Many tourists from Hong Kong and Taiwan tend to go to the same restaurants that are listed on the guide books. In Sapporo, the Kaiten-sushi Nemuro Hanamaru in Stella Place at JR station is one of the most popular kaiten-sushi restaurants. The queue for dinner has been extended from an average of 45 minutes when I first went 10 years ago to 1 hour to 1.5 hours recently. Most of the customers in line are tourists. There is a good reason for the long queue: convenient, good taste and inexpensive. Nemuro is a sea port where most of the fish are caught fresh from the sea. That’s also where Hanamaru sushi chain started. However, the long queue of tourists has made the restaurant less appealing. In search for another good sushi restaurant near the Sapporo JR station, I found a good alternative: same restaurant chain, good food, freshly made sushi (not from the conveyor belt), and in the same JR station.

The traditional taste of pan cakes with honey and butter is out. Variety of flavors and fancy look are in. Japan is well known for creativity and it’s the same for food. Restaurants and cafes have to offer cool interior design, good service, convenient location and great food with high quality ingredients and nice presentation. Price is another factor depending on the target market and location. For many years, I always go back to the same waffle restaurant in Stella Place at Sapporo Station every time I travelled to Hokkaido Japan. In October, my favorite pan cake restaurant was gone. Immediately, I found a new one that offers more variety of pancake choices in the same shopping mall. It’s bigger and more modern.