Off to the Land of the Rising Sun! (Part 4)

3 August 2013: Exploring Otaru & Yoichi

On our 7th day, we spent a day in Otaru & Yoichi, which is west of Sapporo. It takes about 30 minutes to get to Otaru by train and another 30 minutes from Otaru to Yoichi. Otaru is a small harbour city and in the late 1800s, this place served as a major trade and fishing port

The Otaru Canal is a prominent landmark here. The canal was used to transport goods to the warehouses located along the canal. Today the canal is no longer in use and the warehouses have been preserved into museums, shops and restaurants.

Nikka Whiskey is the #2 whiskey brand in Japan (after Yamazaki). Its distillery is located in Yoichi and was built in 1934. The founder, Masataka Taketsuru, believed that the conditions in Yoichi best resembled those found in Scotland and was perfect for making Scotch whisky. Nikka whiskies have been recognized to rank among the world's best single malt whiskies and have won numerous awards

It's nice to stroll around the distillery. Clean, crisps air and many beautiful trees and flowers

With the founder - Masataka Taketsuru

60 years worth of whiskey collection 

Tasting is available at the end and it is free. A selection of apple wine to 10 years, and 17 years single malt whiskey. It's free flow but everyone drinks with caution. 

I figured whiskey is not my thing so I settled for apple juice and oolong tea instead.

After 6 glasses of single malts and feeling much happier, we headed back to Otaru for some shopping on Saikamachi Street. Some things we saw along the way...

I think it's the season for rock melon. It's everywhere.

And corn too!

Not sure if this is a real wolf, but with the hefty price tag, I suppose it is real!

Met this Samurai along the way

Saikamachi Street is also filled with many sushi places. You will find every shop having its own window display of their menu. Each shop is so VERY tempting!

We stopped for street food. We saw this man BBQ-ing fresh seafood of your choice. We had 2 large scallops, a clam and an abalone, all for Y1600 (RM60)

Oishi!!!

For dinner, we randomly picked a sushi place close to the train station. Nothing great to be honest, but prices were reasonable.