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A Journey Through Time in Otaru And Sapporo [My Japan Trip #2]
Mochi, Mochi, how are you’ll doing? Today, I have more adventures
in Japan to share with you! As you may recall from watching my last
videos, I visited there this past April. If you want to see the first part of
the series, please click here. Or, alternatively, you can watch the quick
recap that I will play on screen right now. [Music] So, as you can see, my family and I, we are now
about to reach our second stop in our Hokkaido pilgrimage: Otaru. This is also the place where
the story of Golden Kamuy begins, Golden Kamuy being my favorite franchise, as I mentioned in
the last video. It is sort of poetic we went from the end directly to the beginning. Hakodate,
that we just left, is where the manga ends. So for starters, let me
tell you a bit about Otaru. Otaru is a small harbor city, northwest
of Sapporo. Its Ainu original name, “Otarunai”, means “river flowing through sand”. Somewhere during the late Edo period, the village
was established by people who migrated to the area in search of herring. From then onwards, the
area was included in a shipping route called Kitamae-bune, who made the bridge between
Osaka and northern Japan. While all sorts of daily commodities were brought into Otaru,
the village would export seafood to Honshu. In 1871, Meiji era, the government
opened a colonization office in Sapporo, which established Otaru as the most important
port for the development of Hokkaido. Several financial institutions moved to the
area, leading to crescent prosperity. Soon after, a railway line was
built between Sapporo and Otaru, and operations began in November 1880.
Designed by American engineer Joseph Crawford, this line was called the Horonai Line, and it was
the first railway built in Hokkaido. At first, it was used to transport marine products and
coal, but after 1906, it also served as a means of transportation for people for almost a century.
Horonai closed in 1985, during the Showa period. A 1.6-kilometer section of this line, known
as the Temiya Railway, is now preserved in Otaru and open to visitors. The tracks, circuit
breakers, and other elements are still intact, so you can walk alongside it and
picture how it looked back then. I don’t know if this is the first time you’ve
heard of Otaru, but if not, you might associate the city with its iconic canal. The Otaru
Canal, 40-meters-wide, 1,314-meters-long, is the city’s most famous feature, as it gives
the place a sort of Venetian look. But this canal wasn’t always there. In actuality,
its existence only dates back to 1914. You see, up until a certain point in time, barges were used to unload cargo from the large
ships that would dock at the port. However, as the amount of cargo kept increasing,
barge traffic congestion became a problem. That’s why, in order to facilitate the process
of unloading and loading, the Japanese decided to create an artificial island. That way, unloading
operations could be carried out around this new piece of land. The water surface left between
the original wharf and the artificial island came to be known as the Otaru Canal. In other
words, the Otaru Canal is a human-made waterway. The artificial island took nine years to
craft, but it solved the traffic problem. After its completion in 1923, the canal
contributed to Otaru’s prosperity — for a while. Large vessels would unload their
goods onto smaller ships, which would in turn transport said goods to warehouses
along the canal. However, after the war, modern dock facilities started being built at
Otaru Port, thus rendering the canal obsolete. As sludge and garbage began to pile up, the
government made plans to reclaim the canal and build a three-lane road in its place. However,
the people from the city didn’t want that. They wanted to preserve this waterway and turn it into
a symbol of Otaru. So they launched a movement, which became known as the “Otaru Canal
Preservation Movement”. Needless to say, they won, because, as you will see if you
ever go there, the canal stands proud. The warehouses around it were also transformed
into museums, shops and restaurants. So, as you can see, the fishing industry,
especially when it comes to herring, played a major role in the history of Otaru in the early
days. The fish wasn’t just for human consumption, in fact, the majority was used to make
fertilizers instead. However, in the 1950s, the herring stocks started to suffer a significant
decline, leading to the collapse of the industry. Because of this, many crafters who use it to make glass buoys to keep fishing nets afloat
shifted to producing refined glassware. This is one of the reasons why Otaru is
also very well known for its glass work. The other reason is that electrification
was slow to arrive in Otaro. So the city’s residents were still using glass oil lamps
even after the turn of the century. Therefore, the glass industry was more of a
necessity there than in other places. Nowadays, the reputation of Otaru’s
glass attracts many tourists. Besides buying glassware at the many shops in the city, there are places where you can make your own
cups, bowls, or vases. The city also has a stained glass museum and a museum dedicated
to Venetian art. A bit out there, I know, but there was this guy, Kitaichi, a local glass
producer, that apparently really liked Venice. Still on famous museums, there is one dedicated to
money and banks, another dedicated to music boxes, yet another displaying the works of the novelists
and poets associated with Otaru, and the city museum, which is divided into two sections,
one on history and the other on railways. I actually really wanted to see the trains that
are on display at this last museum because, you guessed it, Noda, the author of Golden
Kamuy, visited it during his research. So the train that appears in the final arc is
modeled after the steam locomotive Shizuka-go, and the interiors are similar
to those of the I-1 train. Sadly, we didn’t have the time so I
never got to see those trains in person. Speaking of not having time, there’s
another place I would have liked to stop by: Mount Tengu, a mountain that towers
over the city of Otaru. The view the summit offers, it is said to be one
of Hokkaido’s three great night views. Now, is this why I wanted to go there?
No. While I’m sure the view is beautiful, what actually piqued my interest is
that at the top of this mountain, there is a ski museum. And inside this museum,
there is an exhibit called “Tengu no Yakata”, which displays around 700 Tengu
masks collected from all over Japan. And you know me (actually you don’t,
but never mind). I love mythology. I even chose Japanese folklore as a theme for
a project of mine. So obviously a place like this is right up my alley. But again,
there’s no time to visit everything. As for what else you can see in Otaro, there is
a lot. I can’t cover it all without boring you, I fear. So now with this
introduction out of the way, allow me to go back to me and my family
so you know what we actually visited. When we reached Otaru, it was
almost 4:00 in the afternoon. So, we headed straight to Old Aoyama Villa,
or must see destination. Part of episode two of the live-action Golden Kamuy series:
“Hunt of Prisoners in Hokkaido” takes place in this villa. We arrived there with just
an hour to spare, really cutting it close. The Old Aoyama Villa stands as a symbol of a
time when herring fishing was in its prime. The record of gains brought by a season’s
first haul, registered in the Taisho era, is of 560 thousand tons (which would
be worth over 168 billion yen today). With numbers such as these, it comes as
no surprise that those who controlled the herring market were very, very wealthy. One
such family was the Aoyama family, one of the three leading herring fishing tycoons. The other
two families were the Ibaraki and the Shiratori. During the Taisho era, the Aoyama controlled
a total of 10.5 “toh” of fishing operations, with a “toh” being a working unit with
25 to 100 fishermen. Each “toh” could catch up to 600.000 fish with
their nets in a single night, so… You can make the Math for yourself;
you will see how it starts to add up. In 1913 alone, the Aoyama family
made a fortune of 2.5 billion yen, by today’s standards, from the herring
caught in their fishing grounds. Back then, wealthy fishermen would
build large herring mansions, called Nishin Goten, to process the fish and to serve as
a residence for themselves and their employees. The Aoyama’s Nishin Goten was
nothing short of impressive, as you can imagine, and, for this reason,
it was preserved and moved to the Historic Village Open-Air Museum in Sapporo. Don’t
forget this, it will be important later. The Aoyama left behind more than just
a palatial herring mansion, though. Aoyama Masae, Masakichi’s daughter, was
just 17 years old when she visited the lavish mansion of the Honma family in
Sakata. She returned with a desire: for the Aoyama family to have a beautiful villa. So, in 1917, Masakichi began to turn the
project into a reality, something that was only possible because of all the money the
Aoyama family had built up over two generations. Masae was, of course, involved every
