Nowadays, I prefer domestic rather than international trips. And trips within Hokkaido rather than other parts of Japan.

• Our TV program took us on many different kinds of trips, and because of this, I now travel very light. I hardly take anything with me. It’s gotten to a point where, if I see a well-traveled person at the airport who has obviously just gotten off a long flight and is still light on their feet with minimum luggage, I’m overcome by a sense of admiration and jealously! I still travel frequently, even today. On my most recent holiday, I went to see Mount Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture. One of the important elements of my travels these days is the local scenery: I want to encounter landscapes that I can only see there. This is partly because I once went to an open-air hot spring surrounded by forest in Kanto, and as I was bathing in the water I thought, “Why did I come all this way to do this, when I live in a forest in Akabira...? Moreover the forest at home is probably prettier than this!”
  
• When I was younger, I wanted my travels to be stimulating. Now, what I seek is peacefulness. That’s why I now prefer domestic trips to international ones. Moreover, I prefer to travel within Hokkaido. I’m even thinking of planning a trip to Sapporo solely for pleasure: booking a hotel in Sapporo and having fun in Susukino ? even though I’ve lived in Sapporo all these years. I think it might be kind of refreshing. I’m often asked whether I can recommend any good hotels in Sapporo, but I’m always stumped for an answer because I’ve never stayed at a hotel in the city before. So this time, I want to find a great hotel and be a tourist in Sapporo. So it’s definitely something I want to do soon, as I feel like it would give me a glimpse of Sapporo that I never knew existed. I hear that the new SAPPORO STREAM HOTEL will open in a symbolic location in Susukino next year, so I’m looking forward to that too.
  
• Sapporo is a very tolerant and open-minded city that accepts everything. If you want to be extravagant in food, there are countless delicious restaurants where you can enjoy eating to your heart’s content. Or if you prefer to relax, you can even find a view of the mountains, which are surprisingly close even though Susukino is a bustling downtown area. So please come and visit Sapporo, and experience Hokkaido time for yourself.
  
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