Back to Sapporo (June 29 & 30)

So after the ferry trip on friday morning i took the same train trip back to sapporo and went back to the same lovely youth hostel. I didn’t arrive in Sapporo until somewhere after 7pm and was quite tired so I just picked up some miscellaneous dinner from a nearby supermarket, took a shower, did some laundry and a little bit of reading and then completely knocked out for the night.

Of course I woke up nice and early the next day – why?? i don’t know…. I guess I was getting used to it by that point. I didn’t have any plans until later in the afternoon so I took the subway and headed towards Tanuki-koji Street which is Sapporo’s covered street shopping mall. Seems like every city has one… Anyways. It was rather boring and uninspired. Did nothing to help with killing my time! I continued on and strolled around Odori area which looked just like every other downtown shopping area in Japan with big department stores and interesting fashions. But I did find some nice graffiti towards the east end of the area!

After wandering aimlessly for about two hours it was time for me to head over to my tattoo appointment!!! Yay! Before I moved to Japan I had spent a long time on the internet trying to find an incredible Japanese tattoo artist…and of course I found one that was just amazing – Horifuji! I spent quite a long time on his website looking at the detail, the precision, and salivating over the thought of possessing one of his works of art for myself!! And then after I arrived in Japan I finally understood enough of the kanji of his working address to know that he lives in Sapporo. Seeing as how I live in Nagoya, going to Sapporo just for a tattoo was not financially possible. But since I was there at this point………..

Anyway. So my appointment was at 1pm. I had a little trouble finding the place since I got turned around coming out of the subway but made it there just a couple minutes after 1. They were just opening up but he was running a little late. I made myself at home and started flipping through their massive collection of tattoo magazines. I ended up having enough time to get a snack from Circle K too. He showed up around 2pm. But seeing as how I had been looking forward to this for over a year already the extra hour made absolutely no difference to me! We chatted for a bit before starting; had fun playing the japanese-english communication game.

The tattoo took about three and a half hours to complete!! Ouchie!!!! But SO worth it…… I hung around for a while after he had finished so that my head could come back to earth and he ended up inviting me out for some drinks later that night with him and his girlfriend! Yay!!! I went and ate some dinner and came back around 9ish.. We went to two different bars and then to Nakajima park for beers and snacks on a bench (lakeside). I have to say that that night was probably my favorite experience in Japan. Horifuji and Miki are the two most down-to-earth, friendliest, generous, open people that I have met while I was here. And it turns out that Horifuji’s my long lost twin – we have the same exact birthday! Hahahahah!!!!!

I actually ended up going to sleep on their sofa at 5am!! Miki was incredibly nice and woke up at 9am to walk me to the train station as I had no idea where it was and had to check out of the hostel and move along with my trip.

Did I mention that he’s an amazing tattoo artist??