Along the way we ended up in Sapporo, Hokkaido and first on the list was the fish market. In typical Japanese fashion there was everything from dried squid and octopus tentacles to salmon roe and the biggest crabs I’ve ever seen. The above photo doesn’t seem to show the size of the scallops well but they were pretty hefty. I’ve been told many times that Hokkaido has some of the best seafood in Japan and from the sushi we had there I’d agree, I can’t vouch for the octopus legs though.

There weren’t many people around early in the morning and with the temperature sitting at a comfortable 6 degrees and snow all over the ground I could guess why. The stall men at the market were pretty happy to have a yarn when we told them we were New Zealanders, I think they thought we were Americans haha. We talked about the fishing industry in NZ a bit and many of them said they wanted to visit our beautiful country. Meeting interesting people and hearing about their trips and experiences, especially older Japanese guys was a highlight of mine for sure, a big reason why I travel.