Well, I’m almost finished my northern Hokkaido write-up.
The final day was basically a long drive back. It’s worthwhile to note that the west coast of Hokkaido is quite beautiful. If you have a chance, rent a car and go for a drive along there.
Heading back to Sapporo, me and E. decided that it would be a good idea to drop by one more city. We decided to drop by the city of Bibai.
Most people, particularly in Sapporo, have no idea what there is to do in Bibai. I didn’t beforehand and was glad that I was able to drop by.
Two notable things that are famous in Bibai are yakitori (barbecued skewered meat) and the park that features sculptures by Yasuda Kan.
While not exactly a household name in Japan, Yasuda Kan has been making steady progress in making his works appear all over the world. The last time I noticed one of his sculptures was in Roppongi (Tokyo) at the entrance of Midtown.
So who is Yasuda Kan? I believe he lives in Italy at the moment. He makes bizarre sculptures out of marble and bronze and was born in Bibai in 1945.
To check out more on Yasuda Kan click here.
The park is located about a ten-minute drive away from the highway exit.
It’s a neat place to visit and a perfect place for families to drop by with their children. Next to the parking lot there’s a fairly spacious hall and next to the main field there’s a large, narrow building that exhibits many of Yasuda Kan’s works. If you walk around at a leisurely pace you can kill an hour or two here very easily.
The enjoyable aspect of this park and the sculptures are that it’s like a treasure hunt. Where are these things hidden? Some of them are blatantly visible but I found myself peeking into certain areas and being surprised by more and more new discoveries.
Also, it seems the children seem to have fun running, walking and jumping off some of these sculptures. The design of the park was very well thought out and it's worth visiting if you want to take a day trip from Sapporo.
After this visit, me and E. decided to eat some meat and went to a yakitori restaurant. Most yakitori places don’t usually open for lunch but since this kind of food seems to be a speciality of this area, there were a few places that were open and cooking meat meat meat.
Well, lunch was consumed and it was back to the big city of Sapporo.
Before leaving Japan, it was refreshing to be able to experience some “peace” way up north in Hokkaido. Hopefully, my write-up has convinced you to drop by some of these places in Japan.
