Countries Of My Life: Sapporo: Time Travel and Classic

I started the day by visiting a place which I saw last time but I couldn't finish my visit even after 5 hours: The Historical Village of Hokkaido or in Japanese: 開拓の村.
This place has a vast amount of original and rebuilt houses from the mid of 19th to the early 20th century, also known as frontier period of Hokkaido. There you can get a really good understanding about the lifestyle at this time from nearly all stratums of society by simply being there.

This time, I went another route than last time to see all the buildings I've missed. Of course, there were some different circumstances too: Last time was the beginning of winter and snow had already fallen. Therefore, only 3 or 4 other visitors were in this whole area. So everyone could inspect the buildings without any disturbance. But to be fair, even with more people around this time, almost the whole time I was alone in those buildings ^^

I also made observations I couldn't have seeen otherwise. For example, at this day many families were there to draw the buildings on paper. All the kids and many adults sat on on a mat or chair and drew their pictures. I don't know if a special kind of event took place this day or if it was something that just usually happens there.

Again, I was impressed how deep the act of drawing is rooted in the Japanese culture. Whenever there was a sunny day and I went to a point of interest in Japan, there were at least 4 painters already working. Most of the times elderly persons, but as I saw this day, starting from a very young age, many younger people exercise in this craft too. Is this maybe one of the big reasons why Japan has so many artists? I think so :) In Germany, I've seen just a very few persons drawing outside.

I would like to tell you more about my time there, but actually it is something you have to see with your own eyes and experience with your own senses. For anyone who is interested, at the bottom you find more pictures (as usual ;). If you ever get the chance to be in Sapporo, don't miss this ^^

After spending most of the day in the village, I went back to Sapporo. Because I just walked the whole time, I just went to a park nearby and sat down in the grass along a lake. The previous day, I asked Kai-san, the owner of the apartment in which I stayed, about his favorite drink, because I like to know what locals recommend, not some guidebook ;) He recommended me a beer called "Sapporo Classic", so I bought one before I went into the park.

Sitting there, drinking a beer while watching at the water was just ... amazing :)
Interesting how such a small act can awake such emotions. I don't know how long I sat there, but I know it was one of the few moments where you are just relaxing and not thinking about anything.

And by the way, the beer tasted very good ^^ It actually reminded me more of a German beer, because it was stronger in taste than the usual Japanese beer. Don't get me wrong, I like the Japanese beer, it's just very mild in my opinion :)

After my stop in the park, I went to Susukino and the districts nearby to see and feel the nightlife of Sapporo :) I just had to stop a bit earlier this time, because my way back home took quite a while :D But thanks to Kai-sans explanation and Google Maps, I found the right bus on time ^^