step of the way, offering guidance. Both Masakichi and Masae were artistically
inclined, with a love for beauty. They enjoyed calligraphy (sho) and making Japanese
paintings (nihonga). They wanted the villa to be completely different from the herring
mansion, which was grand, but practical. Masakichi hired the chief Imperial carpenter,
Nenosuke Saito, who, alongside 40 carpenters, plasterers and joiners, worked on the villa for
6 years. The whole thing cost about 310.000 yen, which might not seem like a
lot, but it was back then. The material that was used the most during
construction was keyaki (zelkova wood), which was imported from Sakata, the place where,
remember, there was that mansion Masae fell in love with. Besides zelkova wood, the project
also demanded Japanese cedar (for the ceiling), and rosewood, blackwood, Bombay
blackwood, and bamboo, for the insides. The roofs of Aoyama Villa are tiled, which is rare in Hokkaido because of all the
snow. This type of roofs is called kawara, and they are very typically Japanese. For
instance, you can find a lot of these in Kyoto. The floors and pillars are
all covered with lacquer, and the walls are plastered by hand
with shikkui, a Japanese material made from a mixture of hydrated lime and
calcium carbonate found in eggshells. Moreover, the corridor is one continuous
piece — there are no joints from one end to the other. When you step on it, it makes
a sound similar to a nightingale’s chirp. For that reason, these floors are called
Nightingale floors (uguisu bari). You might think it’s strange that anyone would
want the ground they’re standing on to chirp, but it makes sense when you think about the safety benefits like how much easier
it will be to spot intruders. And, of course, no Japanese house is complete
without its sliding doors, which are called fusuma. Aoyama Villa’s doors feature paintings and
calligraphy by the master artist Gyokudo Kawai and ten of his disciples. They stayed with Masakichi
for about a month, working on the pieces. The house is surrounded by a courtyard karesan-sui
style, most commonly known as a zen garden: a composition of stones, sand and pine
trees. The surrounding gardens, they change depending on the season: cherry blossoms
in spring, hydrangeas and lilies in summer, and Japanese lilies in fall. There are also
peonies, blooming from May to June. Of course, it can happen that you might fail to catch
any of these, which is what happened to us. Photos are not allowed inside,
by the way. So everything I have been showing you was taken outside, in the garden, or in the waiting room. But the inside of the
house is really pretty too as you can imagine. There is a room that depicts
the cycle of life of peonies, from when they are buds until they
die, and in another room the Eight Immortals (Baxian) of Chinese mythology
can be seen spread over thirteen panels. Oh, and one last thing. The Villa has a
restaurant where you can ask for the Nishin soba, which is a soba dish topped with herring. So, if
you are to visit this mansion at around lunchtime, which we didn’t, sadly, there is no
other food that fits the occasion better. After leaving the villa, we headed
to Otaru Niikuraya, a sweets shop, because we were a bit hungry after having an
‘on-the-road’ lunch. Because of its history of commercial prosperity, Otaru is a great
place to find traditional Japanese sweets, with its plenty shops that
specialize in confectionery. I chose this place specifically because
I knew I could find what I wanted there: soy sauce covered dango called mitarashi
dango. The same the characters Sugimoto and Tsurumi share at a certain point in the story.
Those tense moments before it all goes down. Dango are rice flour balls that are
often served on a skewer. The Niikuraya shop offers several types of dango: from the
most famous tri-colored one (hanami dango), to the covered in black sesame, white bean
paste, adzuki bean paste, or matcha bean paste. My brother wanted to try the hanami, but sadly
it was already sold out, so he got some candy instead. Besides the mitarashi dango, which
was my goal, I also got one of those covered in black sesame. just for the sake of adding some
variety. It turns out that the mitarashi are the better option though. They are a bit too sweet
for my taste, but they are good nevertheless. I also bought a sakura mochi to eat the following
day because I just had to. They look so elegant wrapped in leaves. I entertained the idea of
also buying these ones: mochi whose surface resembles the skin of a seal. They are just too
cute. But alas, we had too many sweets already. That night and the following night, we were
guests in the home of a Japanese couple. It was a new experience for us. The last time we
were in Japan, we stayed one night at a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, and spent a few
days at a friend’s house in Yokohama. However, the Ryokan environment is not
as casual and our friend is fluent in English as she has family in
America. So, communication was easy. This couple, on the other hand,
didn’t speak English or Portuguese, which presented the perfect opportunity for me.
They had a speech to text translation device, so they were prepared to receive us. However, I still made an effort to overcome my
shyness and communicate in the “normal” way. The lady, she was incredibly helpful. I couldn’t
complete a single sentence without her instantly correcting my speech. Oh, if I had stayed there
for a few weeks, how my Japanese would have improved. Her correcting me all the time wasn’t
just helpful, but also sort of flattering in a way. Do you get it? Because I mean, it implies
that she thinks I’m worth teaching, right? that I know enough that I can understand
why I’m being corrected. By answering me with “shichi” when I just used “nana” in a
sentence, she is basically assuming I know certain numbers have more than one pronunciation.
By correcting my particles, she’s assuming I know what particles are. So yeah, I did find it more
flattering than if she had just brushed it off. And she was good at judging my skills on
top of that. Sometimes she would talk to me, answer me, and make me questions. Other
times, she wouldn’t bother and would go straight to using the translation device. For
example, when she wanted to tell me that we would have bread with raisins for breakfast
the next morning, she spoke directly to her device without attempting to talk to me first.
This was probably because she rightly assumed that I wouldn’t know the Japanese word
for raisins. I know ringo, suika, momo, but not raisins. I went to look it up afterwards
and turns out that their most used term for raisins is borrowed from English: reezun. But I
do admit if she had said something like, “Tomorrow for breakfast there will be bread with reezun.
Is that okay?” I would have been super lost. “Japangrish” truly is a language in its own right. The thing with borrowed words is that you
have to recognize they are borrowed words first. Sometimes, it’s very easy to mistake
them for Japanese words that aren’t in your vocabulary yet. Speech doesn’t come
in Katakana or Hiragana, after all. In any case, staying with the couple
was a very enriching experience, especially for me. But the rest of my family
liked it too. I mean, how could we not? They had cats. You don’t have cats wandering
around in a hotel. Cats make everything better just by existing. I will never not get
excited when visiting a place that has cats. We dropped our things in our rooms,
then left for a stroll along the canal. Otaru is currently suffering from overtourism,
seeing as it is the second most visited city in Hokkaido after Saporu, but being a lot
smaller than the latter. Its high popularity is partially due to some famous movies and TV
dramas having scenes set there, such as an old movie from the 90’s, Love Letter, the recent
drama released last year, Beyond Goodbye, The Silence of the Sea and My Sunshine,
also from 2024, First Love, among others. However, most people visit during the
winter, namely when the Otaru Snow Light Path Festival (Otaru Yuki Akari no Michi) is
happening, in February. During the festival, the city becomes full of lights and gets
decorated with small snow statues. Besides the official lights of the event, the locals
also contribute with their own lanterns, which they display in front
of their houses and shops. Since we went in April, the roads were all very peaceful. There were no crowds or
lines anywhere. And in the Villa, we were the only visiting at that hour, so
we had the entire place all to ourselves. It was the same all over Hokkaido. Plenty of
space everywhere. And when it wasn’t raining, the weather was actually quite nice. That or my
heavy blanket of a coat was really that good. We strolled along the canal,
admiring the warehouses and the gas lights before picking
a restaurant to have dinner at. While we were pacing around, we found this
statue of a dog. I later found out this is a memorial to Bunko, which was the mascot of
the Otaru Fire Brigade Department between the years of 1914 and 1938. When still a puppy,
he was saved from the burned down ruins of a property and cared for by a fireman.
