The Beer Garden in Odori Park, Sapporo!

The summer season in Sapporo is always really enjoyable. The fact that such a huge portion of the year is spent indoors thanks to the months of heavy snowfall just make the desire to get out and enjoy being outside when you can.

And the best way, in my opinion, to do that is the beer garden that happens from mid-July to mid-August in Odori park. This year so far I've been three times, and I'll likely go once more before it ends this coming weekend. As an American, I love any chance to just drink outside in public and not be judged for having a good time with friends. It's probably the aspect about Japan I will most the most when I go back to the States! Grabbing a beer from the 7-eleven and sitting in a park eating lunch...

Anyway, the beer garden itself spans four blocks of Odori Park. Each block is home to one of Japan's most common beer brands, Suntory Premium, Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo! Honestly, there is very little difference between the three beer brands, as Japan seems to mainly enjoy producing pale lagers that all taste completely identical (oh goodness how I am looking forward to darker beers in America).

These beers are also perfect for hot summer days. Which you get in Sapporo. Because AC isn't really a thing up here because "we don't need it". Tell that to my apartment which likes to get up to 90 degrees (32 in the C). Any excuse to escape the sauna I live in is very needed.

Suntory is the least popular of the four brands, mainly because the beers are a bit more expensive. I personally like Suntory the best of the four because it has a bit more flavor, but I like being cheap more so in all the years I have been here I've never bothered going to their beer garden. Sorry!

 The most popular beer garden is easily Asahi. The block is covered in trees and just has a really cool feel. It fills up the quickest and is usually the loudest. This one is the one I enjoy going to the most, I think. Though the difficulty of finding a table makes it hard to bring larger groups unless you come at opening time!

Kirin is the third most popular and has the most interesting of the beer delivery systems: the beer tower. While the novelty of a meter tall tower of beer is nearly irresistible, the speed at which the beer warms in the heat of summer makes it a very "meh" experience once you get to the halfway mark. Or, I guess, you could just drink faster!

Sapporo Beer's garden is the one I have been to the most, two of my three visits have been spent here, and it may be my new favorite one to go because it is relatively easy to find a spot, not to mention they have upped their decoration game in the last couple of years and it now resembles a very Bavarian looking beer tent. Or at least what I picture one to look like because I've never been to one (next year??)!

The beers themselves aren't badly priced. You can get 500mL glasses for 550 yen. They also have larger sizes priced in the same value. Each area has their own version of a keg to share (like the toweres in Kirin) but I have found them to be over-priced when compared to the individual glasses (3,700 yen for 3L but 1,100 for a 1L glass). Yes, that's right. You can get a 1L glass of beer.

Even though it is called the "Handsome man" beer at the Sapporo tent I mainly see Japanese women guzzling these puppies down. Though maybe they are designed to attract handsome men? Who knows! If you find yourself in Sapporo in the middle of the Japanese summer, you definitely need to stop by the beer garden, you'll be sat at a table with the locals and they are generally really friendly. Last time I was there I was given a bunch of food by some older people seated next to us!

Little Known Japan: Sapporo Outings Moerenuma and Art Park

Sapporo is Japan’s fourth largest city after Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. It is the northernmost of these cities and you’re gonna have to travel a ways to get here, but it’s a fantastic city. I’ve been all over Japan, and there’s nothing quite like it. The people are very friendly and interested in you, the food is amazing, and the area around it is beautiful. It’s famous for skiing, having hosted a winter Olympics way back when, and has a relatively mild summer for Japan. You can get a roundtrip ticket from Tokyo for under $100 in the off-season and it will only take you two hours to fly here. Not to mention the ferry you can take or the train (though those will eat up a day of your time).

Sapporo has a lot to offer, mostly in terms of unique outdoor experiences. And here I would like to highlight two of them. This year I have visited two of Sapporo’s more famous parks, the architecture park of Moerenuma and the Sapporo Art Park.

Both are a bit out of the way, requiring you to travel to the end of the line on different subway lines and take a bus for the better part of thirty minutes, but they are both places you won’t find anywhere else in the world, and are worth a visit.

Moerenuma is north of the city, you’ll need to take the Toho line to Shindo Higashi station and then the Chuo Bus numbered Higashi 76. There’s other ways to get there but this is the route I took. Total travel time from Sapporo Station will be about 50 minutes.

You’ll get off the bus and think “where’s the park, there’s only farm?” but if you head across the street you’ll find the entrance, when you walk over a bridge you’ll be greeted with lush green and interesting looking manmade mountains.

The park opened in 1998 after nearly twenty years of construction. The park was designed by Isamu Noguchi, who was a Japanese-American sculptor. The park is perfect for a picnic with many trees to sit under and enjoy the huge sculptures that surround you.

You’ll find a glass pyramid on the eastern side of the park that houses a small museum to Noguchi as well as a great view of the surrounding neighborhood.

Secondly is Sapporo’s Art Park. A twenty minute bus ride from platform two at Makomanai station on the Namboku Line will get you to this art gallery art park hybrid. The day I went was to see the Star Wars: Visions exhibit with some friends. The art gallery hosts random exhibits throughout the year and entry fees vary. The constant attraction is the sculpture garden, which was only an extra 100 yen added onto the fee of the Star Wars exhibit. Just entry to the sculpture garden will cost under 1,000 yen.

There was also a small gathering of local artists selling their goods outside the art gallery, where you can find some unique Japanese souvenirs and support local art. The park has a number of other attractions, but I didn’t have a chance to see them as it closed around 5:30.

The sculpture park will take you at least twenty minutes to get around, and you can easily spend an hour wandering around the dozens of pieces.

While much of the year Sapporo is covered in snow and very, very cold. The few months we get of warm weather are generally jam packed trying to enjoy all the city has to offer before the cold sets in again. The people of Sapporo really appreciate the summer, and you can see that value in the events that happen this time of year that try to get the most out of their few months free of snow.

July and August are my favorite Sapporo months, and I am glad they will be my last. Go out on the best note possible.