On the first full day in Hokkaido, I ventured out to Shiroi Koibito Park. This theme park by Ishiya, a local chocolate company, is where the famous Shiroi Koibito cookies are made. The park consists of a free area (don't have to pay to enter) which has multiple sweet shops packed with mouth-watering candies, cookies, cakes and ice cream, a restaurant and a cafe and a paid area. The paid area allows visitors to walk through various chocolate-related exhibits in addition to observing the cookie production process through large glass windows. Today's post will consist of the outside area and my next post will include pictures from inside :)
Because of the yuki matsuri, the site advised people to come early since they usually expect it to get very crowded with tour groups and visitors so I made it a point to get there around 8:30. No one else was there except for some employees who were busy getting things ready, so I had the entire place to myself for a good ten minutes before a couple came. It was really nice to be able to take pictures of the buildings before it became crowded and I was immediately drawn to their design. The buildings were a European-style with lots of details and were very fun to photograph. When I saw the first of what would be many tour buses enter the parking lot in the back, I took that as my queue to line up at the ticket door.
Reminds me of the gates from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory :)
Greeted by an army of cheerful snowmen!
Some of the smaller lights were covered with a tarp-like material to protect them from the snow
Shoveling the sidewalk before opening hours.
Thought this was a bit haunting with the statue buried in the snow.
If I had a treehouse like that one, I would never leave it.
Underneath one of the lamps.
There's a small sort of parade done by various animals on the bottom of the clock tower.
The ubiquitous Shiroi Koibito Cookie. Two thin cookies sandwiched around white chocolate. It's the most popular omiyage from Hokkaido so I went ahead and bought some boxes for my teachers.
Unlike his smaller clones, this big guy was made entirely of snow.
If only there were trees like this one...
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
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