That’s when his life as a mascot began. We ended up having dinner at the Takinami
restaurant. My father and I ate a Shirabeshi Cotriard, which is a milk and cream soup with
seafood from Otaru. It had shrimp, fish cake, soft white fish, and clams. It was quite
good. And I’m saying this as a person who doesn’t like fish. I like seafood, but not
fish. And even I thought the soup was tasty. My mother, she ate this dish. I have no clue what
kind of specimen this is. I thought about asking the staff, but it was already night time, so
I didn’t feel particularly talkative. If any of you recognize what kind of fish this is,
feel free to tell me in the comments below. When we stood up to leave the restaurant, that’s
when the cook left the kitchen and asked where we were from. They probably had been trying
to guess all the time we were eating. Were we Russian? But we didn’t look Russian. We
were so tiny, like sardines. We exchanged a few words. Turns out that they had never had any
Portuguese people in their restaurant before. We were the first. Look at us being the face of our
country and bringing our flag to new places… And our blood apparently, I got my face all
bitten by mosquitoes that night. I really can’t be near any body of still water. No matter
the season or how many clothes I have on me, I always end up with nasty bites. I’m like a
protagonist on a Young Adult novel, my blood bringing all the vampires to the yard. Except
these vampires are tiny and ugly and their bites sting. I had already predicted I was going to be
bitten in Otaru though, so I had come prepared with all sorts of creams. All in all, I’m glad
the bites weren’t alarming. I can get reaaally bad reactions if I get one bite too many; one trip
I made to Italy almost got ruined because of that. But I digress. The next morning, we had a Western-style breakfast
at the Yasudas’ house, consisting of bread with raisins, butter, and jam. Most of us drank coffee
or coffee with milk, my brother got orange juice instead. We had the company of Yuki and Sakura,
the cats. Yuki is the most adventurous one, while Sakura is more reserved. There is also
a third cat, but she was nowhere to be seen. The couple also has a dog —
a Shiba Inu, I would guess, given its size and overall appearance. It
could be an Akita, but those are larger, so I think it is more likely to be a Shiba.
The dog cannot be touched and is not allowed to walk around us because he may bite and be
aggressive. He starts barking and growling when attention is given to the cats, for he is
jealous. Even though they are different breeds, the Yasuda’s dog reminded me of Ryu from Golden
Kamuy. Ryu is a Hokkaido Dog though, an Ainu-ken. We asked the couple if there was a place we
could wash our clothes and they kindly offered their washing machine. The lady gave me a detailed
explanation on how to use it and I got maybe half of it. So when she asked me if I had understood
her of I obviously answered with… wakata… Look at me, integrating so well into Japanese
culture. And 10 minutes later I had to go get her again because I had no idea where to put
the detergent. So much for having understood. We dedicated the next day to Sapporo, which
is just a short road trip away from Otaru. Sapporo is the biggest city in Hokkaido, and the fifth-most populous in Japan. Its
Ainu name is “Sat Poro Pet”, which means “dry, great river”, since Sapporo lies within
the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River. As with the other Hokkaido regions,
Sapporo was once a plain inhabited by the Ainu. During the Edo period, the Matsumae
clan built some trading posts in the area, but these were scarce. It was just in 1866
that things began to change and some early settlers started to establish a village
there. Two years later, “Sapporo” was born. This was the year when the new Meiji government
decided to change the administrative center of Hokkaido from Hakodate to the Ishikari
Plain (which is the Sapporo region). While Hokkaido is dominated by mountains, the Ishikari plane presents an exception for
it provides an abundance of flat well-drained land. This is why the Japanese chose it
as the new capital. Securing these lands was the next logical step if they wanted
to continue expanding. And so they did. The city is made up of blocks
because it was built on a grid layout. Construction began around Odori
Park, which remains the heart of Sapporo to this day. The park hosts a variety of
events and festivals throughout the year, the most famous of which is the annual
Sapporo Snow Festival, held in February. This event attracts over 2 million tourists
each year. Alongside the lights, which are on all winter long, people visiting Sapporo at
this time can also enjoy elaborate snow and ice statues. Even if you have never heard of this
event, you might have seen photos of some of these statues online. So now you know where to
find them. Of course, the statues do not make themselves. They are the result of the combined
efforts of the citizens and the Japanese army. In May, the Sapporo Lilac Festival offers visitors
the chance to enjoy flowers, wine, and live music. Then, in June, two festivals take place: the
Yosakoi Soran Festival and the Hokkaido Shrine Festival. The former is based on a traditional
Japanese song called “Sōran Bushi” and features dancing competitions, while the latter
features a parade of portable shrines. As for the Summer Festival, it
consists of a number of fairs, including one wholly dedicated to beer where
people can enjoy drinks from Japan’s leading brewers as well as from other parts of
the world. There is also a parade of women dressed as courtesans from the Edo
period, which takes place at Susukino, Sapporo’s entertainment district. Furthermore,
night sales are held at the Tanuki Koji Street, which is, of course, decorated for the occasion.
Tanuki Koji is one of Hokkaido’s oldest shopping streets. Dating back to 1873, it spans around
900 meters and contains approximately 200 shops. The summer festival ends with the Bon Odori, where people celebrate with
dances and drum performances. Finally, there is also the Sapporo
Autumn Festival in September and the Christmas market in December,
similar to those in Germany. We didn’t attend any of these festivals because
my family and I visited Hokkaido in April, but I still wanted to let
you know that they exist. In any case, Sapporo grew in influence over
time, eventually replacing Otaru as Hokkaido’s commercial and business hot spot. After the Second
World War, two airports were built in the area: Okadama Airport, which offers regional flights
within Hokkaido and Tohoku; and New Chitose Airport, a larger international airport located
in the city of Chitose, 50 kilometers away. In 1972, Sapporo hosted the Winter Olympics.
These were the first winter Olympics held in Asia. It is said that, by 2030, the Hokkaido Shinkansen
line, which, as you know, connects Honshu and Hakodate, will expand to also include Sapporo,
which would then become the new terminal stop. Besides Odori Park, Sapporo is home to
many other parks, such as the Moerenuma Park (which contains a huge pyramid structure),
the Nakajima Park, the Maruyama Park (where you can find the famous Hokkaido Jingu shrine) and
the Shiroi Koibito Park, which is famous for its chocolate and its Western-style buildings.
