In which Sid and Doris meet an unexpected orthodontist.
The Islands of Japan Marathon starts in Sapporo on the 18th September but we need a few days to get the Mini from customs. This means going to the event hotel to drop passports. On the ceiling, this map of Japan – not for navigation.
Happily the town is having its autumn beer and food festival along the Odori park so naturally Sid and Doris are here to help. Notice that the crowd wears black, cream, taupe, beige.
You don’t want to stay in your room, though we upgraded from the first cell we were shown. Here Doris models the complimentary pyjamas and shows you the width of the room.
The next morning our guide Hiro comes to show us the town. Hiro drives us. He asks us to guess how old he is. 73, says Sid. 72, says Hiro, perhaps disappointed. What do you think I did before I was a guide. Ran a Pachinko parlour or a noodle stall? No, a high end orthodontist. As a widower it is therapy and keeps up his good English.
We go up the TV tower, built as a transmitter for the city in 1957 by the same team that did the Tokyo Tower. Seen here later with Sid (1957) and showing off its LED lights.
It was soon obsolete as a TV tower was built on Mount Moiwa where the summit can be reached by cable car and funicular. Ideal for S and D. Here Sid and Hiro play ‘you can see my house from here’. Hiro’s house. He’s rarely left town.
Next stop is shrine complex, which is so interesting that Doris will tell the tale. Sid and Hiro bow on entry.
Our last visit is to the Old Government Office. In the 1870s the Meiji government was trying to modernise Japan. Hokkaido had a development agency where American Horace Capron was an advisor. He decreed a Government Office in the American style of the time, to include an octagonal domed lantern. It’s a handsome building that would not be remarkable in the US but here it has just had a major structural restoration with a lot of steel framework added, to include box section steels dropped down the chimneys. Hiro is slightly bemused at how Sid watches the engineering video..
Thanks to Wiki, here it is.
And now we are bumping into rally friends and looking for local dining. S and D have one night in a bar with food – the formula is all you can drink in 60, 90 or 120 minutes. The food is excellent and dinner and all we care to drink £35.
We move to the rally hotel and the holiday with time cards commences.