Hokkaido: Chitose Airport

On the way to our next hotel, we stopped at the New Chitose Airport for a late lunch. I wish we'd had more time to explore. I've never seen an airport like this. And all of the fun things are open to non-passengers. If you are planning a trip to the Sapporo/Chitose area in Hokkaido, it's worth stopping by - especially on a rainy day. You can view the floor map on the airport website to see all the things there are to do.

The first thing we did is stop at the chocolate factory. We watched chocolates being made. Of course we bought some chocolates too.

 We found this pig bench outside of a restaurant. Caleb would not relinquish that chocolate bag.

We ate in the food court on the 3rd floor. Seth and I ordered from the "Taste of Hokkaido" restaurant - which means we ate mutton.

 This one was stringy and not as good.

This one was tender and had a nice sauce, but it was still mutton - which has somewhat of a strong flavor. It wasn't love on either dish. 

I admit it. This is the reason I dragged my family along to the airport. I couldn't come to Hokkaido and not visit the Snow Miku Sky Town museum. The company that created the Vocaloid software and the Vocaloid singers, is based in Sapporo, which means that Sapporo is the home of Hatsune Miku. When I started planning our Hokkaido trip I looked to see if there were any Miku related sites. All I could really find was this little museum in the Chitose Airport. 

I love the faces my kids make

Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to spend here (it's not a large museum anyway). There is a 360 degree theater with a min Hatsune Miku concert and views of Hokkaido. It was getting late and we still had a decent drive ahead of us, so we decided to skip it. But Seth knows has been warned that he's taking me to the Hatsune Miku concert held at the Sapporo Snow Festival every year. 

We bought our souvenirs from the shop and headed out. The shop had a white board that encouraged visitors to leave a picture or message. 

Drawing Miku - she's a fan in training.

This is pretty much the end of Day 2. We drove to Hoshino Resorts at Mt. Tomamu where we had booked a condo room via Airbnb.