Sakura in Sapporo, May 2013

Sakura in Sapporo, 2013

Finally sakura came to Sapporo! ♥

First of all, some of the pictures are Javier's! Thanks, Javier for the amazing pics! ^^

This small-but-simply-beautiful flower has been the sign of the arrival of spring. We had been waiting for it to bloom with excitement! As you might have known, Hokkaido tends to be chilly (if not cold, hehe) most of time of the year, and the spring and summer always seem to come so late.

Last year we went again to Hakodate for the sakura when my mom came to Japan to visit me. It was really great, but the wind was too strong! I become weak when it is windy, so that time I enjoyed watching the sakura from the top of Goryokaku Tower more than watching them at the park. =P Anyway, this year we decided to stay in Sapporo for Hanami! ^_^

This year the sakura bloomed like 1 week later compared to last year... quite interesting. We went for hanami on May 17, 2013 in Maruyama Park, and the flowers were not fully bloomed! However, we were happy, because it was sunny on the hanami weekend this year, and we managed to enjoy the flowers with more warmth and sunlight (although the weather immediately changed to be more chilly after 4pm... expected.) !! ♥

Writing names on our cups :) (thanks Lidia for the pic! ^^)

Hokkaido University was full of sakura too! ^_^ A lot of people came to enjoy them as well as to have picnic under the the sakura trees. :) It was a great idea, I think. The sakura trees in Hokkaido University are not really all side-by-side, but they are still pretty, and it was definitely not as crowded as Maruyama Park or other hanami spots.

Some Hokkaido University students having picnic under the sakura tree

These pretty flowers... some people said they are another type of sakura, while some others said they are not... Anyway, my mom loves these flowers so much, and i think they are too pretty to be excluded from my post. :)

For tourists, fyi, sakura always blooms very late in Hokkaido compared to other parts of Japan. The schedule might move from the expected date, as well. Therefore, if you want to come to Japan especially to see sakura, I suggest you shouldn't risk your dream holiday trip, and visit other parts of Japan instead of Hokkaido, because sakura will last maximum only around 2 weeks! When it is raining, the flowers will drop even faster. In addition, the cold wind usually still blows during the hanami period in Sapporo, so it is a bit cold to have hanami wearing yukata (summer kimono), for example... something that I always want to do. :)

Evangelion Japanese Sword Exhibition in Sapporo Factory, April 5 - May 17, 2013

Evangelion and Japanese Swords Exhibition Poster (taken from sapporofactory.jp)

Another Evangelion exhibition in Sapporo!

Evangelion Japanese Sword Exhibition is held from April 5 to May 17, 2013 in Sapporo Factory. This exhibition is about the swords and spears that appear in Evangelion, their inspirations, and the collaboration between the tradition of Japanese swords and Evangelion. The details are as follows:

Date: 

April 5, 2013 (Fri) to May 17, 2013 (Fri)

Time: 

10:00 to 18:00 (admission until 17:30)

Place: 

Sapporo Factory Room

Entrance fee: (tax included)

General: 800 yen, high school student: 600 yen, elementary school student: 400 yen

The ticket price is 100 yen cheaper if we buy it before April 5, 2013.

We went to Sapporo Factory last weekend, but we visited the Trick Art Exhibition (will post about this later) instead of this one. There were so many people there because it was weekend, and there were queues everywhere, so it was impossible to do everything at the same day, especially since the last admission time was 17.30. You also can find tons of Eva merchandises as well as limited edition stuffs from the event at the Eva store located at the exhibition space.

You may find the website showing the information HERE. 

If you are a big fan, you should go! Still almost 2 weeks until May 17 ! :)

LOTTE Fit's Link Gum x Mobile Suit Gundam: Zaku & Gouf

Lotte Fit's LINK with Zaku and Gouf launched on April 16, 2013 (taken from lotte-fits.jp)

Lotte Fit's LINK original mint and no limit mint (taken from lotte-fits.jp)

Lotte, the largest confectionery manufacturer in South Korea and the third largest in Japan, launched its new products, Lotte Fit's LINK original mint and no limit mint, on April 16, 2013, with the illustration of Zaku and Gouf on the package. The Fit's LINK gum itself is said to be a long-lasting mint gum that is able to keep the flavor for 50 minutes. 

