The First Azure Travelers Study Session: Sapporo Trip and a Stay in Sapporo and Yoichi

On January 13, 2024, we held the very first Azure Travelers event, the “Sapporo Trip.” Our venue was Sapporo Ubiquitous Co-creation Plaza U-cala in Sapporo Factory.

Azure Travelers now takes us to communities around the country, but it did not begin with a grand plan. The community grew out of a casual conversation.

This article looks back at how Azure Travelers began, our first study session, and the days we spent in Sapporo and Yoichi from January 11 to 16.

Table of Contents

• How Azure Travelers Began
• The Study Session
  • Event Overview
  • Creating the First Event with Sapporo Communities
  • Learning About Azure over Snacks
  • The Die Said Osaka, but Our Next Trip Was Kobe
• The Trip
  • January 11: From a Tokyo Sunset to Sapporo
  • January 12: Bar-Hopping Around Sapporo After Work
  • January 13: Hokkaido Shrine and the First Study Session
  • January 14: Yoichi Distillery
  • January 15–16: Heading Home Through Heavy Snow
• Looking Back

How Azure Travelers Began

To be honest, I was initially reluctant to start and run another community. Organizing even one event takes a surprising amount of work. Keeping a community going means finding venues, coordinating speakers, promoting events, running everything on the day, and handling countless other tasks.

Besides, Naoki was the one who suggested it.

Back in the CLR/H days, he was the kind of leader who would come up with a study session and then leave the organizers to run it. I could not help thinking, “Is this going to be another one of those ideas that makes life harder for the organizers?”

Still, nothing begins unless someone is willing to speak up. Being that person is also one of Naoki’s strengths.

We eventually agreed that it might be worth trying if we did not limit ourselves to Sapporo: we would travel to different places and hold study sessions together with the local communities. That was how Azure Travelers began.

The Study Session

Event Overview

Azure Travelers began as a community built around a simple idea: visit different regions and have fun running study sessions with the communities there. Our first destination was Sapporo.

The First Azure Travelers Study Session: Sapporo Trip with CLR/H, Kita-Azu, and Sapporo Azure Mokumoku-kai

• Date and time: Saturday, January 13, 2024, 12:00–18:30
• Venue: Sapporo Ubiquitous Co-creation Plaza U-cala (Sapporo Factory Ichijo Building, 1st floor)
• Admission: Free
• Theme: A range of Microsoft Azure features
• Hashtag: #AzureTravelers
• Event page: connpass

Posts from attendees that day are collected in this Posfie roundup. From setting up the venue to the sessions, snacks, and social gathering, it captures the atmosphere of the very first Azure Travelers event.

Creating the First Event with Sapporo Communities

We organized the first event with members of CLR/H, a Hokkaido community for development technologies; Kita-Azu, JAZUG’s Sapporo chapter; and Sapporo Azure Mokumoku-kai.

Schedule

Right from the start, the agenda covered a remarkably broad range of topics: Azure OpenAI, cost optimization, multi-tenant SaaS, Azure Policy, and Cosmos DB.

We also streamed the community introduction and panel discussion online. The recording is available on YouTube.

Learning About Azure over Snacks

At Azure Travelers, attendees visiting from different parts of the country are invited to bring regional treats and souvenirs to share during our lightning talks and “Snack Time.” Bringing something is entirely optional, but even at our first event we received more snacks than would fit on the table.

Azure Travelers is not just about listening to technical sessions. It is also about gathering around the snacks and talking with one another. That time together carried forward into later Azure Travelers events.

The Die Said Osaka, but Our Next Trip Was Kobe

At the end of the study session, we rolled a large die to decide our next destination. It landed on Osaka.

Then I decided I wanted to visit Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab KOBE, so we changed the next destination to Kobe.

We kept the idea of using a die to choose where to travel, but if somewhere else caught our interest, we would change the plan. That easygoing attitude is part of what makes Azure Travelers what it is. I wrote about our second event in the Kobe trip article.

The Trip

Azure Travelers is not about flying in for a study session and heading straight home. Eating, drinking, and taking photos in each place are all part of the experience. Our first trip ran from January 11 to 16, mostly in Sapporo with a side trip to Yoichi.

