Japan 2016 Day 13: Otaru, The Small Harbor City & Enjoying Odori

I finally found some time this weekend to update my 18 Days Graduation Trip to Japan posts - Day 13/18! If you are wondering what I was busy with all this time (and why I have not been updating my blog), life happened aka spending time on work, family & friends and I just returned from an one week holiday in Australia. I am going to try to finish the Japan posts by the end of this year, and start blogging about my Australia trip!

Day 13 - 1 June 2016, Wednesday

Overall itinerary of our thirteen day

0805 - 0853 : Best Western Hotel Fino Sapporo, Sapporo >> Otaru (小樽)

0853 - 1030 : Otaru Canal (小樽運河, Otaru Unga)

1030 - 1115 : Breakfast at Kamaei (かま栄)

1115 - 1415 : Visit cafes & shops along Sakaimachi Street (境町通り, Sakaimachi Dōri)

1415 - 1500 : Visit Museum of Venetian Art

1500 - 1530 : Visit Music Box Museum

1540 - 1619 : Otaru (小樽) >> Sapporo

1625 - 1633 : Sapporo >> Odori

1645 - 1800 : Dinner at New Sanko Otaru

1800 - 1900 : Visit Sapporo TV Tower to view Odori Park (大通公園, Ōdōri Kōen)

1900 - 2030 : Shop at Daiso

2030 onwards : Travel back to Best Western Hotel Fino Sapporo, Sapporo & rest

When you visit Hokkaido, you have to try their dairy products. That was what I heard before travelling there, so I just had to give it a go. I bought one small packet of milk the previous night and had it in the morning. It tasted somewhat like yoghurt. Till this day, I still have no idea if this is milk or what. Either way, I liked it.

Enough said, let's talk about Otaru - one of the places in our itinerary which I was really looking forward to visiting (besides the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, of course) for the desserts and the beautiful canal! It definitely did not disappoint me at all.

As our JR 7 Days Pass (read more here) has ended the previous day, we had to purchase our train tickets separately at 640 yen each to get to Otaru. The train ride took us about 50 minutes.

From Otaru station, we took a 10 - 15 minutes walk to reach the Otaru Canal (小樽運河, Otaru Unga). On the way there, we saw a train track which seems to lead to nowhere, at least on the end we were at. That means... it is a perfect place for us to snap some photos (lol)!

Satisfied with the countless photos we took at the tracks, we finally made our way to the Otaru Canal. As Otaru used to be a major trade and fishing port with warehouses and fishing ports, you can spot several preserved warehouses like the one below.

The canal is beautifully preserved as well. From the surface, the water seems clean to us and the whole scene is pretty picturesque.

We were so glad that we visited the canal in the morning when the weather was still good. At that point in time, the sky was cloudy and it was slightly sunny. The temperature was perfect too, at 15.9 degree celsius.

Having spent enough time at the Otaru Canal, it was time for some 'fishy' breakfast at Kamaei (かま栄) (visit their website here). Famous for their fish cakes, we chose 2 out of the many choices to try.

They have a sitting area for customers who would like to consume the food there. We took 2 free cups of water and started munching on them. Even though I am personally not a huge fan of fishcakes or fish balls, I have to say they taste pretty good. No strong 'fishy taste' and they tasted fresh and not too oily too.

With our appetites sparked, we went straight to Sakaimachi Street (境町通り, Sakaimachi Dōri), a preserved merchant street in Otaru lined with quite a few cafes and souvenir shops. Now, let me introduce to the cafes & food places you need to visit if you are in Otaru!

First up, we have Venetian Cafeteria (ヴェネツィアカフェテリア) known for their 7 layers ice-cream. Like... WOW.

The 7 layers are 7 different flavours, starting from the very top layer to the bottom layer (below): Grape, Strawberry, Powdered Green Tea, Melon, Milk, Chocolate and Lavender.

Eating this ice-cream cone really tested my tolerance for consuming ice-cream in cold weather. Although we sat in the cafe while finishing this, my teeth was chattering non-stop. It was good, but hey, I nearly had a brain freeze eating this!

Moving on the second place which you got to visit along the Sakaimachi Street, enter Rokkatei (六花亭) known for their cream puffs and Marusei Butter Sand Biscuits.

