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This is how you will find oden in the convenience store. How appetising does it look?

You know winter is here when you walk into a convenience store and hit with the smell of oden. It is warm and comforting for some, and to others it is the smell of culture shock.
Here are some of the most common oden. You can find these and many more at your local 7 – [...]

Sapporo is famous for its fresh seafood. Crab, scallops, and salmon are popular ingredients here, with most dishes based around their natural flavors.
Nijo Fish Market opens at 7 AM, and is the place for everything fresh. Start the day with donburi – a bowl of rice topped with your choice of seafood. [...]

Hokkaido the home of powder snow, seafood, and Ghenkis Khan, has another famous attraction every winter.
For 7 days in February, its capital city Sapporo, becomes the tourist mecca for 2 million Japanese and foreign tourists, flocking to see the winter spectacular on offer.
This is the 59th Sapporo Snow Festival. Held from February 5 [...]

I woke up this morning and saw light snow flakes falling. It was the first real snow of the year, it covered my small garden in a thin blanket of snow.

Seeing snow fall in Tokyo is always a treat for me, as it is such a rare experience (on average there are only a few [...]