Sapporo (Day 62): Otaru

May 1, 2016

It was our last full day in Sapporo and in Japan. We decided to take the train out of Sapporo and go to a city called Otaru. Otaru is located on the water on the north shore of Hokkaido. It’s a small quaint town with a lot of neat shops and museums. The streets downtown used to be the “Wall Street of the North”.

JR train to Otaru
JR train to Otaru

The train ride from Sapporo Station is about 30 minutes and costs 640 JPY each way. Too bad we didn’t have our JR passes any more. The train to Otaru is the last stop on the same line that takes you to the Chitose Airport (Sapporo Station is in the middle of the two). The train ride to Otaru was very scenic. About half way to Otaru from Sapporo, the train runs right along the coast and you can see views of the snow capped mountains on the other side of the train. The sun was shining and the ocean was a deep blue. It was beautiful.

The best picture I took from the moving train
The best picture I could take from the moving train

We arrived at Otaru Station and headed straight for the fish market. Sankaku Fish Market is located directly to the left of the station (Tim: when exiting). Hokkaido is known for their seafood, particularly their scallops, crab (king, snow, hairy), salmon roe, and uni (sea urchin). The market is a small strip of a few vendors as well as restaurants (some a lot busier than others). The restaurants mostly served seafood rice bowls of all sorts, sashimi, and grilled seafood. We put our name down at one that looked most appealing to us and waited about 10 minutes before getting called in.

Otaru Station
Otaru Station
Another Saint Germaine's Bakery
Another Saint Germain’s Bakery
Hokkaido crabs
Hokkaido crabs at Sankaku Fish Market
Lots of scallop products - dried and candied scallops
Lots of scallop products – dried and candied scallops

The restaurant was called Takeda, and after looking at their promotional brochures, it looked like the Takeda group has multiple seafood shops within the fish market. We ordered a plate of fatty salmon sashimi (600 JPY for 8 pieces) to share and I ordered a salmon and scallop don (it was a special order because I’m not a huge fan of uni or ikura/fish roe) and Tim ordered salmon with fish roe (both for 1,200 JPY = $14.30 CAD). Each don was served with a bowl of miso soup. The fish was laid out so nicely and everything was fresh and tasty. The scallops were my favourite as they were plump and sweet. Hokkaido uni is very popular and many people were ordering plates of it. The guy beside us ordered the chef special chirashi (deluxe assorted, for 3,000 JPY = $35 CAD). It looked really pretty. I was tempted (but I resisted) to ask him if I could take a picture of it before he ate.

Crowds starting to form for lunch outside the restaurants
Crowds starting to form for lunch outside Takeda’s Restaurant.
One of Takeda's store, this is where our fish for lunch came from
One of Takeda’s store, this is where our fish for lunch came from
More seafood from the Takeda shop
More seafood from the Takeda shop
We sat at the counter. There are a lot of pictures all around the walls of customers.
We sat at the counter. There are a lot of pictures all around the walls of customers.
Fatty salmon sashimi. 8 pieces for 600 JPY = $7.15 CAD
Fatty salmon sashimi. 8 pieces for 600 JPY = $7.15 CAD
Tim trying to show the guy's special chirashi
Tim trying to show the guy’s special chirashi. It’s too small to really see everything.
My salmon and scallop don
My salmon and scallop don
Tim's salmon and salmon roe
Tim’s salmon and salmon roe

After lunch, we walked into town and went to the Otaru Canal, which is one of their major attractions. The sightseeing part of Otaru is all within walking distance from the train station, which makes it really easy to come for a day trip from Sapporo. While walking around Otaru and seeing their old buildings, the architecture and style of the buildings were all very western.

Nice looking hotel
Nice looking hotel
Japanese KFC
Japanese KFC
Otaru Canal
Otaru Canal
Finally a good picture together
There are some vendors along the canal selling arts and crafts
Otaru's version of taiyakis, called Panjus
Otaru’s version of taiyakis, called Panjus.
We tried green tea with bean and a custard 89 JPY = $1.05 CAD each.
We tried green tea with bean and a custard 89 JPY = $1.05 CAD each.
The green tea bean was better because it was freshly made and piping hot
The green tea bean was better because it was freshly made and piping hot

There were a couple of museums that we wanted to check out: the Finance Museum at the former Bank of Japan building, and the Music Box Museum. All the museums in town (Tim: that we went to) are free to go in, which is great.

