Makomanai Takino Cemetery

About a week after our arrival in Sapporo, Fiona and I had our first adventure outside the city to Takino Suzuran Hillside Park. From the window of the bus that took us there, we briefly spotted the most amazing statues lining a drive to...somewhere. We had no idea what it was, but the statues were so impressive we knew we had to make a trip back before leaving. Well, last week we got the perfect chance to make that happen - a friend invited us to go back to Takino Suzuran with her and her son, so we asked them if they would like to join us for a stop off on our way there. I had to do a little research just to figure out where it was I wanted them to go with us, and I was a little nervous once I discovered that it was a cemetery. There was no sign of gravestones when we saw the area from the bus - it looked more like a park-like setting - but I was nonetheless hesitant to ask her. Turns out that like many cemeteries in the US, this one was designed with an area to attract visitors that is separate from the rest of the cemetery. So it wasn't a strange request that we stop there, or maybe she was just being too polite to tell me that it was, but in any case we made it part of our plan for the day.

I am so glad we went. The sheer size of the statues (which I've learned are actually replicas of moai - recognized most commonly from their presence on Easter Island where they were carved by Polynesian colonizers representing dead ancestors) lining the driveway leading into the cemetery is enough to make you feel minuscule walking beside them.

Even more impressive than these guys was another sculpture we couldn't see from the bus originally, but turned out to be the highlight to our visit. Walking along the drive lined with moai, visitors slowly approach a large mount in the center of the park:

As you get closer, you realize that what had originally seemed to be a spherical sculpture on top of the hill is actually the head of an enormous Buddha residing inside the hill! A long walkway leads to a tunnel through the hill.

To reach the center - and the Buddha - you first have to go around a large pond...

...before finally arriving at this mammoth statue of Buddha (although I here we will actually see a much larger one when we visit Nara):

Finally, on our way back to the bus, we passed the final replica installed at the cemetery - strangely enough, one of the word's most accurate reproductions of Stonehenge:

As we waited for the next bus to take us the rest of the way to Takino Suzuran park, I started dousing Fiona in insect repellent. Our friend that was with us then brought out the most magical package every - I've since looked on Amazon and discovered these do exist in the US, although I've never seen them - bug repellent stickers! And from what I can tell, they are actually pretty effective. How have these not taken off at home?!

Fiona and her friend Kotaro hit it off instantly and passed the rest of the bus trip to the park by semi-wrestling in a shared bus seat. The guy next to them was understandably less than thrilled. I probably should have done something about it, but she gets so few opportunities to have fun with other kids here that I just pretend she wasn't mine. I'm sure no one put us together...

Once we got to the park, these two played so hard that they almost really did fall asleep in this hammock at the end of the day. Unfortunately, I don't have any other pictures of the two of them playing because it was also a rare treat for me - I had a friend to talk to while Fiona was thoroughly entertained. Good day for everyone involved!