August 2, 1983, Tuesday
8:30am start. It was sunny--the first sunny day since I arrived on Hokkaido! I had a long 60km route to the city of Ebetsu today. I had to go through the city of Sapporo to get there. When I got into the city of Sapporo, I met two nice girls near Odori Park, the famous place where they have the ice sculpture festival during the winter. It is also the place with interesting historic structures like the one in the photo. The girls were friendly and struck up a conversation with me, which surprised me, because I really look like a bum.
Information on Sapporo: Prior to its establishment, the area occupied by Sapporo (known as the Ishikari Plain) was home to a number of indigenous Ainu settlements. In 1866 at the end of the Edo Period construction began on a canal through the area, encouraging a number of early settlers to establish Sapporo village. The settlement's name was taken from the Ainu language, and can be translated as "large river running through a plain".
By the way, I did not imagine that Sapporo would be so huge! It looks just like Tokyo. I got lost and wandered about for hours. I needed to find my way out of the city to go to Ebetsu. I finally got on track and made my way to Ebetsu to get in touch with Mr. Sawabe of the Ebetsu Marathon Club.
When I got into town, Mr. Sawabe picked me up in his car and we made our way to his house at 6:00pm. I felt exhausted today. Maybe it was from all the excitement (or stress?) of being in such a big city like Sapporo.
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