Northern Japan: Port City of Otaru

With Hokkaido, we flew off with an evening flight, and therefore we had another whole day at our disposal. Finally, we wanted to take a walk by the sea, and our choice fell on the port city of Otaru. From Sapporo it is just an hour by train and is a fairly popular tourist destination. The town is famous for its canals and old buildings - formerly warehouses and office buildings of fishing and trading companies, visually conveying the spirit of that era. In my memory, Otaru remained as if "a town like from Miyazaki's paintings." For some reason, it was there that I experienced the greatest resonance with the work of the animator.

Having checked out early in the morning from the hotel in Sapporo, we went to the station, casting a farewell glance on the way to the old city hall of red brick. This building is undoubtedly one of the symbols of the city - it is not surprising that crowds of tourists scurried around.

We finally found a red maple momiji.

At the station in Otaru, we left our luggage in a left-luggage office and went lightly for a walk. The sun was shining, and it seemed that the day promised to be beautiful. We went into a cafe for ice cream and, leaving there, did not believe our eyes: everything was tightened with gray clouds, and literally a minute later it started to rain heavily. I had to run to the nearest combination and buy umbrellas.

Rain then rolled over the wall, then stopped. We went for a walk to the port.

There were many transport and fishing vessels in the port, both large and small.

It seems that the changeable weather scared away tourists from this place, and maybe we were the only ones who were interested in looking at the sea, ships and storage facilities.

After a short break, the rain rolled again, and we went into the tourist shop to wait. It so happened that we skipped lunch, and most restaurants opened again at 5 pm. I had to wait. When the rain stopped, we decided to take a walk along the canal. In one place, our attention was drawn to an elderly Japanese man who fed a fat gull with chips. He did it so enthusiastically and emotionally! Seeing us, the old man broke into a big smile and handed us an open pack of chips. We hesitated: "Does he treat us with chips or offers them to feed the seagull?" Noticing our bewilderment, he gestured what to do: get the chipset and stretch the seagull on an outstretched arm. We followed his example, which caused him genuine delight. The seagull seemed to care.

Autumn in the city. How I love such ivy-covered walls!

Finally, restaurants opened. We chose Otaru Unga Shokudo, which is located in a restored and refurbished warehouse.

We ordered a portion of the beautiful chirashi sushi. I, before that, rather skeptical of the sea urchin uni (in the photo there is an orange lump next to caviar and shrimp), sharply changed my attitude to it. Still, he is a specialty in Hokkaido.

On this, our short acquaintance with Otaru came to an end, because it was time to go to the airport in order to return to our beloved Tokyo for a couple of months.