Located just a few blocks away from the Hokkaido JaLS language school is Hokkaido University’s beautiful botanical gardens. It’s quite unsuspecting from the outside, but it is quite large once you get in and really makes you feel as if you are in the middle of a forest.
My friend, Mochi, and I decided to go take a peek after one of our friends had recommended us to go check it out. We paid a 300 yen (~$3.00) entry fee. The botanical gardens contained a lot more than just gardens. There were several small museums scattered throughout. There was a natural history museum, a taxidermy museum, and even a small exhibit dedicated to the Ainu, a small ethnic group that inhabits northern Japan. They also had a greenhouse that the University often uses for research. During the spring months, they even have Sakura blossoms that bloom late April/early May.
One thing to watch it here is the crows! There are seemingly thousands of crows amongst the other wildlife in the gardens and they can be even a bit scary. Right at the entrance, they have several warning signs to take care of items like hats and purses since the crows are brave enough to come right up to you and swipe them. They weren’t too much of trouble personally for my friend and me, but on several occasions, we would get scared of them.
They were these strange kinds of wooden paths that went directly over some small bodies of water in the park that was really fun to walk along.