Personally, I find this one quite lovely, it’s the one I would have chosen to visit
if I had had more time. Another interesting one is the park that surrounds the Sapporo Art
Museum, where you can find outdoor sculptures. Speaking of Western-style buildings, the former
Hokkaido Government Office is quite impressive, and the Clock Tower (Tokei-dai)
is one of Sapporo’s landmarks. So, they are probably worth checking out, especially
since they are not far from Sapporo Station. Then, depending on how interested you are in the
city’s history, you might want to visit Hokkaido University. It has a huge, beautiful campus and a
museum where you can learn more about the place. There is also another campus, in Hakodate, but
Sapporo’s is the more impressive of the two. At its foundation in 1876, the university
was called Sapporo Agricultural College, but it has had many names since
then. Important figures from the USA were invited to help found and develop this
institution, among them, Dr. William S. Clark, who became famous for the quote, “Boys be
ambitious,” which became the university’s motto. You can find a statue of Dr. Clark in the
Hitsujigaoka Observatory, but be aware that there is an entry fee. This is something that
blindsides many people. On the bright side, you also get access to a museum about Sapporo’s
Snow Festival. There are also winter activities if you happen to visit during the snowy season,
as well as places to get something to eat. And if you’re after panoramic views,
you can go up the Sapporo TV tower, which stands in the middle of Odori Park
at the height of around 90 m. Or you can head to Mount Moiwa, which offers a
great view of the city from above. There are many other places
I didn’t mention. After all, Saporro is a big city, especially when
it comes to museums. There are plenty: a History and Archaeology Museum, an Olympics
Museum, a Dairy Farming Museum, to name a few. The places we visited were the Sapporo Historical
Open Air Museum and the Sapporo Beer Museum. The Sapporo Historical Open Air Museum opened
in 1983 and it features a total of 52 buildings with historical significance that were relocated
here and restored. These buildings represent the history of *HOKKAIDO from 1968 to the 1920s. The
village is divided in four sections: the town, the fishing village, the farm village, and
the mountain village. Inside the buildings, you can find fully furnished divisions, and
objects (tools, pieces of clothing, equipment, etc.) help you understand how people lived
back then and how industries operated. Some exhibits even contain mannequins.
Now, here’s the catch. The majority of the labels are in Japanese. Only the
bare essential is translated to English. This is very common in Hokkaido. And you
can consider yourself lucky if there are any translations at all because some
other places don’t even have that. You are also given a pamphlet explaining
what each of the buildings is and a map. One thing you need to be aware of is that you
have to take off your shoes before entering the buildings. This is common in Japan, of course,
but here you need to do it dozens of times. So, some planning is necessary if you want to save
time. So, that’s why I bought these boots. They were less than €30. So, not very expensive, and
might have been one of the best purchases I’ve made. Not only they are super comfortable and
warm, but I can take them off without having to sit down. And when I want to put them on, I
can just hop into them. I had no boots for cold weather cuz I never had that necessity. But these
are great. I can’t wear them where I live because even the winters are too hot, but I’m planning to
move north. So, I will definitely need them again in the future. They are not waterproof, but that’s
basically the only negative thing about them. But anyway, all of this to say that visiting Japan means taking your shoes off
a lot. So, bear that in mind. The day we visited the village, it was
raining and the wind was blowing strongly. Not the best day for outdoor activities, but
all things considered, it could have been worse. Because of the inclement weather though, there
were no horse-drawn streetcars in circulation. Yes, the village has a horse-drawn streetcar that
goes up and down the main street. In the winter, during weekends, national holidays and the
Sapporo Snow Festival, the streetcar gets replaced by a sleigh. Because of this, we
thought the village would be much bigger than it actually is and were worried about how
long it would take to travel between buildings, but everything is very well arranged,
and the buildings are all close together. When we entered the main building, which is a
recreation of the Sapporo Station of 1908, we were greeted by a Golden Kamuy exhibit. You see, almost
all of the buildings that are in this Village were used as settings by Satoru Noda when he created
his manga. So when you look through the pages you can find in the background not only the outside
of these buildings, but the insides as well. They even tell you at the entrance what buildings
appeared in the manga and in which volume. Doing a side-by-side comparison between the real
life scenarios and their manga/anime equivalents would take way too much time. And this video
is already shaping up to be the longest of the series so far. So, I will only cover some of
these, the ones that I find more emblematic. But I will leave two links in the description
to videos of Japanese people who did the whole side-by-side comparison thing for pretty
much all the places in the village. To get the full picture, be sure to watch both videos. If
you’re a Golden Kamuy fan, that is, of course. The Golden Kamuy exhibition also
contained the sled that was used in the shooting of the live action movie
(which was partly filmed in this Village), as well as the autographs of the actors and
actresses who are part of the cast. Left to right, top to bottom: Sugimoto / Asirpa /
Ogata / Shiraishi / Tsukishima / Tsurumi / Hijikata / Tanigaki / Ushiyama / Nagakura
– Kiroranke / Inkarmat / Ienaga / Suzukawa I apologize if I got any of them wrong. If so,
don’t forget to correct me in the comments. Names are one of the hardest things
to translate from Japanese because there is no context. You have to
know how to read the kanji. Not to mention that there are different
readings for almost every kanji so… I used Google Translate, but we know
how amazing Google Translate is. Actually, this reminds me of a funny story. In one of the hotels we stayed in, I was
having trouble with the AC, so I called the staff for help. They tried to tell me something
through a speech to text translation device, but the translation was complete nonsense.
Then they tried to translate to Portuguese and it got even worse. Now the fan at teeth
and claws. I was ready to lock in and ask them to speak to me in Japanese. Then the AC started
working. Seems some things do solve themselves. And speaking of Japanese adventures, it was at
the Sapporo Historical Village that I experienced firsthand how inconvenient it is that the Japanese
language is so dependent on context. I wasn’t sure whether I was allowed to take photos of the
Golden Kamuy exhibition. There weren’t any signs prohibiting it, but the Japanese often
have permission signs too. And in this case, there were no signs at all. So I thought:
“might as well ask just to be sure”. “Photo ii desu ka?” – I asked. I could have used
the word “shashin”, but I think photo is one of those words that the Japanese are familiar
with and might even use themselves. I might be wrong but that wasn’t the problem anyway.
The problem was that the staff thought I was asking if he could take our photo. And we went
along with it because it would have been too embarrassing to clear up the misunderstanding at
that point. But yeah, you should be careful with those very simple sentences that can be taken
in many different ways. But then the longer you make your sentences, the more likely you
are to mess up or sound very unnatural, so… We left the Golden Kamuy area behind
and started exploring the buildings. This is a reconstruction of the
Hokkaido Development Comission Main Sapporo Office from 1973.
The original burned down in 1979. This is the Urukawa Subprefectural
Government Building. Satoru Noda used it as a model for the Sapporo
World Hotel, where Sugimoto, Asirpa, Shiraishi and Kiroranke spend the night after
reaching Sapporo on their journey together. The hotel is run by a beautiful woman named
Ienaga, who has more to her than meets the eye. Inside the Urukawa building, a horse carriage
and a rickshaw are preserved. The rickshaw had a function equivalent to the taxis of
today and they were used in Hakodate, Sapporo and Otaru from the middle of the
Meiji period onwards. The one in exhibition was used for commercial purposes by
a store owner called Saijo Buhei. Do you remember when I talked about the
Temiya line, the railway line that was built between Sapporo and Otaru? This
is the residence of its stationmaster, the person who was in charge of the Otaru
station. It was built in 1884, and moved here. This building was the residence
of the late Naritoyo Fukishi, a pioneer of Japanese meteorological
observation. Inside, you can see some instruments like a theodolite, used to
measure angles, and a trigonometry book. This place was used as the model
for Hikijata’s group hideout, and the room gave us gems like Hijikata relaxing
on his chair or Ogata trying to stay warm. We are now approaching a body of
water, meant to represent the sea. It’s the Fishing Village. Here, you
can find the Tsuchiya’s Storehouse, which was used to store fish, processed
marine products and fishing tools. And do you remember the Aoyama family,
the ones that had that beautiful Villa we visited earlier? The facilities here are their
empire. This is where the fishermen would stay, sleep and eat during the herring fishing season, and there were also storage houses
for nets, tools, rice, and boats. The main house, which was used
to accommodate the fishermen, makes a lot of appearances in the Golden Kamuy
story, specifically during the Kazuo Henmi Arc. SSugimoto, Asirpa and Shiraishi head to the coast
hoping to find a serial killer named Kazuo Henmi. It’s herring season, so lots of people
are temporarily working there for one of the big families that control the fishing
market, and Henmi is hiding among them. Shiraishi, the only one who knows the face of
the criminal, gets separated from the group, and Asirpa and Sugimoto end up coincidentally meeting
the killer, without knowing who he really is. Some famous scenes that happen here
include Henmi suffocating a fisherman who had stayed behind to rest from
a cold, and the killer sharing a meal of white rice (which was rarer
back then) with Sugimoto and Asirpa. Another room in this building serves as the
setting for a flashback episode from Ogata’s life. Likewise, in another flashback, you can see
the kitchen where Ogata’s mother used to cook, which is modeled after the kitchen of the
Akiyama Family House. In a Japanese kitchen you could find tools such as iron pots, kettles,
and water jugs, as well as a kamado hearth. The typical meal consisted of miso soup and rice,
accompanied by fish and pickles or vegetables boiled in soy sauce. It was only at the end of the
19th century that Western-style food (red meat, dairy products, tomato, cabbage, and so
on) started being introduced in Japan, thanks to campaigns by the Kaitakushi government.
