Backdate: Japan Hokkaido Jun 2025 Day 10

19/6/25 Thurs: Sleep was not bad because the futons kept us quite warm in the night. Woke up at 8am and saw an alert from our Nerv app that there was an earthquake that same morning on the Eastern side of Hokkaido. Headed for ryokan breakfast at 8.30am and spent 45 minutes enjoying~

Yay there's maiitake in my milky soup! There were also some sweet shrimp and squid~ the Matcha roll was not bad too.

Gathered with the rest and left Ryotei Hanayura at 10am or so and drove towards Noboribetsu Date Jidai Village nearby. *We spotted a random deer on the road not far from our hotel!*

The parking was 500 yen while entry tickets were 3,150 yen each for adults while older people about 65 years old could get tickets for 2,600 yen each. We thought there were very few people there because it looked rather empty near the entrance area. It tries to mimic the Edo period that began about 400 years ago and introduce the ninja culture and custom then.

We then saw throngs of local students and tourists deeper into the attraction. There were different performances at some venues, so we decide to catch the outdoor ninja show at the open-air theatre ninja fort first. Good thing we got seats under the shade because it was starting to get hot at 11+am.

Quite funny they were after the huge radish she has! The short slapstick comedy was rather enjoyable! Then, we went to the Katakura residence (samurai's place) cum Katana museum to understand the evolution of Katana.

Not that I went detailed into it since I'm not particularly interested haha. Then, we headed to the House of Monsters, which depicted Japanese folklore.

Each was a short one but they were quite scary. There was one where I put my hand in and the bun becomes dung straightaway kns lol.

Caught the indoor ninja show at the Kasumi Ninja House next and it was nice with the visual effects. The actors also had nice stunts and tricks!

Potato, my in-laws and Dexter went into the Goblin Cat Temple, which was supposed to be "haunted" after that but LL and I stayed outside because we cannot take these kind of "fun" lol. I only took a photo outside haha~

Walked the Ninja Maze with many local students and there were "slanted interiors" etc, and some designs were quite cool too. *The Japanese students were screaming like crazy lol.* I got a bit giddy in the tilted house too and there was even a second one that moves omg.

Of course we had to have some fun at the Yugi-Kan too. Potato tried to throw the ball while I threw Shuriken. Was given five tries and I got bullseye on the last one woohoo! I think it was maybe a bit off, so the owner was contemplating to give me the prize or not…

But he did in the end and yay I won myself a token coin worth 500 yen~ which was how much I paid for the game haha! Used it to buy a magnet there. 

Cool Ninja town overall, even the toilet signs were cute haha. The staffs are all dressed up too.

We left at 1pm and drove 45 minutes to Chitose for lunch. *toll was 1,890 yen* Googled for lunch on the way and found this千歳饂飩, where we met a Taiwanese waitress who was so hospitable. 

There's the taster portion of crunchy fried udon noodles while their specialty was the wide udon. I love the radish and pork together! We also had tempura maiitake~

After 45 minutes of filling our stomach, we drove to Chitose Shrine nearby. It was quiet, so we only spent 15 minutes there.

Then, we drove to our last Airbnb in Hokkaido (S$291.19 for six pax for a night) and checked in at 4pm. It was in a ulu area in Chitose, but a big two-storey stay.

The aunt played Reversi with her nephew in the afternoon before we drove to Sapporo at 5.30pm for dinner. It took us an hour, with 1,240 yen of toll and 1,200 yen of parking fee, and Sapporo was so crowded in the evening on a weekday.

Potato found an izakaya in a building’s basement floor and we had Yakitori to share. Many young waiters and waitresses here who look like students. *order using the quacking chicken haha~* 

The oden was not flavourful enough though. We also shared chicken skewers, belly, lettuce and mushrooms. I only remember the chicken balls were good. FIL paid for dinner which costed 8,200 yen with the beers.

Went to Family Mart to grab some stuff and drove back at 9.30pm (again toll fees of 1,240 yen and we pumped petrol for 4,644 yen) before we got back to the Airbnb an hour later. Here's Sapporo city at night~ and a cooling one too!