Precious Memories: Otaru, Japan

July 22, 2015 -- Otaru, Japan (9:00AM~6:00PM)

Weather: Overcast

Temperature: 20.5 C

Otaru is on the western side of Hokkaido facing the Ishikari Bay and the Sea of Japan. It's a 40-minute drive northwest from Sapporo. With our scheduled time for this port, we thought that it would be possible to take the train to Sapporo and meet friends there. Unfortunately, this turned out to be impossible due to the immigration procedure on board. As a matter of fact, we did not even have enough time to explore this city alone. Throughout the whole cruise, this was the main complaint that we have. Precious port time was wasted and it was physically tiresome for all of us to have to stand in line for over an hour just to get admitted to Japan after our stop in Russia the day before.

At 8:31AM our ship was safely secured starboard side alongside the Katsunai pier in Otaru.

I planned on visiting this huge mall when we get back to port that day, but...

Shin Nihonkai Ferry terminal

The problem: Officially we exited Japan when we left Kushiro the other day with our passports stamped and everything because we were going to Kosakov, Russia. Now that we finished our visits to Russia, we needed to enter Japan one more time. Everybody had to go through Japanese immigration again. The immigration officials did not get on board the ship until we docked in Otaru. So, even though on our itinerary it had 9:00 as arrival time, no one can get off the ship until they have cleared immigration. The time to go through this immigration process was assigned and ours was at 10:15. When we went down to Club Fusion at 10:00, the line was all the way from Club Fusion to the Atrium. It took us a little over an hour to get to the front of the line. Of course, there were many unhappy people and I did feel sorry for the crew who had to take the heat. I think Princess need to work out a better logistic with the Japanese Immigration office to solve the problem. We have never had this kind of problems before on a cruise, not even when we traveled to Israel, Egypt, or Turkey. If I were a first time cruiser, this will make me think twice of going on another cruise again. The same thing happened in Maizuru, the day after our stop in Busan. The only difference was that we had a long day scheduled for Maizuru which made it a little easier to take.

Future cruiser, if you really need to get off the ship early, go get in line even before your assigned time. Nobody was checking the time ticket. For disabled passengers or people who have problems standing in line, let the crew know and they will take you to the front of the line.

The long line going through Japanese immigration.

There were actually two lines, one on deck 6, and one on deck 7.

Tents set up, volunteers available, and taxis all lined up but no one could get off the ship.

By the time we got off, it was close to noon with three hours wasted.

After purchasing our Otaru City Bus (Stroller's Bus) One-Day Pass (Adults 750 Y; Children 380 Y) from one of the tents, we took the bus from the parking lot of the ferry terminal building. You could also pay 220Y/110Y each way if you prefer not to get the one-day pass. No complimentary shuttle provided here. Walking is another possibility. From the bus schedule that they gave us, they had only one bus going every 30 minutes which is really not enough for all these people.

We took the very crowded bus all the way to the Otaru Bus Terminal, which is also the train station stop and the last stop for the blue line.

Walked past the Otaru Train Station, through the parking lot...

and found the Sankaku Market on the right side of the train station.

Expensive cantaloupes

Sankaku Market is a seafood market where you can purchase all kinds of seafood and have the restaurants cook for you. When we walked by this tiny restaurant, we noticed that it was very busy. I overheard people saying that this is a famous spot. BIL also said that he had seen this place on TV, so we decided to check it out.

With the help of the waitress, we put our names on the waiting list. Then she took our orders as we wait outside. I didn't realize it at first but later saw that there was actually a long line of people sitting along side of the eatery waiting for their turns.

Ordering was easy, just point at the pictures. Two items seafood rice 1,200Y; three items 1,800Y; and four items 2,300Y.

After a long wait...

we were called to get inside,

and we got our food!

What a meal!

After lunch, we walked back to the bus terminal.

Took the Blue bus again back to Otaru Canal. The Green bus will take you to Otaru Museum and Otaru Aaquarium. The red bus will take you to Otaru Tenguyama and the surrounding areas.

Most people stayed in the canal area and not many people go to the train station, so the bus was quite empty.

Denuki-koji, right across from the canal.

Warehouses along the canal

Otaru Canal

Visitor's Information Center

It was just too crowded to really enjoy the environment. I imagine that it would be really nice here in the evening.

Back across the street to Denuki-koji where there are several restaurants and cafes. We were too full to try the fried chicken here and I still regret it til this day.

Otaru Taisho Glass Place

Stores on Sushiyadori Street

Many interesting stores and restaurants along the Sakaimachidori Shopping Street.

Some very unique buildings.

Rainbow tower ice cream at Kitaichi Glass Building #3, order it in a cone.

What a mistake! Just a mixed up mess in a cup.

After the ice cream, it was close to 4:00PM,we figured that we better take the bus back to port. The bus was so full that only half of our people got on the 3:58 bus from the Kitaichi Glass area. There was only one bus left, according to the schedule, that would take us back to port. To have a better chance of getting on the bus, we hurriedly walked back to the Otaru Canal Terminal and waited for the 16:20 bus. We got on with no problem but it was filled up very quickly. When the bus got back to the Kitaichi Glass stop, a man in wheelchair tried to get on and the bus driver kept telling him and his companions "next bus, next bus". But that was supposedly the last bus! After the man begged for a while, the bus driver finally came off and let the man used the ramp to board the bus. So, time your visit carefully and don't wait til the last one. Not sure how easy it is to get a taxi back but we saw people walking back to port.