Friday, February 12, 2016


I didn’t sleep that well because I was much too cold. Japanese blankets are always a bit too short for me and the cold air drifted up through the floor and air mattress so it was hard to generate heat despite the down quilt. I realized I had a vent open on the wall for the kerosene heater and promptly shut it. The weather report looked horrible. Warm and rainy. Not sure if this skiing thing was going to work out. Cursed I say.

I decided to catch the train at 12:30 ish to Otaru to explore that coastal town and see their snow light festival at night. I walked slowly to the central area of Kutchan to get some lunch. The mounds of snow looked even better by daylight. There were spots that were taller than me. The town was pretty empty as I wandered checking out what I could eat for lunch. I ended up in a empty ramen shop by the station. As I was now in touristy land, they had an English menu. Four other salarymen later joined me, slurping away. Hokkaido is well known for its ramen and it was indeed yummy. I still had some time before the train so I went to get a coffee at the cafe across the street called Sprout. It had a hiking, outdoorsy theme and sold hiking gear too. Tons of hiking books and National Geographic magazines were spread on the back shelves.

After sitting down, I double checked my train time and realized I had misremembered the departure time and had already missed the train by several minutes. I’m so far out in the middle of nowhere, the next train was an hour and a half later. I hung out at the coffee shop for the whole time and got to have some interesting conversations with the other tourists there. This just meant I’d have less time in Otaru and no chance to go to the outlook on the peninsula or visit the aquarium to see the penguins walking outside. It took a little over an hour to get there. Otaru was bigger than I had expected. I walked around and down to the canal it was famous for and to the ocean! Seagulls! A sweet Japanese lady offered to take my photo in Japanese when she saw me attempting a selfie. I got a pancake sandwich - dorayaki - with sweet potato ice cream for a snack, but it didn’t have a strong flavor. I also checked out the glass work in the glass shops. You could even make your own glass bead.

As dusk crept up, the hoards of people - especially Chinese - increased. Everyone was squeezing into the best spots to take photos of the lanterns on the canal. I really enjoyed the frozen flowers and berries inside snow and ice. The second section of lights was especially spectacular. I couldn’t stop taking photos. I had dinner above a fish market. I really wanted the scallops, but they were all sold out so I had to settle for mackerel. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that great and seemed a bit over cooked.

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