The Bank of Japan building, which is located on the former “Wall Street of the north”, is now Otaru’s Finance Museum. They show the history of Japan’s currency and how it has evolved to what it is today. I thought the best part of this museum was going into the vault and being able to pick up a stack of 100 million Yen (I’ve never held so much money in my life and probably never will). All of the signage is in Japanese with no other translation, but when you get into the museum they give you an English pamphlet with information of what you’ll see when you go in. On our way out we watched a (Tim: English dubbed) video about how the Bank of Japan works and the role that the central bank plays. While watching it, I felt like I was in school learning about basic economics and inflation.

Former Bank of Japan and now Otaru's Finance Museum
Former Bank of Japan and now Otaru’s Finance Museum
Inside the Finance Museum
Inside the Finance Museum
Inside the Finance Museum. This a box of shredded 100 million Yen that are unsuitable for reuse. That's why you don't see gross wrinkly Yen around.
This is a box of shredded 100 million Yen that are unsuitable for reuse. That’s why you don’t see gross wrinkly Yen around (Tim: they said the average circulation life for Japanese banknotes are 1-2 years).
Holding stacks of 100 million Yen in my hands. It's pretty heavy.
Holding a stack of 100 million Yen (approx 1.12 million CAD) in my hands. It’s pretty heavy.
Inside the vault
Inside the vault

We walked down one of the main streets in Otaru that was filled with shops that sold mostly Otaru sweet and snacks. The most popular store in Otaru is LeTAO bakery. They have multiple locations in Otaru (you’ll also see their merchandise at stores in Sapporo and probably around Japan) and are famous for their dairy based merchandise – cheesecake, cheese crackers, cheese and chocolate cookies, chocolate, and ice cream. Walking down this street and going into the multiple LeTAO locations, Tim and I tried everything they sold. They give samples of everything (and big ones at that). They have a sale associate standing outside their stores with either a tray of chocolates or a whole cheesecake to scoop samples for you. Their merchandise was very good. I really enjoyed their cheesecakes and chocolate. If they have LeTAO merchandise at Haneda, I’ll probably buy some to bring back home in the summer.

Otaru's charming streets
Otaru’s charming streets
They have pedicabs all around town.
They have pedicabs all around town.
One of multiple LeTAO locations
One of multiple LeTAO locations. The sample girl is in a blue jacket.
LeTAO chocolate was really good.
LeTAO chocolate was really good. The blue jacket girl was giving full chocolate samples of the pyramid chocolates in the picture.
LeTAO is known for their dairy products - mainly their cheese cake or "double fromage" cake
LeTAO is known for their dairy products – mainly their cheesecake or “double fromage” cake
Considering they have multiple locations in town, all the stores are packed with tourists
Considering they have multiple locations in town, all the stores were packed with tourists.
We got the twist of cheese and jersey milk ice cream
We got the twist of cheese and jersey milk ice cream (390 JPY = $4.65 CAD)
It was good. The cheese part made it more unique. But I enjoyed the ice cream from Kinotoya better.
It was good. The cheese part made it more unique. But I enjoyed the ice cream from Kinotoya better (Tim: and I enjoyed the ice cream from McDonald’s better).

After our little food tour, we ended up at the famous steam clock in Otaru. It reminded us of Gastown and as we got closer to it, we saw plaques all around the steam clock’s base that said “Gastown, Vancouver, BC, Canada”. Being away from home for 2 months, I was really excited to see something from home in any shape or form. It turns out that the steam clock maker from Vancouver also made this one in Otaru, the cast of the Gastown clock was used in this one. The steam clock is located right in front of a music box store and museum. When you go in, the whole ground floor is full of tiny music boxes and as you go up to different levels the music boxes get more expensive and fancy.

