Otaru, with its beautiful retro Taisho style townscape including canals. Yoichi is home to the Nikka Whiskey distillery. Niseko, a mecca for winter sports, has numerous hot spring resorts.
Recommended sightseeing information for Otaru, Yoichi, and Niseko. Otaru, located west of Sapporo, is popular for its Taisho-romantic townscape and Otaru Canal. Other tourist attractions include Otaru Aquarium, Yujiro Ishihara Memorial Museum, Asarigawa Hot Springs, and the former Otaru Branch of the Bank of Japan.
Yoichi, located 20 km west of Otaru and a 30-minute drive away, is famous for the Nikka Whisky Yoichi Distillery, where you can learn about its history at the Whisky Museum. Other tourist attractions in Yoichi include the Yoichi Space Memorial Museum and Cape Siriba. Blessed with a relatively mild climate among Hokkaido, Yoichi is also famous for its fruits, such as cherries in summer and apples and grapes in autumn.
Niseko, which stretches at the foot of Mt. Yotei, is one of the best resort areas in Hokkaido, attracting many tourists from all over Japan who come to enjoy its summer and winter activities. Niseko Annupuri, the main peak of the Niseko mountain range, is home to the International Ski Resort and Niseko Higashiyama Onsen Hot Springs.
Sushi, Rutao, Otaru Posei-don, and whiskey are recommended as local delicacies in the Otaru, Yoichi, and Niseko area.
Stone warehouses built in the Meiji and Taisho eras line the canal. These former warehouses are now reused as restaurants, cafes, and souvenir stores. At night, the sight of the buildings lit up by shining gas lamps is truly fantastic. It creates a romantic mood. Along the Otaru Canal, there is a promenade for visitors to stroll around, and many tasteful sightseeing spots are spread out around t...»
Also known as "Ezo Fuji" due to its beautiful silhouette similar to Mt.It is one of the 100 most famous mountains in Japan and is the symbol of Niseko. The summit of the 1,898-meter-high volcano has a crater at its summit, from which the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean can be viewed, and the 2.5-km circumference of the volcano can be visited by hikers. The mountainside is rich in nature, with...»
A ropeway runs to the top of the 533-meter-high Mt. Tengu, and the ski museum, Tengu no Yakata (Tengu Museum), and chipmunk park are located at the summit station. From the observatory at the top of the mountain, you can see Otaru City, the opposite shore of Ishikari Bay during the daytime, the Shakotan Peninsula to the left, and the Yubari Mountains to the right. The night view is popular as on...»
Otaru was called the "Wall Street of the North" from the late Meiji period to the early Showa period, and laid the foundation of Hokkaido's economic development as a distribution and financial hub. The building was constructed as a bank during Otaru's prosperous period, and exhibits and publicizes excellent Japanese and international art works and crafts that have glamorized that era. An art vil...»
Yoichi's cool and humid climate, abundant water, and clean air are ideal for whisky making. Nikka Whisky Hokkaido Factory is a retro and stylish space with a quiet Scottish atmosphere in Yoichi, which has a climate similar to that of Scotland, the home of whiskey. In addition to the factory tour, there is a Yoichi Original Whisky Store that sells valuable original whisky straight from the cask, ...»
The aquarium consists of the main building, which exhibits a wide variety of fish and shellfish, the Dolphin Stadium, where you can enjoy dolphin and sea lion shows, the Marine Park, where seals, walruses, sea lions, penguins, etc. are kept, and the amusement park "Otaru Shukuzu Marine Land". The marine animal park is located in a natural cove, where seabirds also fly in. Wild sea lions and largh...»
The abandoned railroad line that was used to transport coal to Otaru City, where the port is located, is called the "Former JNR Temiya Line.The line opened in 1880 as part of Hokkaido's first railroad, the government-run Horonai Railway, and trains ran on it until 1985. Today, most of the tracks, circuit breakers, and other abandoned railway tracks still remain, and have been prepared as walking ...»
Niseko Town is dotted with hot springs, including Goshiki Onsen, located at the western foot of the mountain overlooking Mt. The Niseko Yumeguri Pass, which can be used at any of the member facilities of Niseko Onsen-kyo, is sold throughout the year, allowing visitors to visit hot springs of different qualities. Oyunuma Swamp, located 700 meters above sea level, has white steam and the smell of ...»
