Living Your Dreams

Day 4 of our vacation ~ Today we visited the place of my dreams, Ishiya Chocolate Factory!  It is where my favourite white chocolate biscuits (Shiroi Koibito a.k.a. "White Lover Chocolate") are produced in mass quantities! Yummy!!

Saliva-inducing biscuit-manufacturing at the viewing gallery

Although its called a factory, its no ordinary factory!  In fact, the place's interior and exterior designs reminded me very much of Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".  There were exquisite displays of artifacts from the past relating to the history of chocolate, art masterpieces / historical posters and paintings lining the hallways, antiques collection and even a toy museum!

Grand stairs (Doesn't it resemble that of Hollywood's Titanic?)

French ceiling painting of "The Goddess of Aurora"

 Chocolate Cup Collection

Gramophone gallery music hall (apparently Mr Hayao Miyazaki gives lectures here occasionally!)

Toy museum

Cute little cat footprints dotted the floor to mark the suggested tour route for visitors.  "Neko", Japanese word for cat, is a favourite of Mr Ishiya, hence the logo of the brand is designed with two cats as seen in the picture below.

Enjoy a gorgeous view of the scenery outside while sampling the equally gorgeous cakes

Being a sweet-tooth, I nearly swooned at the multitudes of sugar-coated icing cakes and colourful candies!  Sugoi desu!!

The highlight of the day was that at every hourly interval, there was a mini 5-minute performance in the courtyard.  We rushed out to catch the 3 pm performance, in which a parade of joyful singing and dancing mechanical dolls appeared at the Sapporo Mechanical Clock Tower and floating bubbles filled the air!  Unfortunately the parade was marred by a drizzling shower and we had no choice but to take cover rather than to take photos.

To be able to work in theme parks like the Ishiya Chocolate Factory or Disneyland is a dream come true for many Japanese people, both young and old.  As you may know, the Japanese are well-known for their love of fantasy and this is reflected in their creations of manga and animated figures like Hello Kitty, Doraemon and Pokemon.  As such, it is this passion and dedication that naturally drives them to take pride in whatever task they are assigned with on their dream job.

Along the way, our tour guide shared with us one of his interesting encounters at Disneyland.  There was once when he was in the middle of a conversation with his friend, they noticed an old cleaner standing patiently slightly away from them.  Occasionally when they glanced at him, the cleaner nodded and smiled politely at them, but continued to stand there. When our tour guide left with his friend later, they noticed that the cleaner walked up to the spot where they stood previously and swept up a few pieces of popcorn which were lying near their feet just now.  The cleaner left only after he ensured that the area was swept spotlessly clean.

Faced with their excellent service standards, one cannot help but be inspired to be like the Japanese and dare to dream.  Walt Disney once said, "Never forget that it all started with a mouse".  For Ishiya, it probably started with something even smaller - a piece of snowflake (hence the name "white lover").  But because they dared to dream, their passion, inspiration and dedication has driven them to pursue their dreams which has led them to where they are today.  ~ Live your dreams ~