As you may know, a big earth quake hit Hokkaido in the early morning on 6 Sep 2018. The epicenter is 65km away from Sapporo, but Sapporo city or other areas in Hokkaido also took some damages like blackout or water outage for some hours occurred by the earth quake.
I was coincidentally in Sapporo when the earth quake hit. Let me explain the situation immediately after the earthquake and current condition in Sapporo as it may become useful information for those who plan to visit Sapporo in the near future.
My parent’s home in Sapporo (15 minutes away by subway from Sapporo station)
Damage: Only one tea cup was broken
Blackout: Happened for 13 hours from 3am to 4pm on 6 Sep 2018
Water outage: No
Supermarket near the home: People were waiting for the shop opening in the long line quietly and peacefully.
Sapporo city central
Transportation: No bus, no subway and no JR due to blackout. Traffic light was also down and each car drove very slowly.
Construction: Almost no damage
*Photo below was taken at Hokkaido Government Office Building on 6 hours after the earthquake
Current condition in Sapporo
Bus, subway and taxi: Run as usual.
Most major lines for train including the airport to Sapporo, Sapporo to Otaru and Sapporo to Asahikawa: Operated as usual.
Department store, shopping mall and other shopping places: Open as usual.
Supermarket: Items like Natto and dairy products are out of stock at some stores
Airport: Open as usual
It is difficult to guarantee 100% safety, but the usual daily life is come back and no any inconvenience should be found for tourists in Sapporo even compaired to before the earth quake. Now is the best season for people like me who loves hot spring because of weater which is not too hot and too cold, and it is the joyful season for seafood lovers. I sincerely hope more people to come to sapporo and experience this wonderful season.
By the way, only a few tourists are visiting in Hokkaido now and they can enjoy photo shootings at every tourist spot without obstacles by the other tourists. It can be said now is the good opportunity for photographers who like to take beautiful Hokkaido photos as it is expected a lot of tourits would come back another a few months later again…
I got a news about PROMOTION for hot spring!!
Hotels in Jozankei hot spring area which is the nearest hot spring from Sapporo is now offering discount of the entrance fee for spa until 30 Sep 2018.You may enjoy the spas with half price of original fee during this period.
Hotels participating in this promotion
*JOZANKEI MANSEIKAKU HOTEL MILIONE（Original fee JPY 1,500）
*HOTEL SHIKANOYU（Original fee JPY 820）
*JOZANKEI GRAND HOTEL ZUIEN（Original fee JPY 1,028）
*JOZANKEI HOTEL（Original fee JPY 880）
*SHOGETU GRAND HOTEL（Original fee JPY 1,500）
*JOZANKEI ONSEN HOTEL SANKEIEN（Original fee JPY 800）
*NUKUMORI NO YADO FURUKAWA（Original fee JPY 1,100）
*Jyozankei Daiichi Hotel Suizantei is not offering half price promotion, but the fee is JPY 640, which is still much cheaper than original price of JPY 1,180
More details about the promotion (in Japanese)
http://jozankei.jp/minna_onsen02/6608
Jozankei Hot Spring Official Website in English
http://jozankei.jp/en/spa