The nice building on the right is a LeTAO store now
The nice building on the right is a LeTAO store now. There are still cherry blossoms in Sapporo.
Otaru's steam clock
Otaru’s steam clock
Home!
Home!

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The first floor of the music box store
The first floor of the music box store
The more expensive items are all upstairs
The more expensive and unique items are all upstairs
Inside the Music Box Museum down the street
Inside the Music Box Museum down the street

We walked through town some more and eventually made our way back to the train station. Otaru is a very small, charming, and beautiful city with a lot of character. I’m glad we spent our last day here as it was different from other cities in Japan that we had visited. We had planned to have dinner in Otaru but we didn’t see anything that caught our eye. Most of the restaurants served seafood dons, similar to what we had for lunch so we decided to head back to Sapporo for our last dinner in Japan.

The old railway tracks are still here but no in use
The old railway tracks are still here but not in use
Old railway tracks in Otaru
Old railway tracks in Otaru
View of the ocean on the way back to Sapporo
View of the ocean and surrounding mountains on the way back to Sapporo

When we got back to Sapporo, we were actually both still full from the LeTAO samples and the ice cream we had. We decided to do a bit of last last minute shopping at the ESTA mall beside Sapporo Station. A lot of stores were having sales because of Golden Week. Muji had signs all over showing discounts, but since I couldn’t read the signs and only saw the percentage off, I didn’t know what the conditions of the sales were. What I thought was discounted was still regular price despite all the signs saying 20% and I wasn’t able to communicate with the sales associate showing her the sign. Oh well, it wasn’t meant to be. Sorry Nate, no bear T-shirt for you.

For our last dinner in Sapporo, we ended up having CoCo Curry (Tim’s pick). It was between that or yakitori (my pick). But since we had yakitori the night before and the smoking was a bit annoying, we went to CoCo. This is truly Tim’s comfort food restaurant. I like Japanese curry too but not as much as Tim does. But since he’s always so happy when he eats it, I compromised.

The happiest Tim. We both got hamburger steaks and a side of croquette and fish. Dinner was 1,600 JPY = $19 CAD
A happy Tim with his comfort food. We both got hamburger steaks and a side of croquette and fish. Dinner was 1,658 JPY = $19.72 CAD

We stopped by Lawsons (convenience store) on the way back to the hotel. This seemed like a very regular occurrence for us before going back to any hotel/apartment we were staying in while in Japan. We would usually get a beverage of some sort (water or cool Japanese drinks we haven’t seen before), a snack for later (usually ice cream or a Japanese pudding) or breakfast for the next morning (either yogurt or an egg salad sandwich). I’ll definitely miss Lawsons, Family Mart, Sunkus, etc.

Our Sapporo home. The Nest Ekimae. I would highly recommend this hotel for it's great location.
Our Sapporo home. The Nest Ekimae. I would highly recommend this hotel for it’s great location. We were a 5 minute walk to Sapporo Station and were able to walk to a lot of the sights in Sapporo.

Packing up each time we move around is always a tasks in itself. Given the small quarters of our room, it was a little difficult. I had everything from my bag sprawled out on the bed. I can’t wait to go back to Taipei and unload some things. My bag has gained 10kg since leaving Vancouver (yikes!).

It’s crazy how fast April has flown by. I’ve really enjoyed Japan, which doesn’t really surprise me. I love Japanese food, snacks and products so I knew I would like it here. I’ll really miss how pleasant and nice everyone is, how clean the washrooms are (they all have heated seats!), and how good (reasonably priced) the food is. I know we’ll be back in the future to explore more, or even to just go back to Tokyo. We spent 26 days in Japan, but we could have easily spent our full 4.5 months here and not been bored. Everyone says how expensive Japan is to visit, but in actuality Japan can be as expensive as you want it to be (Tim: or as cheap as you want it to be… which could probably be said of most places). If you want to eat “the best” of everything, then obviously Japan is super pricey, but if you eat modestly like how probably 80% of the population eats, it’s very reasonable and cheaper than back home for something similar.

