Sapporo to Otaru – Episode 1 “The Chaos”
Otaru, a port city on Hokkaido (Japan’s northernmost island), lies northwest of Sapporo on Ishikari Bay. The city is known for glassworks, music boxes, and sake distilleries. Nishin Goten (“herring mansion”), a former fish processing plant built in 1897, explores the industry’s key role in the city’s earlier years. Completed in 1923, the Otaru Canal is now lined with cafes and shops in converted old warehouses.
Since my stay is in Odori Park, I started at Odori station and took Namboku line to Sapporo station, where I was supposed to take a JR train to Otaru. Once I reached Sapporo station, it took me a while to walk up the stairs and finally found platform 3 bound for Otaru. That one was out of service, so they switched to platform 4, which got delayed. When it arrived, it was a pushing contest just to get in first to grab empty seats. It was standing room only and a teenager occupied 2 seats because he had a lot of baggage. Luckily he got off early so I grabbed the window seat.