I woke before the 7.00 alarm went off. After a shower, some grapes and a bit of work we left the hotel at 8.00. We walked to the train station and separated to find breakfast, but ended up bumping in to each other at mister donut.

We caught an 8.43 train to Yoichi. This is the town where the Nikka whisky distillery is. This was a surprise Kaoru had organized for us. It took 2 trains to get there, and we were early so we went for a walk around the town. They make a great apple pie next to their space dome – which they put in to commemerate a Japanese person (who lived here) who went to the moon. Unfortunately it was closed so we could only get a photo out the front.

We got to the Distillery and managed to move forward to an 11.00 tour. The guide was in japanese but they had an app we could install to get a self guided english tour. It was quite enjoyable, especially the bit at the end where we each got to taste 3 whiskies! They had a recommended way of drinking them so we did that. Kaoru only had one of hers so we had the other two straight up. It had a much stronger caramel flavor – definitely my preference in cooler weather.

We walked back to the station and caught a 1230 train to Otaru. Once there we found a sushi place for lunch, and then wandered around for a bit. Kaoru called her cousins daughter who, by coincidence is in sapporo at the moment, and is actually in Otaru for the day. So we met up with her and her friend from Singapore. Kaoru had met the girl once before, before she was 1 year old.

We strolled along the canal chatting and eventually ended up at Le Tao – a famous place in hokkaido. I had a hot chocolate and cheese cake. We then went to Don Quiote, as Leila and Yuka’s friend both wanted to go there and it was right near the station. We then said goodbye as they were going back by bus (a little cheaper but as 3 of us are using JR passes the train is better for us). We got on the train and started the long trip back to sapporo.

We walked back to the hotel, took a 5 minute break and then went out for dinner. We found a ramen restaurant which was a bit smokey at first but not too bad. I ordered gyoza and the others all got ramen. It was a big meal. I couldn’t finish my rice. And about $10 each! The restaurant started to get smokey and i noticed somebody at the table 2 next to us had lit up. So we payed the bill and left.

We spent the next 90 minutes just walking around, and admiring the town at night. It was a comfortable 17 degrees. We finally got back to the hotel. I had completed 20000 steps for the day. So i had a bath enjoying some sake from the 7-11, and called it a night.