Kitaichi Glass Sangokan is a reused wooden stone warehouse built in the Meiji era (1891) as a fishing warehouse, and houses Kitaichi Glass's glass store and café, one of several in Otaru City. Located in the city center, about a 7 or 8-minute walk to the Otaru Canal, the glass stores include the "Japanese Floor" with Japanese glass, the "Western Floor" with exotic glass and stained glass, and the...»
Tengu is a viewpoint from which you can see not only the cityscape of Otaru, but also Ishikari Port and the Shakotan area. A ropeway runs from the foot of the mountain to the top. ...»
A Renaissance-style building with five green domes peeking out, it originally served as the Otaru Branch of the Bank of Japan. The Otaru Branch ceased operations in 2002, and the building opened as the Bank of Japan's Financial Reference Center in 2003. The majestic building was designed by Kingo Tatsuno, who designed the red-brick Tokyo Station, and was completed in 1912. It is a two-story bui...»
Otaru Music Box Store is one of the largest music box stores in Japan, with approximately 5,000 types and 80,000 pieces. The building is a historic structure built in 1915 of red bricks, with a steam clock in front of it. Inside the museum, the nostalgic space oozing with history and the sound of music boxes create a magical time....»
A total of 333 glass lamps light up the station and platforms, giving the station a retro atmosphere. Built in 1934, it was the first steel-framed reinforced concrete (RC) structure in Hokkaido, and is the oldest building in Hokkaido and a registered tangible cultural property of Japan....»
One street inward from the Otaru Canal, this street is a popular strolling spot with many souvenir stores, general merchandise stores and cafes in old merchant houses and Western-style buildings. The 900-meter-long street stretches toward the Wall Street in the north of Otaru, which once flourished as a financial district, and retro buildings from the Meiji to early Showa periods, when Otaru was ...»
The market is located a minute's walk from Otaru Station. Entering the small, retro entrance, you will find a long line of stores that are bustling with activity from 6:00 in the morning all the way to the back of the market. Stores line both sides of a narrow, 200 meter long, 2 meter wide slope with an aisle in between,The stores are lined with fish tanks filled with crabs, scallops, and other s...»
With a width of 35 meters and a height of an astonishing 70 meters, Garo Falls is the largest of all waterfalls in Japan. This waterfall is also known as Ryujin-no-taki Falls or Hiryu-no-taki Falls, and is designated as Kariba-Mozuta Provincial Natural Park and one of the "100 Best Waterfalls in Japan. Dragon water, a natural carbonated water, gushes upstream of the falls, and can be collected d...»
Hokkaido is known for its fresh seafood, especially uni sea urchin and ikura salmon roe. Uni Ikura Don offers the luxury of having plenty of them over rice. The melting texture of fresh sea urchin goes perfectly with the pop-in-the-mouth texture of salmon roe. Two species of sea urchin are mainly used for this dish in Hokkaido, bafun uni and murasaki uni, and salmon roe can be either marinated in ...»
This yatai (food stall) village is designed to resemble the streets of the Meiji and Taisho Periods.There is a fire watchtower modeled after the old style, and from the observation deck on top of the tower, you can see the Otaru Canal and the harbor. There are more than 20 restaurants and other stores along the alley, where you can enjoy ramen, Genghis Khan, sweets, and other local B-class gourme...»
Otaru, a port city where international cuisine has long been served, now has a new specialty soup to offer, “Shiribeshi Cotriade”. Shiribeshi refers to the region including Otaru, Niseko and Yoichi, and cotriade is a traditional fish soup from Brittany, France, made with milk and cream. Shiribeshi Cotriade is a special dish with rich ingredients from in and around Otaru City. ...»
Otaru, a major port town in Hokkaido, is also known as the “Town of Sushi”, with the abundant supply of fresh seafood available from the Ishikari Bay. Its sushi culture dates back the Meiji and Taisho eras, when young sushi chefs trained in different parts of Japan came to the city and opened their own restaurants one after another. While many sushi restaurants are scattered throughout the city, t...»
Otaru City has an abundant nature with mountains on the south and the Sea of Japan on the north, where its international trading port has long connected itself with other countries and cultures. The city’s culinary scene also reflects its international links, and a variety of western-style cuisine is available with ingredients from the nearby ocean and mountains. Enjoy the fresh taste of local sea...»