We went straight from Sapporo station to Otaru Chikko station by JR Train, because that station directly connects to Wing Bay, Otaru’s ball that had all the main event festivities for Snow Miku. Since we were arriving a bit after noon, we wanted to grab some food for lunch before heading to the main Snow Miku venue. As part of the campaign, Snow Miku was also doing a variety of collaborations with restaurants and cafes in Wing Bay. My boyfriend wanted to get the Mos Buger collaboration (consisting of a set of a cheeseburger, fries, and a vanilla shake), so we headed to the second floor food court. I also wanted a Miku collaboration item, but also wasn’t feeling too much of the other stuff in the food court area, so I settled on the Miku sushi set by Sakana Isshin. There were a ton of Miku cosplayers eating at the food court!
Overall it seemed like not a lot at first, but since I wasn’t too hungry in the first place, it ended up being just right. I liked all the items included, except for the fact that there was wasabi already in the sushi! I took out as much as I could, but that was not very fun.
After lunch, we headed up to the 6th floor to the event venue. It was free, and almost like a big and combined version of everything else we saw before, with individual showcases for each Snow Miku iteration over the years, a lot of vendor booths like a mini convention, and many photo areas and activities.
Around 3, we started heading for the station as we were pretty much done with the Wing Bay stuff, making a pit stop at the Village Vanguard on our way out for a “novelty item” (turns out, it was another random sticker like the collaboration meals). I was going to get the Baskin Robbins Miku collaboration sundae, but there was no description, and only a picture of some kind of reddish jam topping on what looked like soft serve. Not knowing what exactly it was, I decided to skip it, and we got on the next train to Otaru station.
We arrived around 4, and the candles at the Snow Light Path wouldn’t officially be lit until 5, so just in case we didn’t have time before getting on the bus home, I decided to stop by Mister Donut and LeTao near the station to pick up some treats to bring home. From the Mister Donut current chocolate collection, I picked up a Pon De Ring Crunch Chocolate for 194 yen. Like Krispy Kreme, Mister Donut is also collabing with Godiva, but for one, those are in the 300 yen range, and another, they looked a bit too rich for someone who just had one earlier that morning. They also had a strawberry chocolate heart, ha! The Crunch Chocolate is from the Intense/Deep Pon De Chocolat series, and supposed to be chewy with a chocolate coating, and a chocolate crunch topping.
I ate it the next morning, and it was a good, Mister Donut Pon De Ring. The donut itself was chewy like the usual mochi donut, and overall it was not too rich or chocolately. The crunch on the ouside gave it a nice bit of texture.
I went to the Ekimo LeTao right next door to finally pick up a slice of the new seasonal Double Fromage flavor, as well as this other limited time cake that I saw in the recent catalog. Ekimo closes at 6, and I wasn’t sure if I’d make it back from seeing the Snow Light Path in time (which starts at 5), so I wanted to get it then just in case. The Chocolat au Lai Noisette Double is supposed to be hazelnut and milk chocolate based, with a nutty rich double fromage consisting of a melty rare cheesecake layer, and a baked cheesecake layer on the bottom. The other cake that piqued my interest, the Peach Tea Mousse, has an earl grey tea mousse layer, a sweet and sour peach mouse later, and a peach jelly mousse on top.
As a nutella fan, I was looking forward to this version of the double. It was pretty good, very smooth overall, but I could feel and taste the individual layers. It overall was slightly nutty, but the flavors also gave tiramisu vibes despite it not being a coffee-esque cake. For the peach one, it was very peachy, probably from the jelly, and it was super smooth and creamy (all the layers were mousses after all). Everything blended together, but I did get some tea taste.
Around 4:30, we headed over to the north canal venue so we could start at the end and make our way back to the station in one go. This venue had some small food booths, and if you purchased over 500 yen’s worth, you could get a free Snow Miku and Snow Light Path collaboration postcard. My boyfriend got a butter potato, and I went with a fishball soup with freshly grilled scallops. The soup was nice and warming on a cold day, fishballs were soft and meaty, and the scallops added nice flavor. Was it ust me, or did I get some small scallops compared to other scallops available on the grill?
We made our way from the north canal venue, to canal venues A and B, to the art exhibit area, and finally the Temiya line venue. It was all super cute, and I think definitely had different vibes than last year. With nothing else to do, we took the 6:20 bus home, which actually came late, but still, came.
Monday February 12th was actually a holiday. Because National Foundation Day fell on a Sunday this year, although that day is technically the real holiday, if a holiday falls on a Sunday, there will be a “make-up” holiday the Monday after (this is going to be a reoccurring theme this year). Unfortunately, this rule does not apply to Saturdays for whatever reason, unlike in the U.S.. Originally, I planned to be in Sapporo over the weekend and Otaru on the 12th, but because we finished it all over the weekend, Monday got to be a chill day off at home.
Part 1, the Sapporo stay and Snow Festival, is here.
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