Exploring Otaru

Exploring Otaru

For our next adventure, we headed from Saporro off to Otaru. Otaru is just about a an hour and 15minute train ride max from Sapuro, so it’s easy to do as a day trip, or better yet, spend the night. Otaru is a port city located northwest of Saporro. It’s located on the Sea of Japan, which is very important to its cultural history as well as its aesthetic. We had some time before we were to check into our Airbnb. So, we headed down the main shopping street, which is Sake Machi Street there in Otaro. It has a really unusual aesthetic for Japan, as many of the buildings are made out of stone. As you travel through Japan, you notice that most of the buildings there are made out of wood. But in Otaru, it um it has a lot of stone buildings. It gives it a more European almost colonial type of aesthetic. It’s just charming and beautiful and unusual. As you walk down, there are so many little shops, boutiques, restaurants, as well as food stalls. I couldn’t resist the food stall that was selling grilled scallops and other types of seafood. It was calling my name as I am a definite seafood lover. I had to go in this one. Okay. Whatever he pointed to on the bottom there. It was kind of hard to pick one out, but I took the recommendation of the nice gentleman that was standing outside of the stall. Everything is so fresh. Being on the Sea of Japan, Otaru is famous for its seafood. No, you have the money. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Money. So, we’ve just sat and enjoyed the beautiful cityscape of Utaru. Trying to think of what we’re going to do next. We waited for our seafood in the most lovely little spot that was on the side of the food stall. My goodness. There we go. Oh. Oh,as. Thank you. Okay. I was so excited to eat because I’ve been looking forward to trying Utaru seafood I think for several months during our planning. I knew that it was one of the things that I definitely had to try. Do you want to try something? Very hot and steamy as it was made fresh right there on the street. I know I’m a little scared. Oh, it’s like That’s crab. That means it’s a mix. And it was a seafood mix. It had crab and scolop. Scolop. When I shake my head, that means yes. Yes. Yes. It is very delicious. Very good. Of course, you couldn’t pass up the broth that was left over. I think it was probably the best broth that I’ve ever tasted in my life. That broth is like amazing. It was the most raw delicate makes sense. Warm butter kind of warm that just warms up your soul. It was so absolutely fabulous. You could just drink cups of raw. It’s so delicious. It’s a lovely little spot. I wanted to bottle some up and take it home with me. Oy, she Oh, look at this little street. So, after eating the scolops and crab, we decided to continue our walk. Of course, one of the best things about being in these little cities is just taking an alleyway that you see just around, not really knowing where you’re going or what lies ahead, but it just creates such a magical um time. You just kind of go out and wander. There was a little antique shop from you’ll see as the cutest little man antique store. So, we definitely knew that we wanted to check that out. Griffin wants a picture. I got to be on LA. Oh, look at all this stuff down here. Oh, he’s got corns. I don’t know what’s that. Uh, what is it? Scolops. Oh, that looks good. One of them. One, two, drink. You want a drink? We have cola. I’m not sure. Probably ginger ale. More like a gingerell. Mhm. Kind of kind of like a like a gingerell. A lot of what? It’s a called a gorana. Gorana. It’s very good. It’s cute. Oh, the t-shirt. Oh, yeah. Look at the the boulder bro. Inside this restaurant was very cute. It was set up like an old school house, hence the name. Okay. Think we could have eaten our way up one street and down the other in Otaru. There was no options for food. Very hot. Those are big. Scallops were very big. Like a very delicious meat. What a meaty. It had the entire scallop. We’re used to just seeing the little centers of the scallops here in America, but this had um the full scallop. Mine, if you can see the little orange part on it, actually had row on it as well, which was amazingly sweet. I had no idea that scolop row was a delicacy. Come pie. After we left, we Kimble spied. Kimell is a big ice cream lover and he spied a place that was on here. We’ll come over here. I’m going to do you want me to take a bite of it? Do you want me to try it? Show her what it is first. Okay. It’s black vanilla gelato. It’s the strangest thing. Black vanilla gelato. Almost looks like charcoal. It does not change the taste at all. It’s really good. It’s very good. And it’s because, as you can see, it gives you black teeth. I had one bite and that was what it made my teeth look like. Kimell had the rest of that. Very good. His teeth were incredibly flexed. It tastes like vanilla ice cream. It’s kind of fun. And then we continued on down the street just deciding what we wanted to do next, what we wanted to eat next. It was not very busy on that day as you can see, but um we weren’t there in the high season most of the year. It was incredibly snowy. We were lucky it was not. So long. Then we ventured into the famous Latau the Danny Latau where they are well known for their verage and pass that the cheese and it sausage. Of course, it wasn’t really that hard a decision. I had to do the one that had both the apple and the drumage, the cheese. Oo, that’s a that’s a that’s a got some weight to it. Okay. Oh my gosh. Apple and cheese. So flaky. No, it’s delicious. Oh my goodness. So good. But at that point, I knew we were going to have a big dinner. We’re going to eat sushi later anymore after this