Day 09 is our day trip to Otaru. The forecast for Day 09 the day before reported that there would be a good chance of snowfall in Sapporo. As it turned out, snowfall started probably late at night, so that by the time we left the hotel to make our way to the city of Otaru, Sapporo was again blanketed with a few inches of snow after much of it had melted in the previous days. We had a pretty full itinerary for Otaru: a visit to Sankaku Market => Otaru Aquarium => Otaru Taishou Glass Palace => Sakaimachi Street => Marchen Intersection => Music Box Museum => Otaru Canal in the evening.
The snowfall was even more vigorous in Otaru, with several inches of the kind of powdery snow that kids would love to play with, something I’ll return to write about in the next entry or two.
Sankaku Market is a small seafood and fresh produce market that runs through a single alley, and is within spitting distance of JR Otaru Station. Oddly, Google Maps suggested a long way of getting to the market: we walked past the bus terminal that’s in front of JR Otaru Station, swung left, walked for a few minutes, and the entrance to the market was on the left – it can be hard to notice if you’ve not seen pictures of it before. There’s apparently an even faster way of getting to the market: once you’re out of JR Otaru Station, turn left, walk past the Burger King joint that’s on your left, and you’ll see a series of steps slightly on your right. Walk up that, and the entrance to the market is right ahead. Easy peasy.
Unlike Nijo Market in Sapporo, I faced no difficulties taking quick casual shots of the place and produce. Though just to be safe, the Sony A73 was set to silent mode and photos were taken discreetly. But the shopkeepers were certainly very friendly, with several fishing out those huge Hokkaido snow crabs to let Peter get a really close look!
We headed to Otaru Aquarium next!
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