the crisp June Hokkaido air was refreshing and not being able to hear city noise was a huge plus. I was impressed on how rural it felt just outside the city center. We walked around the canal, close to the shrine/torii gate area and researched some of the very old looking trees. I cannot recommend this area enough, it's what Japan is to me outside of the hustle and bustle of any city.
The zoo opened exactly on time, we quickly paid and started our tour of the place. There were English maps available and we were all very surprised at how spacious the zoo was laid out and how it seemed to blend into the natural surroundings of Murayama so well. Having visited Ueno in Tokyo on a previous trip, I did a lot of research into anything animal related (our daughters favorite thing about going anywhere) and was NOT disappointed by deciding on this place. We were hungry and decided to have a quick early lunch at the café before really getting into the sites, figured it would be a good long walk through the park and play areas after that. The Hamburg Steak was delicious and we a Strawberry French Toast as well. The only thing to note here was that they were cash only and not accepting large bills, luckily we had a few lower bills on us to purchase these, it was under 2,000Y total for the two meals and a drink.
As you might imagine, I have more animal pictures than I know what to do with. Instead of having a giant showcase here, I'm only going to feature the two that standout the most. The polar bear tunnel (imagine what you get in a large aquarium for fish), never did I think we'd be able to see the polar bear paws this up close and personal! He was so cute playing with his ball toy and seemed very happy.
The other enclosure (and one of the reasons I helped decide on this zoo) was for the red pandas. They had four pandas out at the time of our visit and the were free to go and stay in the outdoor enclosures (seen here) or the indoor where you can have them climbing above and around you. Fortunately/unfortunately for us, it was a very nice weather day on our visit and they all decided to be outside. It's enough that we'd love to go again and see them inside one day though! The entire facility was clean and the animals were all looking happy and healthy. Having seen my fair share of zoo's and animals, this is always a pleasure to report. Do not underestimate the amount of time you can spend here, we left shortly after 12PM, only simply because our next location was on a very tight schedule. As far as planning your visit here, I'd say there is plenty of English, bring cash for the food (and don't hesitate to eat here) and if you or someone you are traveling with is a red panda fan, bring plenty of money for goods in the shop before leaving (they took cards at least!). I think it'd be easy to spend 4-5 hours here on a nice day.
Up next was the "Inu no yaki imo ya san" (baked sweet potato shop by Ken-Ken the Shiba Inu). As previously mentioned, he's on a very tight schedule and only comes out on certain days for 2 hour intervals. If you are strangely only there for the delicious sweet potatoes (the best we had while traveling around), you have a slightly larger window to pick from. I appreciate how their cute little doggy was used as a gimmick for their "in front of the house" shop, but he's also very well taken care of and respected. Afterall, he's a little shiba inu and will act just like one! Looking for those treats you can conveniently buy right there at the stand to feed him.
Be aware that we couldn't find a great place to eat said sweet potato. So after our few minutes of pictures and admiring the shiba inu, we walked to a nearby vending machine area to eat and grab a drink. Eating and walking is generally frowned upon, so we tried to always stick near a vending area if there was food to get down to avoid being rude, as much as possible. After finishing here, we realized the same bus taken to the place only comes around once an hour and that there were not a lot of taxi or Uber rides out this far, it really looked suburban out in these parts. Was possibly the most lost and "not sure what to do" parts of the entire trip. After calming down and reviewing options, we found the "correct" bus stop where a bus arrived within 15 minutes or so to get us back to the city center area. We basically just rode that in as close as we could get to Sapporo tower and then walked the rest of the way. Luckily we had some time to spare and somehow gas in the tank (10 miles a day of walking was no joke when I say that). So up next was just that.
By this time in the day, it was super cloudy with some on and off drizzle. Perfect June weather and exactly as planned, BUT not the most favorable for great pictures and views. This being one of the older towers you can visit in Japan, it did, in fact, show it's age. The area around the tower showed signs of restoration and there were many new food stalls, beer garden/hang out areas and the very nice strip of planned park area that stretched N and S of the tower (Odori park) that were unique and nice to see. Never stand to be amazed at how well planned urban areas of Japan continue to be at this point. The trek up the tower in an older style elevator and the view from the top were standard, however I'd still recommend it if you are in the area!
Love the view of the park from this perspective. Afterwards I was able to grab my standard tourist souvenir, but this time it was a coin with the tower and Stitch! Much appreciated and approved of by myself. Make sure you keep an eye out for that one unique machine while walking around, I never settle for the first thing I see and it usually pays off. I honestly don't remember exactly how this day ended as my maps, pictures and memory starts to fall off. I believe we did some shopping at the arcade area near the tower and walked all the way back to Sapporo station to shop at the Pokemon center, grab dinner and do some more standard Japan things before turning in for the night. All I remember was this was a very busy day and we were ready to sleep by the time our heads finally hit the pillows.
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