Day 7 & 8: (Rest Days) Sapporo

(08/05 & 08/06)

Sapporo is a good city in the summer; full of parks, beer festivals, and some of the less stressed people in Japan. It feels like a good mid-sized city, not too crazy, plenty of space to relax or get away, yet with a lot going on. The only other time I was in Sapporo was during the Snow Festival--the biggest event of the year. My impressions then were nothing but positive, and seeing the city in the summer confirmed these.

In between team meetings and preparing for the presentation, Emily and I had a chance to slip of on our own for coffee and relaxation. Finishing the presentation was a little stressful, but it came together in the end. The presentation itself went over well, in spite of my fumbling Japanese and a few quiet voices. Basically it was a good crowd. Very forgiving. Afterwards we made veggie sushi rolls with the audience and watched Adam and Kaki have a wasabi-roll face off.

Done for the night, I slipped off to meet up with Emily at the hotel. Kaki's pad was a fine place, but not exactly where we wanted to spend our last two nights in Japan together.