We’ll be heading back to Taipei for a few days before going to Australia. I’m most looking forward to seeing family and friends while there. I am not really looking forward to how we’ll be eating. Australia is notoriously expensive, so I think Tim and I won’t be eating as bountifully as we have been in Asia. Maybe we’ll start to actually lose weight.

Steps today: 18,000

Sapporo (Day 61): Snow in April

April 30, 2016

We woke up this morning, looked out the window, and it was snowing! Not the magical white fluffy snow, but more of the wet icy type of snow. Tim checked the forecast yesterday and saw it was going to snow a bit today, and he was excited. I think he thinks it’s really magical (and romantic) when it snows.

Can't really tell from this picture but it's hailing
Can’t really tell from this picture but it’s hailing
You could see more of the hail in this picture
You could see more of the hail in this picture

We bundled up even more today and headed out. For lunch, we planned on going to a yakitori (grilled skewers) place we saw on our first night that looked good. We didn’t eat there that night because the wait was too long so we passed. When we got to the restaurant, they had a lunch menu displayed and it was all tonkatsu lunch sets. We then realized that yakitori isn’t lunch food, and thought to come back for dinner (third time’s a charm, right?).

Since it was cold out we decided to check out “ramen alley” in Susukino. We had watched Anthony Bourdain’s Hokkaido episode on our first night here and wanted to check it out. Instead of walking outside today, we headed straight for the underground (like the rest of Sapporo). When we got to Susukino and found “ramen alley”, half of the restaurants were closed. It’s Golden Week in Japan right now, so a lot of people are on vacation. The restaurants that were opened were not very busy, some were even empty (it was 12:30pm). We did pass by the restaurant that Anthony Bourdain went to, it was also pretty empty. We didn’t see anything that seemed too interesting and since we had ramen yesterday we decided to find something else (Tim: I should note here that while some of Kaitlyn’s posts might give the impression that I love ramen, I actually don’t like it all that much. There’s a very small subset of ramen I really enjoy (Tonkatsu broth, thin noodles, no bamboo shoots), otherwise most bowls of ramen fall way down on the noodle-soup rankings for me).

Going down to the underground
Going down to the underground
Susukino
Susukino, it’s apparently Sapporo’s red light district, but during the day we didn’t notice anything
Sapporo Star is everywhere
Sapporo Star is everywhere
Ramen Alley in Susukino
Ramen Alley in Susukino
Where Anthony Bourdain had his butter, corn and seafood Hokkaido ramen
Where Anthony Bourdain had his butter, corn and seafood Hokkaido ramen in 2011 (Tim: umm, here’s a stock photo of Bourdain, and another photo of the restaurant without Bourdain)

We walked around the block from ramen alley and found a tonkatsu restaurant that looked interesting. It is part of the Matsunoya chain, which serves mostly donburis, but this restaurant just specialized in tonkatsu. The prices advertised were extremely reasonable so we decided to give it a try.

Outside Matsunoya
Outside Matsunoya
Ticket machine to order and pay
Ticket machine to order and pay. Luckily there’s English as an option.
Tim's tonkatsu set (500 jPY = $5.90 CAD) with an extra order of ebi (490 JPY to $5.75 CAD)
Tim’s tonkatsu set (580 jPY = $6.85 CAD) with an extra order of ebi (490 JPY to $5.75 CAD)
My tonkatsu with daikon set (500 JPY = $5.90 CAD)
My tonkatsu with daikon set (500 JPY = $5.90 CAD)

Everything at Matsunoya was very good. It’s quite easy to find good quality cheap food in Japan. That’s something that we’re going to really miss when we leave Asia for Australia. After that filling lunch, we headed back to the underground and did a bit of browsing and last minute shopping at Muji, Uniqlo and Don Quijote, as our time in Japan is winding down.

We're in the "Pole Town" part of the underground. There's a good selection of stores and restaurants in this area.
We’re in the “Pole Town” part of the underground. There’s a good selection of stores and restaurants in this area.

While walking through Pole Town, we noticed a line up outside a bakery that made cheese tarts (similar to the ones we had at Pablo) and they also served Hokkaido ice cream. Before coming to Sapporo, everyone told us we had to have Hokkaido ice cream, as Hokkaido produces high quality dairy products. We got in line at Kinotoya Bake and ordered one cheese tart and an ice cream cone to share.

