Blogs from Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan, Asia
July 19th 2010
We bought one day sightseeing bus pass which would allow us to travel to sightseeing places, as well as viewing them from the bus. We had missed the No 3 bus departing at 12:05, and needed to wait for another 20 minutes. However, I realised that the canal plaza was a walking distance from the station and we decided to walk. Whilst heading for the Canal Plaza, we found the remains of the Temiya Railway, which was Hokkaido’s first steam railway. We didn’t only see the monument and rails but also saw platforms, signal boxes, and signposts and the rails were laid towards the Otaru Museum, former Railway Museum, which we had planned visiting in the afternoon. Having arranged to meet up with my parents at 12:30, we decided to walk along the canal. As anticipated, ... read more
July 7th 2009
china. mayb u bcome nr. 1 . but its mo easy 2 go 2 d top than 2 stay at top. am xageratin foothbath.2hrs a day. try 2 sell in front of footbath. sold nothin. so. whats my phsycho problem with luz? i d go back ?! ! why? i mean i dont even like her. noble sense of responsibility, a feelin guilty, a wishin 4 d past 2 come back, hope, a payment 4 my sins, dee, ununderstandable love, stupid romanticism? i know, 2 much perverse mind playin. 2day focused on her. we, 2gether again. both unhappy. i dont like her, mayb she even dont like me. but 2gether again. destiny, somethin that has 2 b. unhappy, but 2gether. fuckin mindgame. otaru. best places 4 hitchhikin: ibiza, nice people stop. japan, nice people, i allways ... read more
October 9th 2008
To me, the attraction here was the array of food & pastry and, of coz, the Music Box Museum. There were lots of places around for main meals and tea breaks. And, not forgetting, delicious pastries to buy home to treat everyone. We had even found a confectionery that was better than Ishiya's Shiroi Koibito. It's "Le Tao". It had a few branches at Otaru targeting different needs, such as a a chocolate boutique, cheesecake speciality store etc. Le Tao was also very generous in providing samples. Tip: Ask and you will be given. Their earl grey chocolate biscuit and petite chocolate strawberry were a few I tried and really like. It was a pity I could not bring a lot of them home (coz of cost, weight & short expiry period). Music Box Museum was ... read more
September 20th 2008
Whoops forgot to hit Publish on this yesturday... was pretty outa it when I wrote this due to lack of sleep: ===== So todays my final day on the island of Hokkaido. Yesterday visited the Sapporo Beer museum as well as the city of Otaru. The Sapporo Beer museum was smaller then I pictured it, but not too bad. Most of the signage was in Japanese but I got the gist of it. My favorite bit was these little models they had setup that made it look like beer came from a Santas workshop type atmosphere. Made me chuckle and reminded me of the Simpsons episode where they go to the Duff Brewery theme park. The tastings they had were relatively cheap, and the actual grounds was very nice. Some pretty cool restaurants, went to one ... read more
February 13th 2008
Since the Yuki Matsuri was going on there was no chance of getting a hostel in Sapporo so I made a call to a backpackers hostel in Otaru and scored us some bunks for the night. Otaru is about 30 minutes by express or 50 by local train from Sapporo. We had to be in the hostel by 9pm and we ended up getting into Otaru around 7:30pm but we had another mission, we were looking for another Snow Festival. While I was reading the Japan Times Online I found a travel article about the Sapporo festival and about a small festival in Otaru. The article described the Otaru festival as a much smaller and more local celebration than the huge sponsorship in Sapporo. It is so true! Otaru's festival is amazing. At night they light ... read more