Yes, the cream puffs are only 90yen each, so eat them! Now, you might be wondering what is this sand biscuits (hmm)? It is basically this awesome biscuit with a delightful combination of white chocolate, raisins and butter made with Hokkaido milk! If anyone is heading to Otaru anytime soon, please get one box of this for me okay?

Rokkatei also sells a variety of chocolate snacks which you can get as souvenirs for your family and friends, like those green and red containers of chocolate covered strawberries.

We also managed to try one of their offerings called the Yukicon Cheese at 120yen per piece. As a cheese lover, this dessert (left side) is perfect for me!

We got out of Rokkatei with bags of Marusei Butter Sand Biscuits before heading for our 3rd stop at Patisserie Kitakaro. They are also known for their cream puffs. What makes their cream puffs unique is their Kita no Yume Dome, a cream puff with 3 layers of crisp choux pastry, light, fluffy cream and lusciously rich custard cream!

The top layer of pale yellow cream tasted slightly salty, which made the whole puff easier to consume given the amount of cream in one giant puff. What can I say about cream made with Hokkaido milk but yum yum? :')

We also spent some time in Patisserie Kitakaro taste testing their cakes since the weather decided to turn for the bad. It was also a good idea to stay at Patisserie Kitakaro to stay dry since they were so generous with the food samples. See this:

That is like 1/4 of their dorayaki. We were just stunned, the good kind of stunned.

Seeing that the rain was not going to stop anytime soon, we decided to just brave the rain to have some more desserts at LeTao, our final stop for desserts at Otaru. Known for their Fromage cheesecake, we ordered the Amazing Cheesecake set at 1,300yen.

Served with a cup of their seasonal tea, the fromage cheesecake is to die for! If you like cheesecake that is not too rich, you will prefer the one on the left. The piece of cheesecake on the right is slightly cheesier. Obviously, I love both of them as long as they are made of cheese, haha. I think there is a LeTao store opened at Ion Orchard and they have the Fromage Cheesecake. If you would like to have a taste of the cake but you are not visiting Otaru anytime soon, you could get one there!

Seeing that the rain was getting lighter, we popped by Museum of Venetian Art, a five story museum opened by local glass producer Kitaichi. Inside, you would find a full sized Gondola. Never mind that we have not been to Venice, at least we saw a Gondola, haha.

You could also get a glass pen as a souvenir like this museum. We paid 700yen each to enter the museum and pass the time while waiting for the rain to stop. Cameras are not allowed at the museum upstairs so I did not manage to get any photos of the Venetian glasswares. The museum visit was informative but you could probably give it a miss if you do not have time.

After which, we walked to the Music Box Museum which is filled with many music boxes. Entrance to the museum is free. If you love music boxes, you might want to consider getting one as a souvenir. There are quite a variety of music boxes, from mini figurines to soft toys ones. However, there were all quite expensive though. Having said that, it is still worth a visit to look at all the interesting music boxes and listen to a few of them too.

The weather was not getting any better when we were done with the museum. Nonetheless, we made our way to Otaru station to get to Odori. After another 50 minutes ride, we reached Odori and had our dinner at New Sanko Otaru located within the same building as the Sapporo TV Tower. It is actually a great place to have a meal here as it overlooks Odori Park (大通公園, Ōdōri Kōen).

We read that Ankake Yakisoba is a famous noodles in Otaru, so that was what we had at New Sanko Otaru. Basically, Ankake Yakisoba is fried noodles with seafood and starchy sauce. We shared one of it, and ordered a salad and pizza as well.

After a fulfilling meal, we purchased tickets for the Sapporo TV Tower at 720yen each.

As compared to the Tokyo Skytree which we visited on Day 16, it was much less crowded and quieter here. It was easier for us to get some photographs of the views as well. As the weather was gloomy in the evening, we made do with what we have. Nonetheless, it is still nice to spend some time looking out at the buildings, lights, gardens of Sapporo.

When the sky grew darker, we left the Sapporo TV Tower to shop at Daiso. Perhaps this outlet is not located in the touristy area, we were able to shop in peace as compared to the one in Harajuku, Tokyo which we visited a few days later. 5 floors of 100yen products made us happy girls!