A. Grand Park Otaru Hotel
B. Otaru CityC. Hoheikyo Dam
D. Jozankei town
E. Sapporo Park Hotel
After breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we drove into Otaru city, parked our car and walked along the side streets. Many quaint little shops and museums. This museum/shop was all about music boxes. The Dutch introduced music boxes to Japan in 1852.
Fashionable teenage Japanese girls go shopping in Otaru. Many historical buildings constructed from the middle of the Meigi to Tashiyo period remained on the street of Otaru Ironai.
Japanese restaurants usually have pictures of their dishes outside their restaurants to entice customers in.
This was originally a shop for the Kubo store, selling sundries. Now a coffee shop, it maintains the elegance of the Japanese style and its one of the historic building along Sakai-maichi Dori Avenue.
Established in 1893,the Otaru branch of Hyakujusan Bank was further south down the street but after expansion they moved to this location. The interesting aspects of this building include the tile roof,entrances at the corners and Greek inspired decorative construction. The structure is stone on wooden framing.
Former Takasaburo Natori Store. Natori Takasaburo, a metals merchant and hardware trader built this store with attached living quarters and a warehouse in 1906. the building features wing walls with open entrances designed as a fire prevention measure. This is an example of commercial architecture in Otaru in the later Meiji period.
Driving out of Otaru, we headed off to Hoheikyo Dam. About 7 km upstream on the Toyohira River from Jozankei Spa lays the Hoheikyo Gorge. The source of the river is Hoheikyo Dam, Hokkaido's only arch dam.
Another late lunch, we had to ask help from the tourist office in Jozankei town, as most restaurants close after 2pm. The ramen at this shop was a tad salty.
Our hotel room at Sapporo Park Hotel. After checking in, we left our car at the hotel and took the subway into the city.
The Daimaru basement food area was a hectic frenzy after 7pm, as discounts were offered to customers to clear their stock.
The food area in the basement of Daimaru department store, had a huge variety of Japanese cooked food.
After sampling a few bites from the basement food area of Daimaru, we headed to the upper floors to a recommended wagyu beef restaurant. We cooked our marbles chunks of wagyu beef on the grill at our table. It tasted so tender and velvety to the tongue.
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