Summer School Break 2019 SAPPORO TO TOKYO May 30th – June 8th, 2020 8nts/10days from: $3895 double/triple $4395 single Reserve by December 1st-Save $50 per person “Along the Cassiopeia Road” is named after the famous night train that operated between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Sapporo. This luxury train, the Cassiopeia, a Japanese version of the Orient Express made its debut in 1999 and completed its final journey on March 21st, 2016 with the launch of the Hokkaido Shinkansen. Join us on this unique tour as we journey from Hokkaido’s northern capital of Sapporo to Japan’s southern capital, Tokyo. We begin with two nights in Sapporo followed by visits to Hakodate, Lake Toya, Otaru, Aomori, Morioka and our last three nights in Tokyo. What’s included you ask? How about, 2 fish market visits, sake brewery, kite painting experience, boat cruise, ropeway ride, 2 bullet train rides, viewing rice field art, Samurai Museum, a day at Tokyo Disneyland and top it off with a complete free day in Tokyo. What is not to like! Itinerary/Details Day 1 – May 30th, 2020 Saturday – Depart from Honolulu Hawaiian Airlines #441 Departs Honolulu 1:15 pm – Arrive Chitose 5:00 pm + 1 Please meet your Panda Travel representative at the Hawaiian Airlines international check-in counters located in Terminal 2, Lobby 4, a minimum of 3 hours prior to the departure time. Day 2 – May 31st, 2020 Sunday – Chitose-Sapporo After clearing customs, our local English-speaking guide will meet our group and then we are off to Sapporo. The drive time is approximately one hour. Welcome to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. Sapporo began as a frontier town some 130 year ago, but now has an average population of 1.8 million. Prior to the establishment of the city, the area occupied by Sapporo was a quiet hunting and fishing ground home to many indigenous Ainu settlements. With the construction of a canal at the end of the Edo Period, early settlers established a village which then became a city in 1868. Accommodations for our stay in Sapporo is at the Century Royal Hotel, ideally situated in the heart of Sapporo with direct access to the JR Sapporo Station. With our early arrival there is time to enjoy a leisurely dinner and get in some first day shopping. Your Panda Travel escort will be on hand for those who would like to meet up for a walk around the immediate area to get you familiarized. Accommodations: Century Royal Hotel free Day 3 – June 1st, 2020 Monday – Sapporo (B) After breakfast at our hotel we are off to discover Sapporo and the surrounding area. Please meet your guide in the lobby by 8:30am. The day begins with a drive to the Mt. Okura Observatory, home of the 1972 Winter Olympic ski jump competition. Today, enjoy the chair lift ride up to the top of the hill for spectacular views of Sapporo all the way to the far horizons. A five-minute ride on the ski lift brings you to the top of the mountain, during which time you can catch a glimpse of what it's like to be a ski jumper. The viewing lounge at the far top of the mountain comes steadily closer, and the steeply sloping approach stretches out along one side. Seeing the takeoff point at such a close distance will surely give you a taste of what it's like to ski jump, as well as what it feels like to be an athlete. Looking back once you have reached the top of the lift, you can enjoy panoramic views of the city of Sapporo. This refreshing experience will probably make you wish that the climb would last forever! Okurayama Ski Jump Now, a visit to the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market where every morning, the freshest produce and fish arrive. While this inner market where the fish auction takes place is not open to the public, you can enjoy the Curb Market. Open from 6am, it is comprised of approximately 60 stores selling a variety of items ranging from fruits to fresh and dried fish. Sushi and other reasonably priced dishes made with fresh seasonal ingredients are available. As soon as the bidding ends in the inner market, the products are made available at the Curb Market. Here you will have the opportunity to experience a meal of fresh local seafood, whether it be a domburi bowl or crab and salmon sushi. Choose from the many restaurants along the edge of the market, offering a front-row view of your chef preparing freshly-cut stock. If ramen is more to your liking, there are a group of ramen shops along one of the side streets. Choose one and enjoy a delicious bowl of