Japan 2011-Shiroi Koibito Park 2

There was alot of what I call fluff at the beginning of the tour. The history of the company, the history of chocolate, the history of the early explorers, blah, blah, blah. Its not until you get up to the 4th floor that you get to see the manufacturing floor. The first section is assembly

After the cookies are assembled by the machine, workers perform quality control and remove the bad ones before packaging. Unfortunately, it does not seem as if they sell the rjects to the public

Here a worker reloads the machine that applies the white chocolate to the bottom cookie

The chocolate squares are then marched out in a single file line to pair up with an awaiting cookie. Afterwhich, they themselves are topped by another cookie

The floor looks pretty small and I dont know if they have another plant elsewhere. I guess that since its sold primarily in Sapporo, its a big enough operation

Here is a short video of the workers in action at their stations playing their part in getting these cookies to the public

Japan 2011-Shiroi Koibito Park 1

Around this time of year, aa company called Ishiya, makes these sandwich cookies consisting of butter cookies and chocolate. They are primarily known for the white chocolate variety. They make other confection products throughout the year. As we made our waqy to the factory via the subway, the weather above ground has not improved at all but worsened a tad.

Fortunately, there is a route that you can take to lessen the amount of time we had to spennd in the blizzard. But, we would have to brave the elements at some point to gain entry. It almost feels like going to the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory

The exterior of the plant and the surrounding buildings are built in the Tudor style

In this building is a chcolate related cafe and gift shop. There is also a toy museum and one for gramophones. However, the walking tour of the manufacturing plant does not staqrt here. It only ends here.

For the tour, you need to walk back towaqrds the clock tour to pony ups the 600 yen fee With that, you get a pamphlet and 1 Shiroi Koibito cookie.

Japan 2011-Sapporo

The first morning in Sapporo started off with temps not too different from what was experienced the night before. By 4 am, all the lights on the billboards have been truned off as businesses are closedand people are asleep

As the sunrise brightens the streets below, snow begins to fall once again adding to all the accumulated piles
The plows begin to work the task of clearing snow from the raods. However, throughout the day, the efforts are quickly erased

Snow covers everyplace that has a horizontal surface for it to stick on. These crab signs all over the city are all covered in some amount of snow

However, before we head out into the great white way, we stock up on the breakfast provided by the hotel. The selection includes 4 type of rice balls, miso soup, assorted salads, porridge, and eggs. Coffees and teasare on offer as well. Having had something to eat, we are now ready for the weather.

Japan 2011-Arrive Sapporo

After an uneventful 1.5 hour plane ride, our first glimpse of Hokkaido is of a snowy coast line.
Snow greeets us at the airport. We gather our belongings and grab the next train into Sapporo. The intermidiary terrain is covered in snow and harkens back to earlier trips made to the same destination. Aside from the scenic and bucolic landscape, we pass by cities/town every so often. At the bottom of the post, there is a video of about 30 minutes of the train ride compressed into approx 5 min

Upon arrival at the JR Sapporo station, our journey is further augmented by boarding the subway to get to our temporary residence.
When we arrive a little after 4, the skies are overcast and a smattering of snow falls.

As we get ready to leave the hotel, darkness has already fallen. I was hoping for a little more sun to do some exploring

But, that doesnt seem to be in the cards as we grab a curry dinner at a chain place then dash to a convience store to stock up for the next few days that we will be in Sapporo

Known for their seafood, restaurants offering the areas pride abpund in the Susukino area. Some places want to make sure you know what they are offering. This place is half a block from where we are staying. We tried 5 years ago and will be partaking before we leave.

This is n ot a bullet train but an express from New Chitose. This time lapse was taken at 1 picture every second. Yeah, I think it went by too fast as well

Japan 2011- Leave Tokyo

Today involves taking a flight out of Haneda and landing in Shin(New) Chitose. At Shinagawa, there is the convenient train line that takes you to the airport. Alternatively, you could go to Hamamatsucho and catch the monorail, as we did 5 years ago. We retrace the steps of our first trip back in 2001. Remembering back to that time, there was a very attractive japanese girl in the same car as us. Strange how little details like that come to mind.


