After days of seeing nothing but water - we passed by some volcanic islands on our way from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. Our first stop in Japan was Otaru, on the West side of the northern island of Hokkaido. Took a very long time to get processed through Japan immigration onboard before we could explore the town, but we saw as much as we could from the Music Box store to the Canal. For a while, we took refuge from the rain in a Bavarian Beer Hall (yup, complete with oom-pa-pa style music - all staffed with people speaking Japanese. Kinda weird.). But the rain and wind soon let up, and we set out again. We saw the tourist street, the famous Canal Street and a covered shopping street and sampled some Japanese treats. Seemed all too soon it was time to head back to the ship to sail off to Hakodate.
Passing through a string of Russian volcanic islands.
Otaru's Music Box Store with thousands of music boxes.
Out front of the store is a steam clock, a gift from Vancouver.
All kinds of music boxes....
...including sushi music boxes. Go figure.
We got ashore just as the rain and winds started.
The famous Canal Street, lined with old warehouses. The one covered in green ivy housed the Bavarian Beer Hall.
The tourist street featuring many tasty shops.
And here we have your typical $100 perfect cantaloupe. (We've since seen some for as little as $28.) We didn't buy one (at any price), but we've heard they're very good. Probably from people trying to justify the price.
NEXT: (Day 13) Hakodate, Japan
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Vancouver to Japan