Sapporo !!!

After our five days in Hirafu we decided to swing by Sapporo and look around before heading back home.  It was nice checking out another town and unfortunealy we just missed the world famous Sapporo snow festival by just a few days.  Oh well next time..... The Sapporo towerUnder the tower I saw a father and son having a snowball fight on one of the mounds that used to be a snow sculpture.  So funny.The dad showing no mercy........"Take that son" The best part of walking around there was going to Tokyu Hands, Tower Records, and Mandrake toys! Yeah!Sapporo clock tower....Got crabs?The Big Boss guitar shop shared the same space with MI (musician's institute)/ESP. There's some pretty interesting ESPs on display inside too.Of course being in Sapporo we had to do a bit of tourist stuff so we checked out the world famous Sapporo Beer FactoryThere's a cool museum in the original building with old distillers and memorbilia displaying their history.The original plaqueSome old school beer adsOne of the coolest places was the "Creators Stage" next to the factory that featured all sorts of local one of a kind jewelry, clothing, and pottery.  Each booth had a unique style and the artists were right there making the productsI picked up a Suso bag (www.hitohari.com) and watched him put it together right there using various jean materieals.  DopeI think I had some sort of katsu everyday of the trip.  I just love japanese food and I got hooked on these caramels and sweet bread too.  I need to diet so bad now....After everyone left I had one full day with me, myself, and I so I took the JR to the old port city of Otaru.  They have a famous canal and some pretty cool parks and museums but unfortunately it was so cold and snowy that everything was closed and covered...d'ohWhile waiting at the Chitose airport hoping my flight wouldn't be cancelled due to the heavy snow (it was shut down the day before) I managed to pick up a huge Hokkaido crab for the fam. It looks like some sort of alien...haha.Kingsley was sooo happy we were finally home!! But don't tell him we didn't want to leave the mountain and snow so fast.....haha!