We hadn’t meant to spend two nights in Otaru. In fact, we hadn’t meant to spend any nights in Otaru. Our original plan had been to spend four nights in Hokkaido’s main city, Sapporo, and take a day trip to the much smaller city of Otaru. As I said in my post on couchsurfing, though, expect the unexpected, and a last-minute change of plans had us booking into the charmingly named but somewhat less charming Smile Hotel – Otaru.
We had two main goals when planning our visit to Otaru – the Nikka whisky distillery in nearby Yoichi, and the famed canal district.
Otaru is probably most famous for its canal, which is one of the city’s premier tourist attractions. The area makes for a beautiful stroll, and is lined with countless little shops, restaurants and cafes to stop in and explore. The canal district is located an easy 10-minute walk from the main JR train station, or a 2-minute bus or trolley ride. We visited on a wintery December day, and though it was bitingly cold, there was only a light layer of snow on the ground. Be warned – the sidewalks are rarely salted or shovelled in Northern Japan, which makes them terrifyingly slick and slippery, and walking along them is an experience not dissimilar to ice skating…
The shops that line the streets in the canal district are a gastronomic delight – there are fine chocolate shops, bakeries, green tea cafes, and a ridiculously popular bakery chain called LeTAO, which is famed for its cheesecakes and other dessert.
There’s also a brewery in the area, which of course we had to visit. The beer at the Otaru Brewery is brewed according to strict German brewing traditions under the watchful eye of an actual German brewmaster, who helped found the brewery in 1994. It was a bit of a surreal experience to be sitting in an authentic recreation of a German beer hall in Northern Japan, drinking German beer and eating soft pretzels and sausages with sauerkraut. Japan is simply full of surprises!
We had planned to visit one the city’s popular sushi restaurants, as Otaru is famed for its extremely fresh, high quality fish, but we quickly discovered that without a reservation we weren’t getting a table on a weekend evening! All was not not lost, though, and thanks to helpful internet reviews we wound up filling our bellies with delicious fried chicken instead. It actually made for a pleasant change from the ramen we’d been living on for the past week! Moist, crispy, and scaldingly hot, we devoured our chicken surrounded by happy families sitting on the floor around low tables, celebrating the end of the work week. It was a lovely experience, and really helped us feel like we were getting a taste of local life. Another word of warning, though – while most restaurants in Japan offer both smoking and non-smoking sections, poor air circulation and small restaurant sizes mean that travellers who are sensitive to smoke might want to be extra careful about which restaurants they visit.
Otaru is a lovely little city to explore, with plenty of sights to see and delicious edibles to savour and enjoy. The city can easily be reached by train from Sapporo, which can in turn easily be reached by the new Shinkansen connection from Tokyo. A one-way trip from Sapporo to Otaru along the JR Hakodate Main Line takes only about 30 minutes by express train, or 45 minutes by local train, making it an easy day trip for Sapporo-based explorers. Still, Otaru feels a bit off the beaten track, at least for Western tourists. The city is extremely popular with Chinese tourists, who visit in massive groups aboard massive tour busses, but rest assured that there is still English to be found absolutely everywhere, and it is widely spoken, or at least understood, by many residents. The small city is easily navigated and explored, even if you don’t speak or read a word of Japanese, and most of the main attractions located within a thirty-minute walk from the main train station.
A word of warning, though – the winter weather in Northern Japan is not to be taken lightly. While we went to bed on a clear night, this is what we woke up to on the morning we left Otaru for Hakodate….
The weather can literally change overnight, so be sure to pack those boots and pull on a puffy coat, because you’ll need all the warmth you can get!
I’m thoroughly enjoying traveling with you to areas of Japan that I’ve never visited before ? Love reading about the German beer hall and fried chicken! So many delightfully unexpected tastes and treats?
Thank you! It was an incredible experience, and were able to get off the beaten track a bit, so I’m enjoying being able to relive some of our travels.
Sometimes a change of plans is a great way to discover more than you bargained for. I love your description of that fried chicken, it’s only breakfast time here and I kinda want some now! The snow might be a little much for me though. #citytripping
So true! It’s so important to be open to changes and flexible when you travel, because you never quite know what you might discover.
That sounds like a really mixed experience. Very different to anything I’ve experienced before. I’m tempted!
