Of TV Towers & Pretty Flowers

Day 2 of our vacation ~ Much of Hokkaido's scenic spots are in the countryside, so this is one of the rare times that we come back to civilisation!  Odori Park is the main street of Sapporo and Odori means "large street" in Japanese.

Throughout the year, many events and and ceremonies such as the Sapporo Lilac Festival and the Sapporo Snow Festival are held in the park.

There were even street buskers along the Odori Park.  Some were juggling empty bottles in one corner of the park, while others were singing their hearts out for fellow friends and random passers-by along the street.

  

Across the Odori Park, there was also the Statue of "Hope", the Sapporo TV Tower and Japan's renowned broadcasting station "NHK".

An underground shopping street is also built beneath the Odori Park and is linked to the railway station.  There was even a mini aviary within the shopping centre housing many colourful budgerigars.

In the evening, we headed up to JR Tower, the tallest building in Sapporo city, where we had a bird's eye view of the panoramic view of the whole city.

You will notice that the Japanese are a bunch of very honest and righteous people.  There is a TV monitor at the ticket counter showing the current visibility from the 38th floor.  As such, tourists will can make an informed choice even before paying their tickets and will not end up feeling cheated on a rainy day with poor visibility.

We were lucky that the visibility was great that night and a beautiful sight laid out in front of our eyes at the 38th floor.  Our tour guide also shared with us that the JR Tower was a great spot for wedding proposals and he even assisted one couple in his tour group previously and the proposal was a success!

Lastly, we have an interesting tidbit to share.  It is that the male toilet at the 38th floor has urinals which face the gorgeous night scenery!  Supposedly, this will give guys a sense of domination over the night landscape while doing their business.  However, the female toilet did not have such a feature.  (Sadly, Japan is still quite a male-dominated society after all...)