And with those foods, western-kitchen-tools also started to make an appearance in the Japanese
homes (frying pans, large dishes, spoons, etc). We visited some more interesting buildings,
such as the Fujiwara Cart and Sleigh Factory, the Watanabe and Takeoka’s
groceries and the Ōishi Sweet Shop. The Fujiwara Cart and Sleigh Factory
was built in 1903 at Moseushi, by an immigrant from the Hyōgo prefecture. It
survived for 3 generations, and this current building you are seeing is a reconstruction.
Inside, there are labels explaining how this industry worked. For making the sleigh
runners, for example, which are those parts of the sleigh that touch the ground
and allow the sleigh to slip though the ice, the workers would first soften the wood using
steam, then bend it and shape it with a lathe, and strung it until dry. Pieces would be
matched in pairs according to their curvatures. The Watanabe Grocery Store used
to be located in Nakatonbetsu, which used to be a very active town in the
1890s. These were the days of the gold rush, when people flocked to Hokkaido to pan for
gold. In 1916, the railway reached the town, establishing it as one of Hokkaido’s hubs.
The Watanabe Grocery Store had two floors: the ground floor, where business was conducted,
and the upper floor, where goods were stored. At the back of the building, there used to
be a storehouse and the owner’s residence. The Takeoka’s is another Grocery Store from
around the same time, founded by a family of prestige that had left Awaji-shima to establish
themselves in Shizunai, Hidaka district. The store opened in 1882, and a bigger version of
it (the one you can see right now) was built in 1898. Here you could find items such as clothes,
cereals, sake, medicine, kerosene, and much more. The Ōishi Sweet Shop was founded by Taizō Ōishi, a confectioner who left Sapporo to start a
new life in Obihiro. He ran the shop from 1925 to 1955. ‘Ōishi’ is a fitting name for
a sweet maker — I can’t help but say what’s on everyone’s minds! Next to the shop, there is
a small sweets factory, and you can go inside. Then, we finally got to see one of the buildings
I was more excited about: Yamamoto’s Barber Shop. This shop is from the Taishō era, 1920’s, and it
moved around several times before ending up here. So this is one of those buildings that
isn’t a reconstruction, but the original. This barber shop appears in Golden Kamuy, in
an OVA called ‘The Barato Bodyguards’. Despite being in an OVA, the scene in which Ogata
visits the barber shop and then threatens and stabs a police chief in the chin with a
pair of scissors has become relatively famous. One of the last buildings we saw before rushing
to get lunch (since it was late afternoon and we were worried the restaurant would close) was
the police box at Minami Ichi-jō. It was in use until 1970, and it used to be located
by the Sōsei riverside, here in Sapporo. My parents and I asked for the
menu set, which looked like this: miso soup, pickles, mini pancakes with sauce,
fish cake skewers (also glazed in soy-sauce), and inside this bowl there was rice with fish. I just want to turn your attention to this grey
food right here. This is called a “Konnyaku” (which means Devil’s Tongue, a rad name).
This jelly is made from the Amorphophallus konjac plant, which is native to Southeast
Asia. This was my first time trying konnyaku. It has a bland taste and an interesting
texture. I’m not using ‘bland’ as an insult, by the way. I genuinely like bland food; it’s
something people don’t seem to appreciate enough, in my opinion. I just found out that, apparently,
konjac fruit jelly is banned in the European Union for being a choking hazard, which might
explain why I never even knew it was a thing. And like… How is this a greater choking hazard
than prosciutto, for example? That thing is not like regular ham, you chew and chew and
it’s never ready to go down. F* prosciutto! Anyway, I also asked for a side of
cheese potato balls. You can’t go wrong with cheese potato balls. And
my brother asked for a regular ramen. When we went to get our meal, my father asked the
service girl if we could have coffee after our meal in English. I could have easily translated
this to Japanese, but when my father asked the girl if she had understood, she replied,
“Wakata.” She seemed confident, too. Then she proceeded to give us our meal with the coffee.
I’m not retelling this because we got upset or anything like that. It’s just coffee. We don’t
mind drinking them a little cold. I just found it funny the girl went through the same situation as
I earlier with the washing machine. The Japanese seem to have a tendency to nod and go along with
what you are saying even if they don’t understand what you’re saying. This is just an educated
guess because it happened more than once to us. I can relate, though. It’s awkward
when the other person talks and talks, only for you to end up replying with a dumb
“Huh?” or a humble “Can you repeat that? I didn’t understand a word you just said”. So, instead,
you try to guess and hope you’re not wrong. There was a little shop next to the restaurant.
So while the rest of my family finished eating, I went to take a look. I ended up making an impulse
purchase and bought this Shima Enaga Egg Toy. Apparently, if I put the egg in water, it will
crack and a baby bird will emerge, which will then grow into an adult. The old process can take up
to 10 days, but since it’s so hot, it might take less than that. Maybe 7 days or so. We will see.
I haven’t done one of these since I was a child. After lunch, we didn’t have much time left
and it started raining more heavily. Sadly, this means I don’t have much footage
to show you. We were running from one spot to another trying to keep as dry as
possible. Let me see what I have for you. I found the inside of this building, Dr. Kondō’s
Clinic, quite lovely. It has an antique apothecary vibe for sure. The building consists of two
structures, both taken from Furubira, Shiribeshi District: the clinic itself, made from wood, built
in 1919, and the attached stone storage house, which was the Doctor’s personal library.
Both of these were in use until 1958. You can also find this room in Golden Kamuy, inside Edogai’s house, Edogai being a
taxidermist who has a very… unusual hobby, let’s leave it at that. He might be
based on Ed Gein, Norman Bates, or both. And here is the room where Ienaga
recovers after the Sapporo’s Hotel explosion. This bed looks harder than
finding a job in the current market. By the way, speaking of Edogai, this
is the room where Tsukishima was, ready to snipe him should negotiations
fail and Tsurumi find himself in danger. It’s the residence of the
stationmaster, the one we saw earlier. The Sanmasu Kawamoto Buckwheat Noodle Shop
was built around 1909 and used to be located in Otaru. If you wanted to eat some noodles,
you would be directed to the second floor, where your meal would be served to you.
