It was mid December and we did not have enough guides to help our clients, so my wife decided to help for this one day. Our clients on that day was a nice and lovely Muslim family from Singapore. So I asked my wife to take them to Muslim-friendly places in Sapporo, and yes, there are quite a lot of Muslim-friendly places in Sapporo! There are many places in Hokkaido that are waiting to be explored, do not forget, If you need help arranging private tour in Hokkaido, you can use our trip planner!

First Destination: Mount Okura

We started the day by going to Mount Okura, which is located in the west part of Sapporo. It was early in the morning so there was no one there. It felt that we had the whole places for ourselves.

After strolling a bit, we took the cable car straight to the observation deck. It was the first time for the family to take a cable car, so they were a bit scared, but the staffs there were able to assist us, so we were able to take the cable car without any problem.

On the observation deck, there is a small cafe in which you can buy a delicious soft cream while see Sapporo City from above. There is also a paid telescope in which you can use to spy some random people in the city.

After enjoying the observation deck, we went down by the same cable cars. The trip down was equally as fun!

Second Destination: Hokkaido Shrine

After enjoying Mount Okura, we then proceeded to Hokkaido Shrine, one of the most famous shrine in Hokkaido. Upon arrival, before we proceeded inside the shrine area, we decided to take quick snack in “Rokkatei” shop nearby the shrine area.

We bought some red bean rice cake and hot tea for lunch that day. My wife ensured that there is no alcohol or pork contained in the sweet cakes! 100% Halal!

My lunch on that day:

After finishing our “lunch”, we proceeded straight to the Hokkaido Shrine inside area. Ms. Cho, our tour leader, quickly guided us to the inside of the shrine. We saw a “cleansing well” outside the main gate. My wife showed the way to properly cleanse ourselves before entering the shrine. “wash your left hand”, “wash your right hand” and then “rinse your mouth”. This custom is completely optional though.

The inside of the shrine was beautiful, the family took a lot of pictures inside. Beautiful design of the temple mixed with snow fall is really amazing object to be photographed.

Third Destination: Jozankei Onsen Town

After walking around Hokkaido Shrine, we proceeded to Jozankei Onsen Town. We realized that the “lunch” in Rokkatei was not enough, so we decided to stop in a restaurant near Jozankei that also serves Halal foods!

The Halal foods served here is Indian curry with nan bread, my wife is not a muslim, but she really enjoys halal foods also because of the taste. Not only the food was good, but the scenery from the window was also amazing.

Jozankei Onsen Town

After enjoying our delicious second lunch, we proceeded to Jozankei Onsen town. The Onsen town area consists of different hotels and businesses built on the top of natural hot spring. Traditional Japanese architecture really combines well with the natural charm of Hokkaido hot spring.

Boiling eggs with natural hot spring

Apparently the second lunch was not enough, so we decided to eat boiled eggs, that we boiled ourselves using natural heat from the hot spring. We first bought the eggs from nearby stores and go to this area shown in the map where we can both soak our feet and boil eggs. Make sure you do NOT boil the eggs in the same pond you soak your feet!

After around 15 minutes soaking our feet in warm hot spring water, we went back to check on our eggs. We were not sure if the eggs were properly boiled or not, so we could only hope for the best. So we went back to the store we bought the egg from and took our 3rd lunch there.

After finishing our third lunch, we decided to take a walk to the infamous red bridge which is located within the Onsen Town premises. The bridge is connected to a forest, so I was a bit worried about bear attack, but since it was winter already, the bears should be sleeping already. Also, my wife can be scarier than bears, so I was not that worried.

Even though the road was icy, Ms. Cho is a great and professional tour operator, so we were able to finish the tour safely without any issue. Here is the video of this 1-day tour if you are interested to see.