You can check the official site HERE.

I found them for the first time at COOP, arranged on their special display rack decorated with three big heads of Zaku and Gouf made of paper. It was really eye-catching, maybe because I always think that these characters look cute. ^^

Fit's LINK original mint and no limit mint with Zaku and Gouf

Please forgive me if I look so amateur while writing about Gundam. In fact I'm not that familiar with Gundam, but my brother likes it a lot, so I'm used check on whatever cool things related to Gundam to share with him... and to make him jealous, so he will finally come here to visit me. =P hehe! 

Oh wait... I watched Gundam SEED series, though. I remember that I liked it a lot, but now I can't remember the story, haha =P However, don't get mad, Gundam fans, because I often forget the story of most movies I watched, anyway... yup, even big movies included. =P

Anyway, although I'm not a big fan, I love to see Gundam models, items, etc, coz they are so cool! My favourite is this Gouf type actually, because i think it looks cute hehe. Well, my brother has the SD version of Gouf, and I loveeee it so much! I think it was the best SD Gundam model my brother has ever had. However, please understand that the things i call "the best" might sometimes be "the cutest" =P

SD version of B3 Gouf Custom my brother has

After I saw the SD version, no matter how many times my brother bought the original version of Gouf, which looks extremely cool, strong, etc of course, I just can't change my impression. Gouf is always cute for me hehe. ^^

I will definitely visit Gundam Front Tokyo when I have the chance!

Back to the Lotte Fit's LINK gums, I don't really take mint gums or candies, but I bought both flavors of Lotte Fit's LINK in the end, mainly because I was curious to check the special wrapping paper that separate each gum inside. The concept design of the packages seems to be about Zaku and Gouf in action, having the bullet marks at the front cover of Fit's LINK original mint and the slash mark at the cover of Fit's LINK no limit mint.

Fit's LINK original mint and no limit mint, front and back

It contains twelve units of gum in each pack, and each gum is wrapped by a zaku-or-gouf-themed wrapping paper. In addition, the end of each unit is attached to the box so the gums will always be neatly arranged inside the package as long as we haven't pulled it out. They will never scatter around in case we drop the pack or something. I love this design!

Special zaku-or-gouf- themed wrapping paper for each gum inside the packages

the package upside down (left); pulling out one gum (right)

By the way, I have tried the gum, and it seems the idea of the "long-lasting mint gum that is able to keep the flavor for 50 minutes" really works! ... O.o ... Not bad at all!

Zaku and Gouf heads made of thick paper on the display rack

I can help you to buy them as long as they are still in the market. The delivery fee is not expensive from japan if you use airmail or SAL (economy airmail).

Pocky x Snoopy - Pocky Limited Edition Spring 2013

Dear Pocky and Snoopy lovers ... 

Glico launched its latest collaboration event this spring, called Pocky x Snoopy. Therefore, from April 2013 we can find these Pocky chocolate, milk chocolate, strawberry, and almond crush in limited edition packages featuring Snoopy and his friends in the market. I like Pocky but rarely buy it. However, this time I couldn't resist the urge to try it, most likely because of the cute Snoopy and Woodstock. ^^

Pocky x Snoopy edition (taken from pocky.jp)

The unique thing is that all of them form a neat line, showing all the characters walking together as if they are going to the same spot: the bus stop. I also found that there are more than one front cover design for each flavor, so we don't have to buy each flavor to collect all the designs.

Pocky x Snoopy with different front cover designs

In fact, there is also another Pocky Snoopy edition : Pocky Coffee Cookie Crunch, but it seems this one is not inside the set of Pocky x Snoopy. I love this one more because it has a lotttt of Woodstock at the back of the package. I love Woodstock! ^_____^

Pocky Coffee Cookie Crunch

Pocky Coffee Cookie Crunch - front and back

This edition contains 3 packs of biscuit sticks coated with milk chocolate and crushed coffee cookies. The plastic packages separating the 3 packs inside also have Snoopy or Woodstock printed on them!

The 3 packs inside my box of Pocky Coffee Cookie Crunch 

Pocky biscuit sticks coated with milk chocolate and crushed coffee cookies

Back to the Pocky x Snoopy edition, there are total 11 designs of the back of the package. Not only that, this package has a special feature! They were designed somehow that we can make the characters hanging on our bag! O.o ... so difficult to explain by words ... Luckily they provide an informative picture to help us understand how the design supposes to work, even if we don't understand Japanese. 

