Glass and The Pier Causes Russian Fear

What a prefect day for a day trip to Otaru! I woke up around 8 and got ready for the day. At first I wasn't sure what I was going to do, because there's still so much to see in Sapporo. But I decided it was time to explore out of the city a bit, and Otaru is the easiest place to get to. The biggest problem with traveling around Hokkaido is that most places cannot be gotten to by train. I can't rent a car here, and that's supposed to be the easiest way to get around. So I got ready and lunged into the cold outside. The weather was actually really nice today! The air was crisp and had a frosty smell to it, which gave me even more incentive to explore Hokkaido. So I walked before walking to the train station, I stopped off at the Seicomart on the corner and grabbed some pastries and an iced coffee. I then too the train to Sapporo station, where I got my ticket bound for Otaru. I don't know if it's on purpose or not, but the people at the ticket office always give me the window seat, scenic side. I'm sure they do that for all travelers...or maybe I'm just special. I'd say it took about an hour to get to Otaru, but I had an excellent view of the ocean, so it wasn't a bad trip at all. Once I stepped off that train and exited the station, I was thrust into a 19th century fisherman's world. The town was heavily influenced by Russian architecture, and I could definitly see the resemblence. Almost all of the buildings were made of stone, with iron doors and windows. At the end of the main street there is an historic canal that, like all other canals throughout the world, was dotted with painters, photographers, and sculpters. I slowly walked down the main street, gazing at all of the buildings and little shops. About halfway down the main road, I found my favorite part of the city. It was an old stretch of railroad track that was deemed an historic site, and was covered in very green grass. There was a nice dirt path along it, but I decided to continue down to the canal and save the walkway for later. I finally got to the canal, which was as beautiful as it was long. It stretched from both sides of the city, and was once used to carry boats from the warehouses to the ships. Behind the canal, there were iron-clad warehouses that have since been converted into restaurants, shops, and fish markets. The canal's water was a nice sea green, which contrasted beautifully with the iron and stone of the buildings. I walked along the canal for a good while, until I decided to check out another feature of the city, glass blowing. Otaru is famous for their well crafted glasswares, so I decided to go to the best shop I could find, The Otaru Glass Factory. They make all of their products onsite, and you can take a walkaround of the facility. Their store was huge! Three stories of glass products, and then a top floor with workshops where you can make your own glassware. Sadly, I couldn't make something because you need reservations to do it. So I just browsed around the shop for a while, looking at all of the intricate designs. My favorite was a samurai helmet made entirely out of glass. After perusing through the different floors, a familiar feeling washed over me. Hunger!! But before the fealing completely consumed me, I walked down the pathway along that old train track. For some reason, everything seemed much more quiet along that path. There were barely any other people, and the very small, more traditonally Japanese buildings on each side blocked the view of all the stone and metal. Luckily the path also led me to my mission of finding food. Now, I knew exactly what food I was going to have in Otaru, and the answer is... crab! Otaru is said to have the juiciest crab in Japan, and I intended to see if that was true! So, I headed back to the station and made a hard right toward the very hidden fish market. The fish market here is in a very small, covered alleyway at the back of the city. Once I got there, I found just the restaurant I was looking for. It's a very well known restaurant in the area called Takeda's, and he is said to serve the best crab in the city. So I walked into the shack-like restaurant and got a seat at a small table. The waitress brought me some tea and these delicious little strips of fish jerky. I didn't know what kind of fish it was, but it tasted amazing! After ordering a meal of cooked salmon and crab soup, a family came in to eat as well. To make room for them, the waitress asked me if I could move to a different table, to which I happily agreed. And for being so nice, she rewarded me with a small sack of that fish jerky to have for later. I'd say that was a big win, especially because the stuff tastes so damn good. After waiting a bit, my meal finally came. What I had in front of me what quite a bit of food, especially since the crab soup had a whole crab in it! They gave me special scissors and a crab fork as well, which I used to eat the most delicious crab. It was extremy juicy and sweet, and you could tell it came straight from this morning's catch. The salmon was just as good and tasted amazing with the pickled vegetables and rice that also came with the meal. I was very satisfied with the meal, and upon leaving I gave my thanks to the restaurant owner, who was standig outside talking to one of the other fishmongers. After leaving the fish market, I decided it was time to leave Otaru ad head back to Sapporo. I had spent a good 6 hours in Otaru, so I felt satisfied. It is a very small city, after all. I arrived back in Sapporo at around 5, so I decided it was time to make a trip back to the biergartens. I walked to Odori park, and found a park filled to the brim with businessmen and groups of friends raising their glasses to good times. I'd say there were twice as many people there today than there were yesterday. I decided to walk down the length of the park to check out the other sections and see what was being offered. I walked pas Sapporo's section, and the stopped. What stood before me was not a station for microbreweries, but was instead a setup for Anheiser Busch. I was not only dissapointed, but was pissed off that they would even set foot on Japan's turf. After all, their beer tastes like something that came from a horse's ass. The best part about it was that nobody was there, while the other stations were filled! I just laughed and turned around back to Sapporo's station to try out one of the beers I didn't have yet. It was a lot of fun because there was a great jazz band playing. After spending a while watching the people come and go, I went back to the hostel to finally rest. I didn't feel like going out to eat and spending a lot, so I just stopped at the market and picked up some udon. Well, today was interesting, but I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be even more amazing.