January 11: From a Tokyo Sunset to Sapporo

Tokyo’s sunset that day was spectacular. After watching the sky turn red, I headed to Haneda Airport.

I had some time at the airport, so I spent it photographing planes from the observation deck. I arrived in Sapporo at around midnight. I still had not eaten dinner, so I went to Jingisukan Daruma 5.5.

It was my first visit to Daruma. The jingisukan was delicious, of course, but I also loved the Korean seaweed I ordered with it. Arriving in Sapporo late at night and making jingisukan my first meal was a perfect way to begin the trip.

January 12: Bar-Hopping Around Sapporo After Work

I spent the entire day working. Once I was done, I went out for drinks with friends in Sapporo, starting with sashimi. Sashimi in Hokkaido really is delicious.

Our second stop was Morohaku, a place that feels like a sacred destination for sake lovers to me. That evening I had sake from Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery.

Our third stop was Beer Bar NORTH ISLAND (Tabelog), where we enjoyed craft beer and polpette.

I ended the night with hiyashi tanuki soba at Soba-dokoro Maruyama Main Store. It had been a full day of bar-hopping.

January 13: Hokkaido Shrine and the First Study Session

I got up early and headed to Hokkaido Shrine to take photos. I was looking for Shima-enaga long-tailed tits and Ezo squirrels.

I did not manage to find any Shima-enaga, but I did see a great spotted woodpecker and an Ezo squirrel. Walking through the snow in search of wildlife made for a distinctly Hokkaido morning.

For breakfast I went to Kita no Gourmet-tei. I had grilled hokke and crab soup before heading to the study session.

For lunch, I had miso ramen at Hokkaido Ramen Okuhara-ryu Kuraku, Sapporo Factory, in the same Sapporo Factory complex as the venue. This was a Hokkaido trip, so there was no such thing as too much miso ramen.

After the study session, our social gathering was at Izakaya Uodoraku. The botan shrimp on the sashimi boat platter was absolutely delicious.

We visited several more places together afterward and ended with miso ramen at Ramen Sora Main Store. A few days later, the main store was damaged by fire and temporarily closed. That bowl of ramen from the trip unexpectedly became a particularly vivid memory.

Before returning to the hotel, we also stopped at the nearby Guara mansion bar ＆ art gallery for whisky. Even on the day of the study session, we made the most of Sapporo’s nightlife right to the end.

January 14: Yoichi Distillery

The next day, we toured Nikka Whisky Yoichi Distillery.

I was the driver, so I could not take part in the tasting. Instead, I bought plenty of whisky to take home. Touring a distillery without drinking and choosing bottles to enjoy later has its own kind of fun.

Some people had early flights home, so we headed to New Chitose Airport and ate together at Matsuo Jingisukan, New Chitose Airport.

I was going to spend time with my daughter beginning the next day, so I returned to Sapporo from the airport. Dinner was miso ramen yet again, this time at Menbu Hachimakiya.

January 15–16: Heading Home Through Heavy Snow

I spent January 15 and 16 working and spending time with my daughter. On the 16th, we also went to Ramen Ginparou Ebetsu Main Store.

My flight home was scheduled to depart at 8:00 p.m., but heavy snow caused one delay after another. We finally took off at around 10:25 p.m. As we boarded, passengers were handed envelopes containing 10,000 yen.

While I waited, I ate ramen at Ramen Sora in New Chitose Airport. From the moment I arrived in Sapporo until the moment I left, this was a trip filled with miso ramen.

By the time I collected my luggage at Haneda Airport and made it outside, it was 12:17 a.m. The trains had already stopped running, and a long line had formed at the taxi stand. I did not get home until after 1:00 a.m.

Heavy snow and the long delay made the journey home difficult, but they also became part of an unforgettable first trip.

Looking Back

Azure Travelers grew out of the tension between worrying about how much work it takes to run a new community and knowing that nothing begins unless someone is willing to propose it.

We created a study session with Sapporo communities, gathered around snacks from across the country, and rolled a die to choose our next destination. The style that emerged at our first event has remained with Azure Travelers ever since.

Before and after the study session, we traveled around Sapporo and Yoichi, ate well, drank well, and took plenty of photos. The heavy snow made the journey home difficult, but as a first step, the trip contained everything that makes Azure Travelers what it is.