Hokkaido + Tokyo Trip

Updated: 2025-04-01

I went to Japan again!!!!! I turned 30 in February and what better way to celebrate than going back (this time to Hokkaido!) This trip was pretty different structurally than the last one so the format of this post will be a bit different. Rather than go day by day I’m just gonna list my highlights interspersed with photos I took! Yay! Also feel free to check out my friend Sean’s blog of the same trip!

Tokyo
Bike Check
Concerts

Hokkaido!

We went to Sapporo and Otaru for the first part of the trip, going in February means it was below freezing every day, with at least 1” of snowfall every night. It was soooo nice being able to be in a city in the winter that actually has accumulated snow (since it melts or turns to slush in Boston so quickly). Part of this was because they didn’t seem to salt the roads/sidewalks, rather just using gravel and plowing, which did mean I was slipping on ice way more than I ever have.

Otaru

I only even knew about Otaru because of a random vlog I came across that mentioned Shunji Iwai’s Love Letter which I had had on my watchlist for a while SO I watched the movie (it’s beautiful!!!!) and added Otaru to our to-visit list!

Sapporo

Sapporo was a total Vibe, lots of really cool fun stuff to do, not as overwhelming as something like Tokyo, though I definitely was happy to not have to deal with the cold when we go to Tokyo lol

huge snow sculpture at the sapporo snow festival

obsessed with the lighting in this station

Tokyo

I was on-and-off sick for most of my duration in Tokyo, but I still go to do some fun stuff!!!!

Comitia

I went to Comitia 151 which was suuuuuch a cool experience, always wanted to go and it was great meeting all of these artists that I love (despite the fact that I could not say much to any of them lol)

Bike Check

Could not get over how many cool bikes I saw in Tokyo, tons of interesting custom stuff or just heavily customized in general (or just fun stuff like the dragon ball rubber keychain off the seat??? I gotta do that)