Pristine white snow desperately crunching under my feet, no other sounds in the vicinity. -12. Barely one person per square kilometer. Taxi cars and convenience stores same age as me. In winter Hokkaido forces its visitors to rediscover almost forgotten intimacy in a constant search of shelter and warmth in small town landscapes.

There is this unusual trend in Sapporo with some establishments [clubs, lovehotels, but also normal restaurants] having intensely picturesque facades. On the first picture you can see the most famous specimen among them: a nightclub King XMHU designed as a chaotic array of oversized aztec-inspired sculptures. I suspect that the appearance of this building encouraged the owners of other businesses nearby to be more daring and indulge in their wildest fantasies, so further down the street you’ll find an equally impressive Noah’s Ark restaurant that looks like an AI-produced mix between Greek temples, Etruscan tombs, English garden grottoes, a 18th century sailing ship and a modern ferry with Egyptian eyes slapped on it. Is this how they usually build stuff in Disneylands? I could study these buildings forever.