We arrive at Haneda a few hours early so we can walk around the terminal and grab a bite to eat. This 747 will ferry us the 1.5 hour flight to the island of Hokkaido. I have never sat up there before, but I booked my seat on the upper deck near the window. Here's a couple of pics from my viewpoint while in the skies above Japan.


Off in the distance, the Tokyo Sky Tree can be seen from our departure gate

When completed later this year, this structure will become the tallest man-made object in all of Tokyo

One of a few shots that I was able to shoot was this one of Tkyo Bay. Rainbow Bridge bisects the picture. Just below the bridge is Odaiba and the Fuji Televisions studios. Fuji is open to the public and tours are free. If you are3 lucky, you might ctach a show being taped. One time I was present when they were taping a samurai drama starring Yukie Nakama

Japan 2011-Arrival at Tokyo

My previous trips were solitary RogueDogue adventures. This time around, I am accompanied by many of the same friends I traveled with 5 years ago, and them some. Touched down in Narita. Im waiting for a few friends. My friends A nd J are arriving from the city on United in about 30 minutes. Our friend R from souther California will not be here for at least another hour. Later, in Hokkaido, we will meet up with J's sister V and her friend D. This will give me time to exchange for some yen. The rates suck!!!! But, what can you do. By the time arrive one thats coming to Tokyo today are here and its already gotten dark around 5:30pm




We arrive safely and quickly at the JR Shinagawa station. Its around 7:00pm Sunday night and there are still a number of people stirring around the station.

Its cold so wwe make our way across the intersection and down the street toour accommodations. This complex houses a number of Prince hotels, restaqurants and an aquarium

Looking back at the staqtion,

Previously, I had visited a row of ramen shops under the station tracks. Something new has cropped up next door. The theme for tonight is rice bowls

We settled for the first store at the beginning of the row. I ordered a set which included a pork and chive bowl, pork soup with some veg, and gyoza. The chive flavor was too heavy ande I regretted my choice Others fared much better than I did. I should have stuck with ramen
Thats about all for today. We have an early morning as we head to Sapporo

Fooooooooooggggggg

The city is well known for its fog. Over the past few days, we have just the first appearance of it this year. This wather condition was preceeded by 2 unusually warm days that hit the city. The white stuff is not as thick as dense as could be. I have lived here long enough to bare witness to a truly foggy, almost white out, situation.
Shadows and undefined objects move through the pea soup that envelopes all. Clarity and sharpness are not apparent until you are on top of something. Or, something or someone is on top of you. Aside from the ambiance that it lends to the city, it lends an air of mystery that makes for great thrillers and detective novels.

Down here by Ghirardelli Square, you cant even see a hint of the bay. Or for that matter, the next intersection where there is a cable car turn around.

On The Job-Vallejo St Parking Garage, Chinatown

I find myself having to travel to the Chinatown area on business. There are 2 parking garages on Vallejo St thats around the corner from Stockton St. One is a structure with alot of blind curves and narrow parking slots that sits atop a police station. I parked at the one on the southern side of the street. This has an open area that looks out over the street and onto Chinatown and North Beach. Below, Coit Tower is ever so prominent sitting atop the hill


Down the street and just past Columbs is a church. It looks like its going through some renovations as scaffolding obscures the facade.

Looking north, we see another church that looks like its going through some renocations as well. This one located at Whasington Square, a few blocks away. The square is home to the North Beach Festival

A number of shops and restaurants line Stockton as well as the streets and alley ways that branch off of it in this area. Chinatown butts right up to North Beach and the Asian shops give way to Italian ones.

This direction of Stockton as well as the pic above leads to the Stockton St Tunnel. The egress opens up to Union Square and the shops of downtown. This particular intersection is at Stockton and Broadway.

Akihabara to open up to pedestrians again

In some areas of Tokyo, streets are closed off to automobile traffic on Sundays and opened up to the average street walker. Shinjuku, Ginza, and Akihabara were some of the areas that participated in this tradition. Akihabara had ceased this closure about 2.5 years ago but are set to start it back up again. Beginning January 23 and running for a 6 month trial, Akiba visitors will once again flood Chuo dori between the hours of 1300-1700 on Sunday

The practice came to a halt when a man drove his truck into the unsuspecting crowd gathered on a June Sunday. He later jumped out and began to stab passerbys. Many were injured and several people were killed during the rampage.