The second floor was also used for parties. Right before he is captured by Tsurumi’s
men, Sugimoto goes to this restaurant to eat nishin soba. This event occurs early on in
the manga, when Asirpa and Sugimoto are in Otaru. As we made our way up the street, we came across
several vans and a film crew packing away their equipment. I couldn’t help but wonder if we had
just crossed paths with the people filming the second Golden Kamuy movie. After all, there
are some rumors that filming began at the end of 2024. I thought about asking, but didn’t
want to bother them, so I let it go. Besides, I don’t know if they can even disclose that
sort of thing, and I would hate to put someone in a tough spot. But now I will be left forever
wondering. Then again, what are the odds, right? Anyway, after this incident, we arrived at the
farm village section of the museum. And at the entrance, there was this tower, which is very
similar to the one Ogata, our favorite sniper, uses as a strategic high point during a
fight between two rival families. This happens during the “The Barato Bodyguards” OVA,
the same one that has that “Barber Shop” scene. Then we got to visit another
of the buildings I was looking forward to the most: the Houseikan Silkworm House. The Silkworm House was built in 1905 in Urausu, Kabato County. This is where silkworms
were raised and their eggs collected to be sold to sericulturists, who
would go on to produce raw silk. There are two ways to raise silkworms: on shelves
or on flat surfaces. Most farmers used shelves. They would feed the silkworms mulberry
leaves and clean their cages daily, removing plant debris and excrements.
The silkworms were cared for for 30 days, after which they would
begin to make their cocoons. Initially, mulberry leaves were picked from wild
mulberries that grew in the mountains and fields. But as sericulture became more more popular,
people began to cultivate superior varieties. The best mulberry leaves were thick and
round in shape. The leaves were picked, laid on straw mats in storage rooms,
and covered with wet cloths to prevent them from wilting. When it was time
to use them to feed the silkworms, they were placed on a cutting board in
layers of four or five and cut into strips. After 7 days, the cocoons were ready to
be selected because at around day 10, that’s when the pupae hatch and become moths.
The ones that met the specific quality criteria were called “seed cocoons” and these were
the ones that would be sold to silkworm farmers for commercial silk production.
Separating the males from the females was also necessary and for that there was a
specific instrument that was used: this one. This instrument, along with
the Silkworm Farm as a whole, appears in the fourth season of Golden
Kamuy, in an episode called ‘Cocoon’, in which the tattooed criminal
Waichirou Sekiya captures Hijikata. To save him, Kadokura agrees to play
Sekiya’s game. Sekiya is an expert in poisons and is obsessed with luck. So he
poisons some of the cocoons on the device, spins it and challenges Kadokura to
pick one. If Kadokura chooses correctly, Sekiya will then eat the cocoon opposite
the one he chose, thus poisoning himself. Anyway, back to the process of raising silkworms. After hatching, the moths were allowed to mate, and then 28 would be placed on a frame set (a
frame placed over a cardboard) to lay eggs. Meanwhile, the selected cocoons were boiled in
an iron pot, their ends collected in a drawstring and spun into thread using a reeling machine. The
reeling machine was invented in the Joshu region (now Gunma Prefecture) towards the end of the
Edo period. Before then, a simple reel called an ‘ushikubi’ was used and the thread was twisted and
wound by hand in a process known as hand spinning. During the Meiji era, Western silk-reeling
techniques were introduced to Japan and Tate Saburo invented a foot-operated silk-reeling
machine that was used in homes across the country. I translated all of this from Japanese, by
the way. So, I hope I did a good enough job. The reason why I found all of this particularly
interesting is because I used it to raise silkworms when I was a child, about eight or nine
years old, if memory serves me right. It was not for silk production. They they were just pets. For
creatures so small, they take a lot of work. There was a single mulberry tree in town and we had to
collect its leaves on a regular basis. So needless to say, we grew out of it rather quickly, but
it was still a valuable experience nonetheless. The last building we visited before heading back
was the Ogawa Family Dairy Barn. The Dairy Barn was built in the 1920’s, by Sansaku Ogawa, which
used plans from the USA in its design. That is why the Barn has this balloon structure,
developed in the U.S. in the 19th century. Hokkaido’s livestock farming began with the
raising of beef cattle for foreign ships, following the opening of Hakodate’s port. Then, in
the Meiji era, the Hokkaido Development Commission conducted breeding tests on imported cattle at
the Third Palace Garden in Tokyo. After that, livestock farming was officially
introduced to Hokkaido. From 1873 to 1875, government-run ranches and testing
stations produced the first butter. From the beginning, the main
goal was to produce raw milk, and the surplus milk was the one used to
make the other dairy products. But then, as the number of dairy cows increased (from the
mid-Meiji period onwards), processed products such as butter, cheese, and condensed milk became
more popular, leading to where we are today. When we left the barn, we had to retrace our
steps because the mountain village was sealed off to the public. The Urakawa church and the
second floor of the Hirose Photo studio were also closed, which is a shame because they
are also very popular Golden Kamuy sites. But I got to see a lot and I loved
the village. Out of all the places in Hokkaido that we visited, this
was one of my favorites for sure. My mom actually had to remind me that the shop was
going to close soon to get me to hurry up. It was very effective. It made me run towards the exit
at light speed. You see, there are a lot of places that sell Golden Kamuy merch, but the historical
village has one of the biggest selection of items. So, because I forced… I mean… convinced my parents to watch Golden Kamuy,
they wanted to get something too. My mom’s favorite character is Asirpa, so she
got a bunch of small pieces featuring her. She also got an Asirpa Kewpie. And my brother,
even though he didn’t watch Golden Kamuy, got a Tsurumi one. My father got these cookie
bags based on the characters clothing, namely Asirpa’s and Sugimoto’s. I wanted something a bit
more original, so I went for this Retar’s oven glove instead. It’s now one of my favorite pieces
of merchandise. If there is one thing I love, is merch I can use. I also bought these two exclusive
Golden Kamuy themed books about Ainu culture, one bigger and one smaller, both in Japanese. When
the employee saw me coming with these two books, he looked at the bigger one, looked at me, and
asked if I was sure that I wanted to buy it. Because, in his words, it is quite hard. You see,
the books were sealed in plastic, so you couldn’t look inside to see their contents. So, I do
appreciate his concern. He was absolutely right, by the way, I cannot read any of it. But I
didn’t buy them under the impression that I could. I’m happy just to have them. Besides,
I can’t read them yet. The key word being yet. Give me a few years and it might be a different
story. And regardless, it’s good to have goals. These are going straight to the pile of books I
can’t read yet. Yes, I actually do have such a pile. I have another Japanese book in that pile:
Tokyo from my Balcony. The cool thing about this one is that it’s written in both Portuguese
and Japanese. So, it will definitely be the first book I pick up once I move from
manga to books, which will take a while. In that pile, I also have books in
German. Do I know German? No, not yet. but I will eventually. The reason why I’m not
learning German yet is because I want to reach a somewhat intermediate level in Japanese first.