Kitanoya Bake
Kinotoya Bake
Freshly baked cheese tarts - 170 JPY = $2 CAD each or 1,000 JPY = $11.80 CAD for 6.
Freshly baked cheese tarts – 170 JPY = $2 CAD each or 1,000 JPY = $11.80 CAD for 6.
Hokkaido ice cream (360 JPY = $4.25 CAD)
Hokkaido ice cream (360 JPY = $4.25 CAD) and our cheese tart.

The ice cream cone was huge! The soft serve is different than what we’re used to. It’s a lot creamier and not as sweet (if you’re comparing it to Dairy Queen). The cheese tart was like a warm cheesecake except a bit more gooey. It was good, but we both thought the cheese tart from Pablo was better.

We came up from the underground and saw it was sunny and there were blue skies. It was the first time we’ve seen blue skies in Sapporo. I guess being underground for most of the day, you don’t get to see what’s going on outside. We went to the Former Hokkaido Government Office and walked around inside. It’s free to visit and there are rooms filled with Sapporo memorabilia – like letters from world leaders who attended the G8 Summit in Sapporo in 2008. The building is a beautiful red brick building and looked very western inside.

Former Hokkaido Government Office
Former Hokkaido Government Office
Carp flags outside the government building
Carp flags outside the government building
Inside the Governor's old office
Inside the Governor’s old office
Beautiful pond and some lingering cherry blossoms around beside the government building
Beautiful pond and some lingering cherry blossoms around beside the government building

We went back underground and went to Sapporo Station to browse around at the stores. The Uniqlo at Sapporo Station is one of the better ones I’ve been to this trip. Since it’s Golden Week, there are a lot of sales going on. After trying on a lot of items, I restricted myself after thinking about my bulging backpack.

Can see the sunset through the buildings from Sapporo Station
Can see the sunset through the buildings from Sapporo Station
Sapporo Station at dusk
Sapporo Station at dusk
Sapporo TV Tower lit up green for Golden Week which used to celebrate the Emperor's birthday but now it's celebrated as "Greenery Day"
Sapporo TV Tower lit up green for Golden Week which used to celebrate the Emperor’s birthday but now it’s celebrated as “Greenery Day”

From our shopping today, here are some snacks that were interesting but we didn’t/couldn’t buy. Too bad all the specialty Glico Pockys are always in such big boxes. I knew that Hokkaido was known for its dairy products but I didn’t know they also specialized in cantaloupe/melon flavoured treats.

Melon pocky
Melon pocky. Huge box for 800 JPY $9.45 CAD
Red bean Kit Kat at Don Quijote
Red bean Kit Kat at Don Quijote

It was time for dinner so we walked back towards the yakitori restaurant, Kushidori. There were two other groups ahead of us and had to wait about 15 minutes. We got seated at the counter and ordered 15 skewers, edamame, and two drinks (ginger ale and a beer) for 28,000 JPY = $33 CAD. Everything was really good, I think yakitori is one of my favourite types of Japanese food. Grilled meat is so simple but it tastes so good. My favourites from tonight were the bacon wrapped mochi and the classic chicken and leek skewer. Most of the skewers we ordered were 130-140 JPY = $1.50 – $$1.65 CAD.

Kushidori in Sapporo
Kushidori in Sapporo
There's a grill in the front and in the middle of the restaurant
There’s a grill in the front and in the middle of the restaurant
Mochi and bacon, pork and leek, eggplant, scallop
Mochi and bacon, pork and leek, eggplant, scallop
Chicken meatballs, chicken wings, chicken and leek
Chicken meatballs, chicken wings, chicken and leek

The restaurant is a block away from our hotel, so it was a short walk back. My favourite meals in Japan have been izakayas or yakitori restaurants. I guess I like bars in Japan even though I don’t drink. The only downside to eating at these places is that smoking is allowed, which is not something we’re used to.

It’s our last day in Japan tomorrow. I’m a bit sad to be leaving. There’s so much more to see and eat!

Steps today: 16,000