West of the tower, south of the park

After hearing two weeks ago about a liquor store in Susukino (the nightlife area of Sapporo) that stocks some imported craft beer, I remembered the name of the place but not the address the next morning. Tonight, I stumbled across Momoya and left with some cans of Caldera beer (from Ashland, Oregon).

From Caldera, I went for the IPA and the Amber Ale. To mix things up, I grabbed a Modus Hoperandi IPA from Ska Brewing, which I had never tried (until moments go / it is good). 

The S is missing

It's nice to find a liquor store in town that stocks some variety. They don't carry in Japanese craft beer, but I'll be glad to stop in once in while to pick up something from the states (even if it's more of what I grabbed tonight). 

Momoya is at the corner of Minami 5 and West 5. Wait! Fortunately you don't need any map software to find places in Sapporo. You just need these two numbers (I'm talking only in the downtown area of course). Minami means south, so Minami 5 means 5 blocks south of Odori Park, the several-blocks-long park that spans a huge east-west chunk of the city center. Nishi means west, and the count starts from the brightly lit TV tower at the west end of the park. So Minami 5 Nishi 5 means five blocks west of the TV tower and five blocks south of Odori Park. Trust me, it's easy once you get to know the place a bit.

What makes this night even better was that I was on the way home from Higurashi, the only other craft beer bar in town that I'd yet to visit. More on that in another post.

See you at 5-5!

Survey, nap, then shovel

I spent Saturday afternoon at work, occupied enough that I didn't notice the progression from light flurries to powder snow falling on Sapporo. In those few hours, the landscape had gone from patches of icy remains to a soft white blanket. On the (extremely) short walk to the subway station, I almost took a dive into the pavement and could have had a look at just how powdery this stuff was. The snow kept on falling after I got home and resumed my hourly trips to the window to observe the snowfall situation (see previous post).

Sunday morning brought the first official snow-shoveling session of the season. That is, for most of the neighbors. I put on my coat, stepped outside, and saw just about every neighbor in full shoveling mode.  Recalling my mantra that nine's a crowd, I did a U-Turn and went back to bed. At about 2 in the afternoon I did my duty. I started by sweeping the accumulated snow off the top of the car. Then it's shovel-load by shove-load to the sidewalk across the street, the designated spot for residents of our apartment building. 

Later, on a trip to the grocery store (where my cart of beer and mayonnaise drew a few glances), I saw the mounds of snow in parking lots, which tractors cleared as I slept (photo above [of the snow, not of me sleeping]). So that's phase one of my adjustment to life in the Snow Country (not to be dramatic). As for the beer, it was a combination of Yona Yona ale and the big bottles of Sapporo, the latter thanks to some gift certificates from my wife's grandmother back in Mie. She also sent mikan.