Ah, the last day in Hokkaido. Google "things to do in Sapporo" and one of the highest rated and first hits is Shiroi Koibito Park, otherwise known as a Chocolate Factory. It's known for the production of the famous "Shiroi Kiobito" chocolate cookie/crackers, the garden, omiyage exclusives and garden areas. They also offered decorating classes, which we planned on participating in.
They didn't open until 10AM, but were clear on the other side of the city in another suburban area, so we left the apartment around 8AM and grabbed breakfast at a Mister Donut in Sapporo Station before taking a train out that way. Mister donut is neither bad nor good, it's just there and provides food for a barren western style breakfast land. You can grab a bland donut, bagel, croissant with a juice or coffee and go. That's exactly what we did and then were on our way. It was about 45 minutes total to commute and walk up to the Park's gate.
We arrived as soon as the gates were opening (and the rain was starting). It took about 10 minutes to pick up our preordered tickets and get inside to the tour. It was self-guided with many signs in 3 languages (Japanese, Chinese, English), but the walking tour itself only took about 20-30 minutes. Sadly, the factory was down for maintenance at the time of our visit, this picture reflecting the only part we could see, and it was not in operation.
The little cat mascots and the history of chocolate (and their cookies) in Japan proved informational, but it wasn't all that interesting. After the tour you end up in a room with a large café (windows overlooking the gardens), class area and another area where you can observe them cooking and/or making chocolates on a smaller scale. These were some of the current cookies/decoration classes they were offering at the time. We had a 1PM class scheduled for the large cookie decorating, and by now all the earlier times were sold out. I had figured with all we read on the place it might take hours to get through and I was trying to not be rushed. Turned out to be an error in estimation as it wasn't even 11AM and we were "done" with the majority of what there was to see here. With just eating a breakfast, none of us were interested in stopping at the café at this point either, so we headed outside to the garden area. Just getting outside was a bit of a hassle with arrows telling you which ways you can and cannot go and us realizing very quickly that this place was more to Eastern standards where they can see and take photos in Western style gardens and architecture. Whoops, not really what we are into. Every time I would stop to watch one of the animatronic shows or walk out to get to another part of the garden or open area, I was walking right in front of someone's photo. This place was no better than Disneyland or another amusement park and not what our idea of a good time exactly was. The park was clean and the couple of desserts we finally did sit down and eat were yummy, but there was no way we could hang around another 2 hours for that class to begin, so swallowing the 4,500Y paid (non refundable), we just left. There was still an indoor mall to shop in, arcade to play in and Pokémon center to finish before we left Hokkaido after all. Oh, and did I mention? It was a steady rain by now and we were just outside, sitting down in a western garden, getting soaked. ha!
Another 45 minutes back to Sapporo Station and Google pointed us to Sapporo Tower Mall where we could get lunch and enjoy an arcade or two. The complexes around the station were a bit winding, but I believe there were actually 3 or 4 separate "malls" (which in Japan usually mean 4-10 stores/arcades on each level and 2 basement/7 levels above ground total) contained within a short walking distance. Not partaking in any real seafood or sushi up to this point, we were pleased to find a tablet ordering sushi restaurant located within and were able to sit within 10 minutes, even during the lunch rush, which was impressive! I have to be careful with my sticky white rice intake, so I ordered an egg dish, unagi (pawning my rice off to someone else) and just one sushi dish. It was all excellent! I was once again impressed that we all had 3-6 plates off food and for 3 people the bill was something like 2,800Y. Never a complaint when it comes to food around here.
With belly's full, it was arcade time. This particular Namco arcade was honestly, one of my favorite arcades of the whole trip! Their mix of UFO catchers, kids games, ticket redemption games (rare for Japan) and even little kids play areas (which my daughter was too old for, but I could appreciate) couldn't be beat. I LOVED the semi-retro games for Kirby, Pokémon and Mario! I just had to play this "Big Bertha" style Kirby game where you push down the levers to feed balls to Kirby within a time limit. We really had a blast here and the machines were all super affordable, most being just 100Y each play/player. Kirby, a video Pokémon game where you threw physical plastic Poké balls at the screen to capture Pokémon that popped up and a blast-up ball catcher game were just some of the few that popped tickets out. Of course, nothing stellar for redemption, but it was a cheap way to try some classic Japanese candy! Overall, just a really laid back and fun time.
After playing to our hearts content and walking around the Tower mall for a bit, we headed back to the main station area and hit up the Pokémon Center one more time for a few requested purchases. It was then almost evening, so we decided to head back and finish packing. I had read an article earlier in the day (darn Google listening to us) regarding all of the exclusive things the Konbini in Sapporo carried, so I opted for instant noodles local to the region for dinner instead of eating out. You may as well take advantage when able! I was not focused enough to take photos and thoroughly review them, but just take my word that they were tasty, not like instant noodles state side at all!
A simple dinner left us with just enough time to pop across the street to that cat café. It was literally across the street from our apartment, why say no? This little guy would just sit in the window and stare at us, so it was on the list to give him a pets before leaving. Mewkies provided us with a very local feeling cat café experience. There was nothing special about it, but there was nothing wrong with it either. About 15 cats, 100's of books (all in Japanese or picture books) and simple drinks/café items. As we weren't here to eat, I simply paid for an hour (less than 2,000Y) and we hung out with the cats, the only extras here were the cat treats (which was the only time they showed interest in us) and the food/drinks available to purchase, which we didn't do. For 100Y a bag though, the cat treats had plenty to go around, I think we bought 2 of them and were able to feel all of the cats at least once. This little guy and myself pretty much just hung out at the window watching the people walk by however.
Our time in Sapporo was nearing to a close and the next part was about to get a bit crazy. Taking a deep breath and going for it, I hoped this "one backpack each" thing would work out! The larger bags were off, being shipped to Hiroshima where we would meet back up with them in about a week.
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