5th Day at Hokkaido

Time flies, today was our 5th day In Japan. We stayed at Sapporo (main city in Hokkaido) for 2 nights. Afterwhich, we headed for Otaru, a rather romantic place .... with a rather beautiful canal, a charming Musical box Museum ... and many other shops.

1. Sapporo - Indori park
2. Otaru
3. Asahi Beer Factory
4. Rera Chitose Outlet Mall

1. Sapporo - Indori park
In winter, the Japanese would hold the annual "snow craving" (not ice-carving)in Indori Park.

















































































2. Otaru

Otaru is situated in the western part of Hokkaido, facing Ishikari Bay. It has developed and prospered as "the sea entrance of Hokkaido" over the last 100 years and it has gained the nickname "Wall Street of the North." The glassworks shops, coffee shops, restaurants and shopping malls along the canal have been converted from stone-built or brick-built warehouses, which were used for storage in the days when commerce flourished and the canal was crowded with jostling barges. When night falls, oil lamps on the cobbled streets are lit, and the town evokes a gentle, nostalgic mood. (quoted from JNTO website)

You can visit the Music Box Museum and Glass factories near the canal. We stayed for about 20 minutes at Otaru Canal for some photoes shoots. Then we proceeded to a street lined with shops leading us to the famous Music Box Museum. You could hear a faint musical piece on the street as you approached the museum, it was quite magical. You were allowed to touch all items on the first storey as they were not as expensive. There were many types of musical boxes in all shapes and sizes to meet your needs. I really regretted not getting one of them ... anyone going Hokkaido, can you please buy for me ? It was a rather country looking music piece with a boy and girl sitting on a see-saw. (See the photo and video)




Otaru - Canal. That day the heat was soaring to the highest at 36 degree celsius but dropped to a cool 26 degree celsius around 4pm.



The musical box which I did not buy .... sob sob ... regret regret ... why ? why?


Overview of music box museum from 2nd storey

We also went to eat the 5-coloured flavoured ice-cream after walking around the museum and other shops.




2 "Superstars" eating ice-cream under the sun ... hahaha

3. Asahi Beer Factory

All materials including cans, bottles and even the ladies' uniform are 100% recycled. Amazing .... after the tour around the factory, we sampled some drinks products and even biscuits produced by Asahi. They have diversified their businesses to many areas.

























































4. Rera Chitose Outlet Mall
This looks very much like the Factory outlet in US. There were may famous and much sought after brands in this place. We just browsed around and CK bought a pair of Levis jeans for a good offer at S$70.00.
































Dinner - Fried tempera
We enjoyed frying our very tempura ... shiok ! Ingredients are very fresh .... yummy !!!