Empoy recounts his Sapporo moments

MANILA, Philippines — The multitudes who saw Kita Kita, still the highest-grossing indie film so far, remember Sapporo as the word emblazoned on the beer can a lovelorn Tonyo (Empoy Marquez’s character) sought solace from.

They also remember the flower garden bursting with vivid colors, Tonyo and Lea’s (Alessandra de Rossi) romantic boat ride, the mountain with a view, and other picturesque sights. This is the Sapporo City of Kita Kita fans’ dreams. This is where the film was shot in its entirety.

The miracle of Kita Kita has rubbed off on Sapporo as well. 

Thanks to the tourist surge due to Kita Kita, Philippine Airlines launched a direct flight from Manila to Hokkaido (Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido Island). The number of tourists from the Philippines rose by 35 percent last year.

A grateful Sapporo city government launched the “Sapporo Kita Kita, Sapporo City Promotion.” The campaign toasts everything Sapporo — its popular Snow Festival featuring enormous ice sculptures, the flower viewing season where one can gaze at the Sakura, the Maruyama Zoo, where polar bears swim in an underwater tunnel.

Empoy has his own interesting Sapporo stories to tell. He recalls wandering off to a surplus store where he let loose the child in him by buying Voltes V toys to bring home to the Philippines. The store owner was so amused, he gave Empoy souvenir wind chimes, which now tinkles everytime the wind passes through his mom’s home.

The 1,140-meter long Otaru Canal, where Empoy and Alessandra shot a romantic boat ride scene, so impressed the comedian he wishes all canals in the world were like that.

The sight of families enjoying a picnic in Odori Park, and doves joining them also thrilled Empoy. The picture of family joy and harmony with nature calmed his mind and fed his soul. 

Then, there’s Mt. Moiwa, whose chilly air Empoy managed to endure while wearing a banana costume to cheer up Lea.

“The wind threatened to blow away my costume,” he recalls in Fiipino. “I had to hold on to the iron railing.”

But nothing can beat the pleasant surprise Empoy got when he couldn’t locate his luggage in his hotel room. He found out that he shouldn’t have worried at all on his first day in the city.

“I was looking for my toothbrush the morning after,” he recounts. “When I looked out my window, the luggage was there, waiting!”

Sapporo Vice Mayor Koyu Kishi and Ryu Shibata, president of the Sapporo Tourist Association, have reason to be proud. Honesty is a prized virtue, especially for first-time tourists who don’t know the ways of a strange city. Honesty, more than the beautiful sights, will make visitors come back again and again.

That’s what Sapporo has shown an overjoyed Empoy, who won’t mind advising everyone to visit the city that made him a star, again and again.