You don’t want to hop between languages too much, but you also don’t want to get stuck in one
language forever just because you can reach perfection. Besides, there’s learning the
language and then there’s maintenance. So, you have to keep that in mind
too. Like here, let me show you. I’m currently reading three books: one on
Nordic mythology which I’ve almost finished; one containing Luso-Brazilian Gothic
tales; and The Handmaid’s Tale, which I recently found in a supermarket in
Spain. The first two are in Portuguese and the Handmaid’s Tale is in Spanish. This is the
book I’m going to read after I’ve finished these three: Le Procès de Marie-Antoinette,
which, as you can see, is in French. The more languages you add to this, the more
juggling you have to do. Of course, I’m doing this for fun. I don’t care if I’m not being optimal,
but you still want to have some method to it. Anyway, I’m getting off track. Let’s proceed
with the video. That was just an aside. Sapporo Beer Museum. It was the first
time since arriving in Hokkaido that we got to see people. Like, actual crowds
I mean. There were lots of people in the museum and I couldn’t help but think how much
worse it must be in the high season. So yeah, not the best place to go to
if you want to avoid crowds. It’s probably obvious to you by now,
but of course the Sapporo Beer Museum appears in the Golden Kamuy manga. To be
more precise, right before the battle in Goryokaku Park. In the Town of Reunions
Arc, fights occur between beer barrels, a fire engulfs the brewery, and there is a chase
scene involving a car shaped as a beer bottle. The Sapporo Beer Museum is located in the Sapporo Garden Park and is registered as a
Hokkaido Heritage Site since 2004. The history of the Sapporo Beer Museum dates
back to Meiji period, when William Smith Clark visited Hokkaido to help them start
beer production. The Hokkaidō Kaitaku-shi, which was the former government of Hokkaidō,
established multiple breweries in Sapporo alone. Until the Kaitakushi brand was closed down in
1882, the business grew into over 30 breweries. Construction of the first brewery began in June of
1876, in the place where now the Sapporo Factory is located. The brewery was a two-story wooden
building with 860 square meters of floor space. The responsible for the construction?
Official Murahashi Hisanari, a former warrior that fought in the Hakodate Battle
for the new government and against Hijikata’s troops. We talked about the Hakodate Battle
in the last video, as you might remember. Murahashi Hisanari hired an engineer called
Seibei Nakagawa, who had studied brewing techniques in Germany. Seibei Nakagawa was a
very determined and brave man. He left home at the age of 16 to pursue adventure and, after
becoming infatuated with the idea of Europe, he illegally embarked on a ship bound to England as
a stowaway, which was a crime punishable by death. After living in poverty in England for seven
years, Nakagawa set out on a journey to Germany, where he met Shuzo Aoki, who would later become
Japan’s foreign minister. With the help of Aoki, Nakagawa landed a job at the Berlin Beer
Brewery in Fürstenwalde in 1873, becoming the first Japanese beer brewer. He even received a
prestigious certification recognizing his mastery of the craft. With his certification in hand,
Nakagawa returned to Japan after 10 long years abroad, and was immediately picked as the Chief
Technical Officer of the planned Sapporo brewery. The Kaitakushi Beer Brewery was completed in
September of 1876. During the inauguration event, beer barrels were piled up in front of
the building. Painted on the barrels in white ink were the words: ‘Ceremony: combining
barley and hops yields a spirit called “beer”.’ These barrels can now be
found in front of the museum. This marked the beginning of beer production
in Hokkaido. This cold-brewed beer was named “Sapporo Beer” and went on sale in Tokyo
in September of 1877. Featured on the label was the Kaitakushi logo, the North Star,
which all of you will probably recognize. Cold brewing is a German technique for
fermenting and aging beer at low temperatures. The cold brewed beer has the disadvantage
that it is more difficult to preserve than, for example, pasteurized beer, which came later. Kuroda, the director of the new Hokkaido
administrative government, wanted the beer to be produced only from locally-grown barley and
hops, and for this goal a lot of collaborative agreements with farms were made, agreements that
remain alive till this day. Still, this was not easy to achieve. The Japanese really struggled to
find a strain of barley that suited the Hokkaido climate and, for several years, the hops seedlings
planted would dry out and die. It was not until 1881 that the Kaitakushi Beer Brewery was able
to source all of the hops it needed locally. In March 1882, the administrative
government was abolished and the Kaitakushi Beer Brewery came under
the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. It was
thus renamed Sapporo Beer Brewery. This is the story of the Sapporo Beer
Brewery. But what about the museum? You see, William Smith Clark had another goal
in mind besides getting beer production going in Japan. He also wanted to introduce
beet farming in Hokkaido. After all, he was president of the Massachusetts
Agricultural College, which had one of the best beet production techniques in
the United States at the time. And so, after Clark went back to the United States, the
government began beat production in Nanae village. In 1878, the government delegated
beet cultivation to the Sapporo Agricultural College, the predecessor of
the Hokkaido University. We talked about the Hokkaido University earlier in this video. A beet sugar factory was established around 1890,
but it was not successful for long. Following the popularization of Taiwanese sugar after the first
Sino Japanese war, demand for Japanese beet sugar declined, resulting in the liquidation
of the Sapporo Sugar Company’s factory. In 1903, the Sapporo Beer Company
purchased the factory and remodeled it to use as a brewery. Eventually,
the building was renovated again, after which it was converted into the
Sapporo Beer Museum, as we know it today. In other words, the Sapporo Beer Museum
was originally a sugar factory. It had nothing to do with beer at all.
But this was just a side note, a little sugary treat if you will. So, let’s
let’s dive back into the story of beer. Although Kaitakushi Sapporo Beer was the
first brand on the market, others soon started to emerge. By the late 1890s, there
were four major brands in fierce competition: Sapporo Beer, Nippon (or Yebisu) Beer,
Kirin Beer and Asahi (or Osaka) Beer. The Yebisu beer was particularly popular
because of its high quality. The company responsible for its creation, Nippon
Beer Jozo, was founded in 1887. Two years after it came into existence, the
Yebisu beer brewery was built in what is now Mita. All of the beer brewing equipment
was purchased from Germany and they also hired German brewing engineers to help with
the beer production. In February of 1890, Yebisu beer went on sale. In August 1899, the
Yebisu beer opened in Ginza so that customers could enjoy draft beer shipped directly from
the brewery. It was Japan’s first beer hall. Due to its birthplace. Sapporo beer soon found
itself struggling to keep up with the competition. At an extraordinary meeting of shareholders in
June 1899, it was proposed that the company build a brewery in Tokyo. The motion was approved.
In September of 1903, the Tokyo brewery was completed along the banks of the Sumida River
and Sapporo Beer began shipping its merchandise. By 1905, Sapporo Beer was, once
again, at the top of the market. The most affected by this was Yebisu Beer, which
had enjoyed major support in the Kanto region. The president of Nippon Beer Jozo, Kyohei Makoshi,
saw no other choice but to join forces with the competition. And so, Yebisu Beer, Sapporo Beer
and Osaka Beer (which was also struggling) became one under the new Dainippon Beer Company,
which now controlled 70% of the beer market. But, because they held so much power, they were
forced by law to split up in 1949, into Nippon Beer and Asahi Beer. Nippon Beer inherited the
Sapporo and Yebisu brands. The name change though, hit the company like a hatch. Consumers were not
familiar with it, so they wouldn’t buy the beer. So even though beer consumption was growing by the
year, Nippon Beer struggled to gain acceptance. Up until, on March of 1956, a Hokkaido-exclusive
Sapporo Beer went on sale in its native hometown. It was so successful that they decided to roll out
a nationwide release in January of the next year. Ultimately, they decided that the best move was
to go back to naming the old thing Sapporo beer. Sapporo beer, having changed its name, brought
the Yebisu beer brand, which had been a pre-war favorite, back on the market in December
of 1971. This marked the first time in 28 years that Yebisu was back on the market. The
slogan was “Yebisu beer, a delicacy reborn”. This is interesting because you can
see how a simple name change can make or break your business. They started out
as Sapporo and Yebisu and eventually had to go back to those names because
those were the names people wanted. It is also important to point out that the use of
trademarks was prohibited during World War II. It was only after the ban was lifted that the beer
industry was able to start advertising again. Sapporo’s Beer postwar advertising history began
in 1950 with an advertisement for Nippon beer. Inside the museum, you can see the posters and
advertisements that Sapporo Beer has used over the years. They are particularly fascinating
if you are into design, marketing or fashion. At the end of the exhibition, in the Star
Hall, there is a paid tasting corner. Here you can sample freshly brewed beer shipped
directly from the Hokkaido breweries. You can choose between The
Hokkaido Exclusive Sapporo Classic, The Sapporo Draft Beer Kuro
Label, and The Kaitakushi Beer. But bear in mind that the queues are long. My
family and I, we decided that we were too tired to wait, after having spent the day walking
around, so we left the museum and started our journey back to Otaru. Remember that Otaru
is still around two hours away from Sapporo. Besides, this was not our first time visiting a
museum of this kind. On our first trip to Japan, we went to the Gekkeikan Sake Okura
Museum in Kyoto. At least 8 years ago it was a very peaceful site; there were
no crowds and no waiting times. And there, there was also a tasting corner, with three
types of sake available. The only problem was that I was not allowed to drink back then. I had
reached legal age in my country, but not Japan. And I actually waited until I was
18 to drink alcohol. I might have been one of the few people on Earth
to follow the rules in that regard. Having that taken away from me
again wasn’t a good experience. And yeah, I only drink twice a year
at most, but that’s beside the point, because it’s not every day you get to go
to a sake brewery and taste fresh sake. And you might think I would want to get my
revenge this time on the beer museum, but… I don’t like beer. So, I wasn’t that interested.
