We are booked at PlumHouse/Garden House for 2 nights. Glad we did as our late arrival last night gives us this day to explore Otura before we head out to Sapporo tomorrow.
Otura is a waterfront town on the Ishikari Bay and the Sea of Japan. The city attracts a lot of Japanese as Russian visitors. We noticed Russian translation on many of the signs related to tourism. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Otura served as the financial centre of Hokkaido and was a busy centre of trade with Russia and China. At this time, traditional Japanese architecture was infused with Western style as we could see on our walk. There are 115,000 residents and for some it is a bedroom community for Sapporo.
Before touring for the day, we headed out for a wander and found a local bakery. It was a lucky find as this bakery has a lot of history and is renowned in Otaru for some of its specialities.
We have been eating Dorayaki buns all over Japan…and now we know what they are callled The bakery had one that was new to us, so we tried it. It had the usual red bean paste filling but with a tender chestnut in the middle…delicious.
We tried the Dangos…gelatinous soft balls on a stick -one was dipped in something (not poppy seed, a bit of a smoky flavour) and the other was in a gelatinous soy covering. Barry liked it. Not my favourite but you have to try these things.
Otura is a very mellow, laid back place. This confirms our instincts about Hokkaido as we picked up on that from the people we met on the ferry. We enjoyed a walk down a street, a covered shopping area and then made our way to the Canals. This is the 100 year anniversary of the creation of these canals and Otura has done much work to make this historic area appealing to tourists with signs explaining the landmarks, beautiful flowers, statues, boat tours etc. We enjoyed meandering and enjoying a beautiful sunny day.
We see dining places like this in historic areas…it is a maze of tiny restaurants that might seat 6-10 people. Very expensive.
The Canal area exceeded our expectations. As the pictures show, it is beautiful and very interesting. Some buildings are vacant…abandoned and others house businesses, but an effort has been made to renovate them without losing their historic integrity. Warehouses and factories line this canal.
The old fashioned gas lamps along the canal are lit every night.
Historic photos with information are along the canal. We enjoyed reading this one as we had stopped for some time trying to figure out what business this building was used for 100 years ago.
You can see the always present, beautiful hills of Hokkaido in the background and the town of Otaru stretching in to the hills. We know that there is a lot of snow here in the winter and think it would be lovely to visit here in the fall or winter.
Vibrant colourful signs, and lots of them, typify many of the stores in Japan. That coupled with music playing and constant cheerful voices over the sound system can create a bit of sensory overload, especially since we don’t understand it. However, like anything, we are getting used to it.
See that little speaker? Believe me it packs a punch. Time to go back to our room and eat the food we have bought. Our ears are ringing. The sounds here were deafening.
We have had a wonderful day in Otura. This town loves coffee…always a good thing. It has given us a wonderful introduction to Hokkaido and we are excited to explore more. Laid back charm, beautiful to look at and wild rugged landscapes are waiting for us. We know that Japan makes some of the best lightweight tents available. We are thinking that we will check them out in Sapporo and perhaps buy one for the last month…and what a great souvenir that would be. Hokkaido is a great place to camp…as well as the rest of Japan, so we will see what we find.
