Historic Village of Hokkaido

What?
Kaitaku no Mura (開拓の村) or Historical Village of Hokkaido is a park that houses quite a lot of old buildings and artifacts found all around Hokkaido (北海道). Some are original structures that have been replaced, others are very solid replica’s. The park is quite big and divided in 4 distinct villages: the town area, the fishing village, the farming village and the mountain village. They are linked with each other by beautiful greenery and charming vista’s.
Where?
Located a little out of Sapporo’s (札幌) center, Kaitaku no Mura is still easy to reach. First you need to take either the train or the subway to the Shin-Sapporo Station (新札幌駅) where you transfer on the bus No.22 for Kaitaku no Mura that is waiting for you on platform 10.
URL
Japan Guide Outline Historical Village of Hokkaido

What to do in Sapporo when you have an afternoon off? Having worked at the Odori Park for a week at an event, strolling along the avenue was not an interesting option, the clocktower is really not worth the visit and wandering around the city looking for hip shops and is not really my thing. So I decided to go a little out of the way to the historical village of Hokkaido: Kaitaku no Mura.
At first it was not really clear to me whether the village was open on a Monday. But while the nearby Hokkaido Museum has a fixed holiday on Monday the whole year through, Kaitaku no Mura is opened every day in the high summer season.

After taking the train to Shin-Sapporo station I stepped on the bus with terminal the actual Kaitaku no Mura. … I was the only one to board this bus. It made me temper my expectations considerably.

But I was wrong. True, this place might not be of so much interest if you do not really care about history and rural Japan, but for me it had more than enough to offer.
There are of course the beautiful buildings and the atmospheric horse drawn street car, but more than that the surrounding greenery and the villages lying in the back of the park caught my interest.
The “fishing village” only consists out of a few buildings, but the big house near the pond is without a doubt the most interesting of the whole park. You can see how the fishermen were packed during the high season while the master lead quite the comfortable life. Barns and tools are abundant and give a clear picture of how life used to be like.
In the same way the “farming village” is very charming and the junior high school building and university dorm give perfect insights in the olden days.

The entrance: the old Sapporo station.

The pond of the fishing village.

Of course, I was very lucky with the beautiful weather, but this park really needs to be visited at a slow place. That way you breath in the complete atmosphere of days bygone and beautiful nature.

If there is one minor point about park, it is that some parts need restauration, but the funds seem to be lacking. Let’s hope that this hidden gem will not go to waste though.