The sleepy town of Otaru

*beware big post*

Yesterday I visited the sleepy ocean town of Otaru with my friends Nic (20’s) and Robert (30’s).

The day started out with all of us meeting at Sapporo JR Station where we would catch a JR train to Otaru. To get to Sapporo I rode my bike to the Oasa Station and rode the local train to Sapporo. I told Robert to meet me at the West Gates, but when I got there I couldn’t find him anywhere. The meeting time was 9am, but my train showed up at 9:13 so I stood waiting. I didn’t realize however that Robert was standing behind me about 15 feet away facing the other direction! We both spun around at the sound of a train whistle and found each other. Crazy… Nic said he’d be late so Robert and I went to “Mr. Doughnut” for a coffee and some “pan” or doughnuts. So as we snacked on coffee and bread, Robert told me that he’d been there for an hour waiting and wasn’t sure when and where the meeting place was… communication is golden I guess. Nic finally showed up and we rolled out at around 9:30am.

Purchasing tickets is pretty straight forward in Japan. Basically, there’s a panel with a bunch of station names, “Oasa, Ebetsu, Sapporo, Shin Sapporo, etc” and below the station’s name is a price (local stops are about 260 yen, far away stops are in a 3000-4000 range sometimes like Hakodate). Otaru is relatively close so a one way to Otaru was 620 yen. So once you find your desired destination you tap on it and it gives you a cost. From there you just insert the money and the machine spits out a small one way ticket.

Once all three of us had our ticket we went through the gates and stared at the huge time table of departures and arrivals. We found three trains going 10 minutes apart to Otaru, but they we’re all local. In Sapporo, there are 4 types of trains: Local, Semi Rapid, Rapid, and Air Port Rapid. The difference between all of them is amount of stops each train makes. The Local had 14 stops while the Air Port rapid had only 4 or 5 total. This may all sound trivial, but once you’ve been riding trains for awhile, all of this really DOES make a difference. Well actually truth be told, this was trivial to my friends who had never rode a train before. They didn’t mind the extra stops, so local train it was. We boarded at 9:40 and left exactly at 9:44am. The train trip was 40mins into the countryside. When we arrived we got off and entered the sleepy town that is Otaru. We had a craving for coffee so we visited a coffee shop (ki-sa-ten) in Otaru’s little mall walk.

The coffee shop was really old salty dog kind of place. Like one of those old Sea Captain places with ship’s wheels and ship’s lanterns and stuff. It had an old feeling about it and Nic (who is English) liked the whole aesthetic claiming that there are plenty of ones like this one in Kent, England where he’s from. We must have spent an hour chatting about stuff and Robert found a notebook in the shop where customers wrote little experiences and stories in. I decided to add my own entry, using my best cursive which neither Rob nor Nic could read.

We left feeling spry and ready for the day. We strolled along the covered walkway plaza looking at stores and shops. At the end of the mall we made a turn left and began to walk. Like any adventure with three guys the itinerary was show up early, leave late that’s it. So basically we navigated Otaru by observation, “Hey what’s that? Let’s check it out!” “Oh, hey, that looks weird! Cool! Let’s check that out..!” And the hardest thing was finding food. Not that there’s enough restaurants, there’s plenty with all sorts of food, it’s just finding one that fits all our needs (and wallets). So… exploring was the game. We found a map of the town, but with in the hour we we’re off the map. It was the best a couple of guys can do.

The first landmark we found was a small ramen ally. It was designed after the old Japanese style with old roofs and fish on the roof. Without a doubt it was cool. Each one of the shops served something a little different. One was a yakiniku (beef on a stick) which looked really good with all of its different styles. One of the shops was serving really good smelling ramen (Hokkaido Ramen) that is “the best.” Another shop carried a beef and rice dish that is cooked on your table with a dome shaped grill.

The building was just as awesome as the shops in it. Like I said the aesthetic resembled the old Japanese style roofs with the tower at the center. Each shop had sliding doors and that square wood and light tan color that is so common to Japanese architecture. You see a lot of this style everywhere, except that most of these places mix new appliances and modern lighting with the old building style. In this case you knew it was a touristy spot, but the whole Japanese building style was a flash back to Japanese art class at LC.