It was definitely unlike anything I’d ever experienced before either! I’m Canadian, but it very, very rarely snows here, so these temperatures were a bit of a shock to my system, for sure!
Interesting, I know very little about northern Japan! Thanks for sharing this surprising trip.
Thank you! We explored Japan from top to bottom, but Hokkaido was the island we really knew the least about before going, and it was really an amazing experience, we can’t wait to go back…though maybe in the summer this time!
What a colorful town in many ways, thanks for the virtual visit!
Thank you for stopping by!
Strange to find an authentic German brewery in Japan haha – that’s not what I imagined I’d find when I opened your post! #CityTripping
That’s one of the great things about travel, isn’t it – you never quite know what you’re going to find!
I hadn’t come across Otaru before, really interesting to discover another part of Japan beyond some of the best known cities, especially with so much quirky character of its own. Thanks for linking up with #citytripping
That cheesecake looks soooo good. I’ve never been to Japan, but I’d love to visit. Preferably not during the winter. I thought it was interesting hearing about the German brewery and seeing the fried chicken cooked there. And then realizing that English is spoken there?!?! Sounds like an awesome trip!
With Love,
Mandy
Japan is actually a really easy country for foreigners to explore, even when you leave the big cities – there’s a lot of English signage, the people are friendly, and it’s very safe and well organized – definitely worth visiting!
Look how fluffy that cheesecake is! Yum! Don’t you just love last minute changes? Sometimes they just work themselves out
So true! You just have to keep a positive spirit, and you never know what you can discover when you leave yourself open to new opportunities!
I’m another armchair Japan traveller who is interested to be seeing some of the life outside Tokyo. That chicken looks great! I’m a bit over snow at the moment, but give it another few months and I’ll appreciate that too.
Oh yes, I feel the same way about the snow, too!
First time I here about this place. Looks interesting. I do not remember if I have tried Japanese cheesecake. Will need to take a look into that. #wanderfulwednesday
Your post reminds me of my visit to Otaru years ago! I LOVED LeTao! I was there during the snow festival so there were little snow and ice sculptures along the canal. It was beautiful.
So much snow! This looks a fantastic trip to make from Tokyo, I’d love the canal district and a visit to a distillery is always a hit! #WanderfulWednesday
Northern Japan seems amazing! It’s like Northern Norway but with German beer and without polar night. I guess I need to move there
I probably wouldn’t like to visit Japan in winter, but spring sounds like the perfect time. That cheescake looks super fluffy, I would love a slice
I have not heard of Otaru until I read this post and I had it in my mind that most of Japan wouldn’t speak English (similair to when we visited China really), so it was a surprise to learn that they do even though this place is off the beaten track. Love the cheesecake photo btw! What a lovely trip you had
#feetdotravel
All that snow!! Sounds like a lovely if unexpected place to visit. I really know nothing about Japan but from reading your posts it sounds like a delightfully surprising place
Wow, I never thought it can snow that much in Japan. But it looks like an interesting place to visit and the food looks delicious (especially the cheesecake
). Funny, it seems like you can find a German brewery almost everywhere 
How long did you travel in Japan?
Great to find out about places in Japan I hadn’t heard of! That snow!!!! Wow ? Also nice to read your blog as you have left lots of lovely comments on some of my posts recently so a big Hi from me ?
I have never heard of Otaru before but it looks like a great place to spend a day or two – Hokkaido is somewhere I really want to visit one day. The food looks amazing and the local beer sounds like it’s definitely worth checking out. The snow makes it all look even cooler!
I haven’t heard of Otaru before too. What a lovely place to visit. I would love to visit this part of Japan one of these days (even in winter). Off the beaten path places are such treasures. Salivating over that cheesecake.
Japan is somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for a long time. The chicke you ate sounds amazing! Even the thought of waking up to all that snow sounds appealing….
That is so much snow! Your food photos have me drooling – especially that cheesecake!
I am sorry I missed Otaru on my travels through Japan. The canal district looks like the place to visit plus where to eat with reservations and the Brewery looks like a must. Glad you found some fried chicken. The weather is always changing but the snow looked lovely. Thanks for sharing
#feetdotravel
Beer & fried chicken sound good to me and it looks like a lovely spot anytime but winter