The best museum...

Takoyaki - one of our favourite foods

Today was another dull day, but we were promised that it wouldn't rain quite as much.  We weren't sure if to believe it or not, it was certainly colder, and looking on the weather forecast they were expecting a high of 16 degrees.  What to do...

Well today our rail passes kicked in, so we decided to have a day out on the train.  Matt suggested Asahikawa which is the second city of Hokkaido, located right in the middle of the island.  He didn't really know what there was to do there other than a brand new shopping centre, so I got on to Google and found out about a science museum with a hands on area for children, so we decided to make a day of it and go there.

We were up much earlier today and were at the station got ticket reservations and breakfast bought and ate before our 10am train, "The Lilac" limited express.  It took us through quite empty and quite flat countryside, before arriving at Asahikawa an hour and a half later.

First job was a look around the shopping centre (nothing to get excited about this time - just the usual stuff, but we did come across our first Daiso which was good).  Then lunch - Tom had a say in it today - he wanted Takoyaki (octopus batter balls) so we headed over to their fast food restaurant and ordered 16 of them for the 3 of us.  They were extremely hot (they always are) but very tasty.

Then we walked through Kitasaito Park - which is unusual for Japanese parks in that it has lots of green grass in it (so often Japanese parks are mud and grit) so it was a pleasant experience and the back drop of mountains behind it was good.  We found the museum without too much bother, and boy we were in for a good one.

Blowing bubbles, in a bubble

We went straight to the interactive area, and didn't leave it.  It was amazing.  First of all was an amazing marble run - which had at least 6 different routes for the balls to drop down - they were good wiggly woggly routes too which made it more interesting.  Next we found a game where you throw a pitch at a target and it tells you how fast your throw was.  Tom had a go - his fastest was 81kph, Matt not to be outdone had a go - he got a paltry 47kph and was not happy!!!!!!

Optical illusion house

Next we had a go in a dark room where we were enclosed in complete darkness and had to work our way around a maze and work out what all the different textures were.  We got quite a few right: a qwerty keyboard, bamboo, tatami, artificial grass, but were none the wiser with the others.  Next we found a room with an optical illusion, it looked flat, but it was on a slope which meant you almost fell over if you tried to stand up straight.

Next thing was really cool - Tom (and Matt) both got to stand in a circle whilst a bubble was made around them, they then had to blow outwards until it

popped.  It looked fun.  We then got asked if we wanted to see a 3d film, so we sat down in a film theatre to enjoy it.


The next section was a space section which was ultra cool.  Tom got to experience zero gravity in what looked like a massive gyroscope and then he got to experience micro gravity by doing some moon jumps on a contraption which sent him flying up into the air each time he jumped.  All these activities were free of charge and Tom's entrance was free - and of course they all worked perfectly and looked brand new and were worked by ultra efficient staff who repeatedly did safety checks with each child without looking bored. I love Japanese museums.  There was very very little info in English, but get this nearly all the staff Tom interacted with was able to speak to him in enough English for him to understand what to do and them be satisfied he understood how to stay safe - amazing, considering this town is so so so out on the periphery of Japan.

Moon jumping

Experiencing zero gravity

After all that excitement we all needed a drink and a snack and then we headed back in to do more.  There were lots more levers and pulleys to play with, there was robot football to play and get this you could go into a room at -30 degrees to do experiments (it was fully booked when we found it which is a shame) There was also an earthquake room where you could experience an earthquake, oh and loads of other stuff.  And this was just the bottom floor, there were 2 more floors and a telescope we could see but didn't have time.  We had booked seats for the planetarium at 4pm so we headed there and spent a very pleasant 40 mins in big comfy seats watching stars.  Neither me nor Tom could understand anything but it didn't really matter, we just watched the stars.

When we came out we only had 15 minutes before the museum closed, so we cut our losses and left but it really was a great find and the best hands on science museum I've ever been to.  Shame we lost our A4 flyer which was in English telling us all about the different exhibits, but hopefully I've given you a good taste.

We walked back to the shopping centre and got ourselves tea: omu-rice for Tom - a heap of seasoned rice covered in a thin omelette with tomato sauce on top and 2 ebi fries - he declared it his new favourite food!  I had salad udon (been missing my veggies - it is always quite hard to find veggies in restaurants here!) and Matt had a tiny bowl of salt pork donburi - he declared it delicious but way too small, so he went to Delice de France and got himself a Pain au Raisin to make up for it.

Playing with trains

We then got the Kamui Limited Express back to Sapporo and walked home.

Guess what - apart from first thing this morning it didn't rain today - huuuuuuurrrrrrrraaaaaaaaay.

It was cold though, and only 30 miles North East of us it snowed for the first time - officially the earliest it has ever done that.  Let's hope the sun comes out again - we did see some blue skies for the first time this afternoon so we are hopeful.

PS More videos will follow, once we find a faster internet speed to be able to upload them...