Across from the little ramen ally/ village was the Otaru Canal that spans all through the city to the Japanese sea. It reminded Robert of Amsterdam (when he was in the Air Force) with the cobble stone walkway and bridges. Along the walkway were rickshaws running about taking people on trips while others were offering to take people anywhere in Otaru they wanted. While tempted, all of us decided it’d be better to walk. Next time we might take him up on the offer. Each intersection between the canal and the street were plaza’s where people performed music or sold artsy wares. It was all pleasant to watch, there was no one begging us to buy or anything. It was fun to just walk and watch and enjoy the whole environment. In some places along the canal, you really felt the age of the place.

On the other side of the canal was a little Market street. This place really reminded me of Seaside, Oregon with crafts from the ocean and plenty of candies and seafood for sell. The real difference though, was that Otaru felt real, like a real old town that still operates like it did a hundred years ago. I say that because, Seaside and Astoria, Oregon is more tourists oriented while Otaru still operates a thriving fishing industry. In fact, a large amount of Sapporo’s fish comes from Otaru, so… while Otaru has tourism; tourism is only one part of its overall economy.

As we walked along this Market place, there was a mask shop. I walked in and found a shop specializing in ornate New Orleans style Masks. What was a store like doing here? Why New Orleans Masks? Was this Japan or somewhere else? It was fun just to see something totally different.

At 1pm we were hungry again so we went back on the prowl for food. We found a groovy place that was old and dark with Kerosene lamps and had an old smell about it. The food of choice was a bowl of udon soup, fries, and some sweet bread. We all ordered coffee and took pictures of the place even though there were signs everywhere saying to not take pictures. Again that “I’m a foreigner and I don’t understand” trick allowed us to get away with it. They played classical music in the big hall and people just we’re chilling enjoying the ambiance of the place. I tried to take long exposure shots of the place, but the best I could get was this kind of golden shot.

We left shortly after finishing our coffee and headed towards some more shops selling over priced nic-nacks. Otaru apparently is known for music boxes. We found some really cool ones that played tunes like yesterday by The Beatles as well as Mozart. I have to admit to you all, that however cool it was, a big store full of music boxes is like being in a clock shop at 12pm… kinda loud and obnoxious. We headed out and started going towards the sea.

After touring all the sights and sounds of Otaru’s tourist business we headed out towards a park Robert Saw and it was around 4pm. It was a small park dedicated to some big anchor and bobber thing. We weren’t really sure what it was doing there, but it had a rope guard around it so we figured we would clime it. Yep. Big rusty anchor bobble thing was just too temping! We had to clime it. According to the informational plaque, it was 12 ton’s we think but the Kanji could have said anything. We sat on this big giant rust ball for about an hour looking at the Japanese Sea.

One of us spotted a giant Ferris wheel and, like the whole trip thus far, we said, “Hey look at that… that’s cool you want to ride it? Yeah!” So rode it, we did. 400 yen a piece was all. We saw all of Otaru and the trains rolling in and out and the ocean it was all very cool. In fact it was so cool that we asked the staff guy if we could take it for one more revolution which he allowed for free (Arigatoo dude). It was a good end to a good day in Otaru.

After we got off the train I remembered that my host Dad birthday was the other day so I picked up a big bottle of Otaru microbrew (about 1 liter). I told the clerk that it was a present and so she wrapped it up all pretty like for me in gift wrap which is the custom here. Yep dudes, to all guys, “listen up.” In Japan, it’s typical for the store to wrap gift presents up all pretty and ornate for free. This saves on headaches, getting it to look nice.

Ok so for the last leg of our trip, we went and got ice cream and waited for the next train (which was an Airport Rapid Train 25 min!). Before our train showed up we spotted this sign in the smoking part of the platform.

We can cross Otaru off the list now; next weekend is a big trip to Noboribetsu and Edo wonderland! Stay tuned!

~J Out

PS… June-chan really liked the present!