Not enough to wait in the line at least. I like my drinks very clean, mellow, neutral. Think
dry mead or vodka, not beer, wine, or liquors. But I don’t drink vodka anymore, since it’s too
hard on the stomach, so that leaves just dry mead, which is a bit hard to find around here, it’s not
something you can just pick up in the supermarket. I think I like sake too, but I don’t have much
experience with it. Perhaps I should try to find some good sake. We bought some bottles
in Japan when we went there the first time, but my mom was reluctant to open them
and they went bad. So, don’t wait for the perfect occasion to open that special bottle
you got from overseas. Just a piece of advice. Anyway, we arrived back in Otaru and stopped
at a konbini to pick up dinner. I bought some tuna onigiri and we had some sweets left
over from the day before for dessert. Then we went to sleep. The following day we
continued heading north towards Asahikawa. But that I will leave for the next video
because this one is so, so long by now. I don’t even know if I should say “I’m sorry”
or “You’re welcome”. I guess “I’m sorry” to my future self, who will have to edit all
of this and “You’re welcome” to you? Covering just Otaru would have made the video
too short, so I didn’t have much of a choice. In any case, I hope you liked
it, and see you next time! [Music]
Hello! How are you all doing? Last April, I went to #Japan with my family for about three weeks, having visited Hokkaido, Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go and Tokyo. Now I want to talk about it in excruciating detail and make it everyone’s problem!
This was my second time in Japan by the way, I went there for the first time about a decade ago.
In this third video of the series, I explore the cities of #Otaru and #Sapporo. I visited the Old Aoyama Villa, strolled along the Otaru Cannal, ate dango and sakura mochi, had a blast on the Historic Village of Hokkaido, and learned about beer on the Sapporo Beer Museum.
Thanks for watching!
Timestamps:
00:00 Recap (with some extra footage not included anywhere else)
03:55 The History of Otaru
08:13 Glass Production and Otaru
09:33 Otaru and Its Many Museums
10:38 Mount Tengu
11:55 Old Aoyama Villa (Herring Fishing)
18:39 The Sweets of Otaru (Otaru Niikuraya)
20:31 Staying in a Japanese Home
23:50 Night Walk in Otaru (Bunko Statue)
25:52 Dinner at Takinami
27:58 Breakfast with Cats + Japanese Is Hard
29:35 The History of Sapporo
31:11 Sapporo’s Many Festivals
33:32 Sapporo Surpasses Otaru in Popularity
34:21 What to See in Sapporo (Parks, Museums, University, and More)
37:09 Historical Village of Hokkaido “Kaitaku no mura” (Introduction)
40:21 Historical Village of Hokkaido (Golden Kamuy Exhibit)
42:26 Japanese Is Hard (Part 2)
44:19 Historical Village of Hokkaido (Town)
46:08 Historical Village of Hokkaido (Fishing Village)
48:54 Historical Village of Hokkaido (Town – Part 2)
52:32 Lunch Time
55:51 Historical Village of Hokkaido (Town – Part 3)
58:40 Historical Village of Hokkaido (Farming Village)
1:04:58 Shopping (GK Merchandise)
1:08:25 Sapporo Beer Museum (History of Beer in Japan)
1:19:29 Tasting Corner + Gekkeikan Sake Okura Museum
1:23:20 Extra (Shima Enaga Egg Toy – From Egg to Baby Bird)
GK locations on the Historical Village:
Sapporo Beer Museum
https://www.sapporobeer.jp/english/company/history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapporo_Beer_Museum
https://www.sapporobeer.jp/english/global/sapporopremiumbeer/en/history/1865-1875/
Footage used (besides my own):
Aerial view of Otaru Port, c. 1920.
Asakusa-dori, Otaru, Hokkaido, c. 1920.
Otaru City in Hokkaido 1909 Meiji 42 – 2
Otaru Museum of History and Nature
Otaru Port in Hokkaido 1909 Meiji 42
Otaru’s Former Bank District – Otaru City General Museum
Overlooking Otaru port, c. 1920.
Shochikuza Theater, Otaru (1934)
ROKUMI Mochi Confectionary Shop – Otaru City General Museum
Sweets Shop – Otaru City General Museum
Sugimoto Kagetsudo – Japanese Confectionary shop – Otaru City General Museum
The Otaru Canal falls into ruins (Otaru City General Museum)
Otaru Canal 100-Member Citizens’ Committee Flyer – Proposal to Move the Road Closer to the Harbor
July 8, 1978 – 1st Port Festival
Otaru Herring Palace
Hokkaido Museum Herring_fishing_diorama
Hiroaki Takahashi
RoadGenius
odori-park-in-1936
sapporo-station-in-taisho-era
sapporo-city-hall-in-1950s
Sapporo-TV-Tower-2025
COCOON Михаил Зелинский
Foot-operated Rotary Silk Reeling Machine
Unlocking the Magic of Silk Production with Silkworms
A 7-Minute Video About Sericulture and Silk Weaving for Beginners
Jojo’s Ending (is copyrighted and it got my video blocked in Russia and Belarus, I’m sorry if any of you live in there, but I HAD to use this meme)
Wikipedia Commons:
AlphaBetaGamma
bryan…
Leiflive
Suicasmo
Mukasora
Rsa
wellincline
皓月旗
Ayu Nabila
A. Barra
B@rt
t-konno
Daigaku2051
Chi ing
K. Takeda
MIKI Yoshihito
Syced
663highland
Asacyan
札幌芸術の森美術館
MiNe
aokomoriuta
Adam Jones
chidorian
C T Johansson
Sun Taro
Flickr
C.J. Wang
49 x768
Chi ing
Hsuanya Tsai
Janne Moren
Kevin Poh
Reginald Pentinio
Victor Wong
bryan…
sodai gomi
Long_t31613f
Raymond Ling
St Stev
Kristi
Merryjack
BeestFace
kennejima
Lee LeFever
MK · Photography
James Jordan
Stuart Rankin
Hiroyuki Takeda
Trevor Dobson
humbletree
Julien Seguinot
Akinori Yamada
Robert Thomson
annintofu
Alessandro Grussu
NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
aquafisch
redlegsfan21
MIKI Yoshihito
Wikipedia Commons or Flickr (not sure, but one of the two):
Hideyuki KAMON
TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋)
AloJapan.com