Japan and Oregon Are Sisters....

Did you know that Sapporo is a sister city of Portland? It said so right in our Lonely Planet travel book. We have built up quite a collection of Lonely Planet books this year.

I knew that we were going to love Sapporo, but I had no idea it would be like walking in Portland with a ton of Japanese people. I truly am speechless about our 4 days, bottom line: I feel like I chose the wrong country to live in while in Asia. Japan is so cool!! I love the food, I love the clothes, and I love how clean it is.

Day 1: After a 6 hour flight/bus combo, we arrived to our cute little hotel, emphasis on the little. I'm really glad that we only brought one suitcase because we couldn't have fit another one in there. We even had little pillows, like the size of the ones they give you on the airplane. The highlight of the evening was finding some delish ramen noodles.



Day 2: We went on a walking expedition. Seriously, I think we walked for about 6 hours total on Friday. We covered some major territory including a ride on a Ferris wheel that was on top of a mall. Of course the day began at Starbucks. It was so nice to sip coffee while watching people bike all over town. You definitely don't see that in Seoul. The highlight of my day is that I spotted another fanny packer. Patrick's highlight was the beer festival where we were embraced by a bunch of Japanese men that loved their seafood and their beer.


Day 3: We tried to take it easier on Saturday because I was really sore from the previous day. Not even Starbucks could wake me out of my funk. So we took it slower and went to the beer factory so that I could walk and sit whenever I wanted and Patrick could "sample" beer as long as we were there. A real win-win for the Kelley duo. We topped off the day with sushi and shopping. I bought a kimono. Patrick thought it was funny that I didn't realize my purchase was missing the little Japanese gal that ties the back of your kimono.



Our evening ended with sumo-wrestling and baseball on television. There were no local matches/games while we were in town. I tried to get Patrick to sumo with me, but he wasn't having it. I think my belly scared him off. I consider that a forfeit and therefore I stand undefeated.

The next day we headed back to Seoul. I was very sad because it was nice walking in a city where people didn't push you or stare at you funny because they can't decide whether you are pregnant or have the freshman 15 dilemma.

Oh well. 10 more days till we board that plane!!