until then. Yeah. So flaky. It makes a mess. It’s on your face and on your clothes. Oh my goodness. Look at that big apple. It is so cruy. Mhm. I don’t remember why I’m giving Kendall that eye. He must have said something that I probably questioned what he was talking about. That choice. Otaru’s got it going on. This is the world’s largest steam clock. It’s right outside of the Otaru Music Box Museum. The Otaro Music Box Museum is absolutely stunning on the inside. It’s stone on the outside and all this wood on the inside just makes it magical place with the lights and the music boxes and the sounds. It really is a piece for the eyes senses. Oh, that’s too cute. Little fish row. A little fish row music box. It plays Harry Potter. Yes, it does. Venturing around town, we just decide to explore and go into shops. Otaru is famous for its glass wear. Years ago, the fishermen would use glass for their fishing floats as well as for making oil lamps before electricity. But the tradition of making glassear in Otaru still carries on. I absolutely loved these glasses. They reflected the light. You can’t really tell here, but they reflected the light. Just stunning. Absolutely stunning. I really regret not having box on them. Next time, Otaro is definitely a place that Kimbo and I have talked about returning to. We have an affinity for the smaller towns. Of course, we love Osaka and Kyoto and Tokyo as well, but there’s just something to be said about getting out of the larger cities and venturing off into the smaller cities and towns and villages around Japan. It was time after we walked around downtown to check into our Airbnb, the Stone and Iron Inn. There is a the the place where we stayed is above a restaurant. The owner’s name is Hero. He is the most amazing, warm, welcoming Airbnb host I’ve ever met. As you can tell, Stone, it makes up the walls of our Airbnb. I guess hence the stone and iron in. It sleeps about 10 people. It was just the two of us. We actually chose to sleep in those little bunks like a couple of kids. Our Airbnb host hero was so nice that he offered to drive us up to the top of Mount Tangu. Mount Tangu is in the winter it’s a ski hill. You can sled, snowboard, of course being summer or really spring at this time. Of course, the ski slopes weren’t open, but just to drive up there, you get a beautiful view of Otaro from the mountain there. If you look one direction, if you could see far enough, you’d be able to see Russia. You can see China. Now, this is Tangu. Tangu is a powerful birdlike creature. He’s from Japanese folklore. He’s both a protector and a trickster who dwells in the mountains and acts as a guardian, and he punishes those that disrupt the natural order of things. Tangos are said to be exceptional swordsmen, and they can um control the wind as well. So that’s pretty interesting. I thought they have some stone tory gates at the top of the mountain. Stone tory gates or any toy gate symbolizes a transition transition from the mundane everyday world to the spiritual world. Now to gates are Shinto shrines. They are the symbolic gateway to signify purification and the wording off of spirits. and beautiful views from the top of Mount Tangu. And again, I cannot say enough how warm and welcoming Hero was. Here is inside the museum with hundreds of Tangu masks. After that, it was time for dinner. Of course, Otaru is famous for its seafood, so sushi was definitely where we wanted what we wanted to have for dinner. We can do that as well. We had the chef choice. I don’t know how many. Probably 10 courses, 12 courses of sushi. So, we had beer and sake as well. The restaurant was called Sushi Jen and it was one of the best, if not rated the best sushi restaurant in Otaru. It’s in an area called the Sushi Street, which has they say around 100 sushi restaurants. Does not taste like that. How do you feel, Susie? Amazing. Fabulous. Pretty special right now. Yes. sushi. One of the best things. Of course, when you have so much fresh seafood available, you’re going to have amazing sushi. Just fresh different kinds of sushi with fish. Of course, afterwards we had to take a stroll to work off all that sushi that we ate. This little area is known as Dinuki Koji. It is so adorable. It’s a mix of I would say Japanese and colonial style architecture. Just adorable. Almost has a British feel to it. It’s full of little food shops and restaurants selling everything from eel to ramen to melon ice cream and crepes. Of course, we had just eaten dinner, so we did not get anything there. This little statue is known as the Unatsu Kotto. He is said to bring good fortune in business and a job promotion, which is always a great thing. So, we ended our evening again just strolling through this adorable little area. Okay. Enjoying the sights and sounds and smells. Next time we are in Otaro, we will definitely have to stop there and get at least some of the melon ice cream, which the area is very well known for its delectable melons, especially cantaloupe. Of course, the city at night just has a special feel to it with the lights. The atmosphere is just so calming. It’s a perfect place to take a stroll after dinner. This little area, the Dinuku Koji alleyway, is very easy to access as it’s right off one of the main streets, very close to the canal. The canals at night are lit up with lanterns, which just gives an etheral feel to the whole city. We ran into this gentleman while we were taking a walk down the canal. He was so funny and very friendly, so we had to stop and take some video and photos with him. Kimla and I enjoyed our time in Otaru so much, and we can’t wait to visit again. Next, off to Miaima. Bye.

Discovering the charming city that is Otaru, Japan!