Hokkaido’s finest ramen. Enjoy free time here for shopping and/or fresh sushi. Jogai Fish Market side street ramen shops We now make our way back to Sapporo and time at the Tanukikoji Shopping Street where you will have time to shop and enjoy lunch on your own. Your guide will take you for a stroll and point out the more popular shopping stores, UNIGLO, Tokyu Hands, Don Quijote and Daiso 108-yen store. This shopping arcade has been in operation since the frontier period and one of the best places to purchase Hokkaido souvenirs! Ten blocks long, this covered shopping arcade with over 200 shops offers everything from clothing, jewelry and souvenirs to nightclubs, cafes, and restaurants. If you didn’t get a chance to pick up all your fish items at Jogai, no worries as the Nijo Market is close by to here. With over a 100-year history, this market is said to have developed in the early Meiji Period, when fishermen from Ishikari Bay started selling fresh fish there. Unique restaurants are also in this area. Arrival back at our hotel will be approximately 2:30pm and the remainder of the afternoon and evening is free. If you prefer to stay longer at Tanukikoji, your guide will give you direction on walking back or just take a short 10-minute taxi back. Accommodations: Century Royal Hotel free Day 4 – June 2nd, 2020 Tuesday – Sapporo-Otaru-Lake Toya (B/D) After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by 8:30am as we bid Sapporo good-bye and journey on to Otaru and Lake Toya. The morning begins with a visit at the Shiroi Koibito Park, a theme park by Ishiya, a local chocolate company. The company’s flagship product is the Shiroi Koibito cookie, which consists of two thin butter cookies and a layer of white chocolate in between. It is one of the most famous souvenirs from Hokkaido. The park consists of a free area with a shop, cafe and restaurant and a paid area with various chocolate related exhibits and, most interestingly, a few large windows through which you can observe the candy production process in the factory. Shiroi Koibito Park Now, off to Otaru and once there a visit at the Tanaka Sake Brewery, founded in 1899. Here, they brew sake in stone warehouses that has an atmosphere reminiscent of the good old days of Otaru. This group of stone building have been designated as historic by the city. Enjoy time here to see how sake is produced, sample the products and opportunity to purchase items in their gift shop. This area is known to produce some of Japan’s best sake because to its access to clean spring water. Welcome to Otaru! Otaru is one of Hokkaido’s most popular spots for Japanese visitors. It is a romantic port town steeped in a rich history that dates to its glory days as a major herring center. Once the terminal station for Hokkaido’s first railroad, today nostalgic warehouses and buildings still line the picturesque canal district. There are great options for foodies and if you’re into music boxes or any kind of glass objects, this is the place! From old days, when they sailed trading boats from Honshu-mainland to Hokkaido, Otaru played important roles as the center of trade or commerce, not to mention fishery in Hokkaido. Walking along the main streets, you find a charming and nostalgic city filled with historic architecture. Here you will find the old remnant of Otaru’s major industry, glassware shops. Glass buoys were used to light up fishing boats at night to attract herrings. A glass industry flourished in Otaru to support the herring trade. When the herring fishing industry declined in the 1950s, the makers of glass buoys diverted their business to produce refined glassware, as the demand for buoys plunged. The result today are numerous glass shops, which now carter mainly to souvenir hungry tourists. If you think that blown glassware is only made in Venice, then you are wrong. The city is renowned for its glassworks, music boxes, and sweet shops that can be found lining Sakaimachi Street. As you near the end of Sakaimachi Street, look and listen when you come to the vintage steam clock at the front of the charming Music Box Museum. The nostalgic atmosphere inside the main building of the museum takes you back in time. The museum houses almost 15,000 music boxes, ranging from matchbox sized souvenirs to precisely tuned masterpieces. The Music Box Museum has something for everybody, from The Beatles to the latest J-pop hits. Another must stop is at the Kitaichi Glass Shop where you can enjoy looking and shopping for beautiful glassware.