The first stop on my first trip to Hokkaido (and my second trip to Japan) was Otaru. Or, as the locals call it, Otaru-shi. It is one of Hokkaido’s most famous port towns.
My first impression of Otaru was that it resembled Busan, especially around the Otaru JR station neighbourhood. But the similarities pretty much stopped there.
Otaru Inn Stay
I fell in love with it the minute I walked into our room (I shared the room with Yin) at the Otaru Inn. The sea was right beside the inn, and we could hear the waves all day long, which was calming. We fell asleep minutes after we hit the covers.
Seaside Bazaar
The next day we woke up, had a late breakfast and went to the seaside Japan summer bazaar, walking from the hotel. Food stalls were selling yummy-looking snacks, kawaii-looking teenagers in a group, and kids running around in their cute yukatas.
Otaru Canal
The Canal is the most famous thing about this seaside town. Tourists who spoke different languages were taking pictures of it. To be honest, I don’t really get what’s so great about the canal.
Otaru has plenty of restaurants for a small town. We had our dinner in a Japanese BBQ restaurant. We had the most succulent and juicy slices of wagyu beef that melted in our mouths. Delicious is an understatement.
We suspected it was world-famous Kobe beef, but we were too drunk to check with the waiters later.
We only stayed for one night here. The day after, we went to Furano. I may visit it again in the winter for a completely different experience. That feels like a good enough excuse to book another Japan trip.
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