Let's just see the picture below :

Some of  the "back" designs (taken from pocky.jp)

.. and then ...

How to carry Pocky x Snoopy (taken from pocky.jp)

It might look simple, but it successfully makes us smile, right? ^_^

If you are a big fan of Snoopy and his friends, you should check this super cute and nicely designed Pocky x Snoopy website from Glico. They also provide FREE wallpapers and screen savers for us to enjoy :)

As usual, I can help you to buy them as long as they are still in the market. in regards to the delivery fee, it is not expensive from japan, as long as you dont mind using airmail or SAL (economy airmail).

Yodobashi bottle cap tripod from Japan

Bottle cap tripod

This is one of the amazing stuffs we found in Golden Market! I suppose you can guess from the picture... YUPPPP it is a bottle cap tripod ! ^__^

Isn't it an amazing invention?!

In fact we didn't realize what it was. We were stopping at one stall selling a Skip-Bo card game, and Javier saw this in a basket with many other stuffs. I noticed it too earlier, but I thought it was a water strainer for kitchen sink or something, so I didn't bother to check, especially since we still have half dome to discover.

By the way, we bought the Skip-Bo card game first, for 50 yen, hehe. They offered it for 150 yen but, of course, I felt a bit guilty if I didn't ask, "Can it be cheaper?", since in Japan we can bargain only in this kind of events. ^^ I like to try to bargain, coz great deals are always good for me (of course), and they are another interesting stories to share with friends. It's not as if I force the seller to give it to me for a super cheap price anyway, coz my first question is always, "Can it be cheaper?" If they say no, then fine, I will decide if it is worthy. :)

We didn't know what this Skip-Bo game is about, but since the maker is the same with UNO, the minimum players can be 2 persons only, the item is unused, and the price is only 50 yen some more! , we had to buy it! ^^ Javier and I enjoy playing simple board games to have fun with friends. We cant wait to try this game. Hopefully it is quite fun. :)

The back of the package with explanations

Back to the tripod, the item itself is quite light and compact, since the materials are mainly rubber and plastic, making it perfect to  carry inside our bags all the time. The explanation says that it can be used with pet bottles, wine bottles, and even toiletry bottles. OMG ... I didn't know this stuff exists! All this time I have been treating my pocket camera so badly ... o.O ...

I tend to take a lot of pictures in every occasion, and there were times when it was just impossible to get someone to take picture for us. Therefore, we tried to find a place to put the camera and then to set the timer. The problem was that we couldn't find decent spot to put my camera on, so few times I put it on the asphalt, bushes o.O, or ... mmm, trash bins. ___ ___ !! well... anything would do for memorable pictures! hehe, but yah, my poor little camera has scratches here and there... :"(

After Javier bought a DSLR camera and a big tripod, we used to bring the big tripod on our trips, so at least the time the camera had to sit on the trash bins were a bit less... =P haha. However, the tripod is too big, and it was quite complicated to attach, detach, attach, detach ... It is definitely not suitable for my style of taking pictures. I don't like the small tripod, by the way. That's why this bottle cap tripod is just perfect for me ! ^___^

Close view of the bottle cap tripod

Exactly after we bought it, we tried to attach it to Evian bottle, since it was the only bottle we had that time. It could work, although it was extremely tight. However, it worked so well with "Japanese" bottle caps. It was tight enough not to allow the camera to move, but it was not difficult to attach and detach it from the bottle. In addition, there was no problem with the balance, even when I tried it on a 1/3-full bottle. I haven't tried it with Javier's DSLR camera, though. I'm wondering if it might work, as well. =P

The tripod attached to a bottle of Pokka C Limone

The tripod allows movements up to 30 degrees angle to all sides

The original price stated was 1980 yen. They also offered it for 150 yen, but then they reduced it to... 50 yen o.O yuhuu! It seems to be an original design from Yodobashi Camera, one of the biggest electronic shops in Japan. I tried to check for it in Yodobashi Camera website, and it is on sale for 500 yen, but only the white color left. Quite a great deal, huh? :)