Slow Life Hokkaido VI: Out and About in Otaru

The journey from Hakodate to Otaru took us another four hours in a north-easterly direction. I must say that Otaru was the hottest in our whole trip. The sun was blazing and we all dumped our jackets in the car. Like Hakodate, Otaru is also a port city with a long history. The pride of the city is the Otaru Canal. Tourists often take cruises on the canal to admire the old warehouses and merchant building lined along it. One look at a bunch Korean ladies baking in the sun deterred us from trying the same. Our tummies were growling after a short walk in the scorching sun, and we quickly went to find food.







A PRC working at the tourist information center pointed us to Otaru Denuki Koji, a collection of twenty small restaurants in a heritage building. The place has a whimsical design, like a building out of Miyazaki's onsen town in "Spirited Away". Within a small courtyard was a statue of Udatsu Kozo, a statue with round-rim glasses holding a skewer dango. Not all of the restaurants were open, so we just took a chance with Otaru Bishokubo Dairen Shokudo. The place serves noodles and rice dishes, with some Chinese cuisine. We chose several dishes with a combination of sliced beef, unagi, and ramen. Lunch was splendid.









Otaru Denuki Koji also offered dessert in the form of eye candy as Ebisuya, a local pulled rickshaw service had a counter there. One particular jinrickisha danshi (rickshaw puller) mesmerized me with his pearly whites, smiling eyes, muscular thighs, and fashionable haircut. His loins were girded in tight white shorts, and he had a scarf around his neck to absorb his manly sweat. A thirty minute 'ride' with him would cost about JPY5,000. Worth the price to experience his athleticism. I saw the way he dashed across the road with a passenger and I must admit that he was in perfect control of the heavy rickshaw. Yum yum. Imagine what he could do with that superb strength and control in the bedroom!



A short walk away was Sakaimachi Street, a preserved merchant street in the heart of old Otaru. From the outside, much of the old flavour is preserved, but most of the shops are now re-purposed to get a slice of the tourism pie. Most have been transformed into restaurants and cafes, and shops selling specialty snacks and local products like kelp and glassware (Otaru is famous for it). The most prominent player in Otaru is LeTAO which has three outlets along the heritage road. The Western confectionery set up their main store at the Marchen intersection, which marks the end of the street. The beautiful building with a clock tower faces the Otaru Steam Clock, that was a gift from the city of Vancouver. Both clocks mark the time with bells and whistles. LeTAO cleverly lures tourists into their shop with free samples of Royal Montagne (chocolate blended with Darjeeling tea). Walk around the ground floor, and you get a full dessert buffet of testers. Upstairs is their tea room, but we didn't visit.







Instead, we had our tea time at their new outlet just across the street called LeTAO DANI which specializes in fromage danishes. A yummy creation with excellent taste and texture. Best taken with a cup of melon soda. Sis walked over from the main store with their original cheesecake and melon cheesecake. Both didn't quite appeal to me. Always go for their Double Fromage. Magnifique! As we walked down the road, we made several stops for hot kelp broth, soft-serve ice cream, and grilled squid. Ika Taro Honpo makes delicious freshly grilled squid (get the spicy version!). You can watch the machine in action at the shopfront.





Peanuts lovers should also stop at Snoopy Cha-Ya to buy merchandise and eat at their cafe. I feel that it's much easier to buy Snoopy merchandise compared to Hello Kitty or Doraemon!





Then we had a slice of extremely juicy yubari melon. Each piece is like a piece of sponge heavy with melon juice. Not much pulp at all.



I don't think we covered the whole street. The heat was already getting to us, so we retreated to the Otaru Miyakodori Shopping District to get away from the tourists. The Travel Recommends internet was acting up and I had to contact their customer support. Seriously, I think the mobile internet is not unlimited. Every time you exceed the quota and complain, they probably do a top-up or something. Really annoying.





Our AirBnB for the night was Sun Inaho, a residential block in a neighbourhood not too far from the canal area. However, the host seemed to be operating in stealth mode because he left a lot of warnings about not pissing off the neighbours. Of all the places we stayed it, it was the most inconvenient cause it didn't come with parking, we had to drag our luggage through a dirt path, and then lug the bags upstairs. Luckily there was a self-service public parking lot just two blocks away. Park. Leave. And pay using the kiosk when leaving. The unit was also very stuffy and didn't have any air-conditioning. We opened every window in the apartment.

Once again, we got our dinner from the supermarket. A lovely assortment of discount grilled seafood (squid, octopus, sanma, etc), grilled eggplant, shoyu chicken, and blanched vegetables. For dessert we had chocolate cream puffs from Kitakaro Otaru Honkan. If you ever visit their shop Sakaimachi Street, do also get their Hokkaido Kaitaku Okaki, fantastically crispy mochi snacks seasoned with seafood. Love it!