Exploring Hokkaido: Otaru

Otaru is a lovely coastal town in Hokkaido, and an easy day trip if you're located in or visiting the Niseko area. It's not huge so it's the perfect place to visit for a just a day or two. I've been a handful of times, and I keep going back. I suppose for me, there are a couple of things that I really like about Otaru. I love being by the sea, and being able to walk right up to the edge of the island and take in the view. There's something really calming and restorative about looking out at the water, even more so when you're spending a lot of time in the mountains here, where everything turns completely white for a good few months of the year. The second reason I keep going back to Otaru is because it's a really great place to go on a food crawl. There are lots of places to eat and drink, especially if you love fresh seafood. Below are a few of my favourite places to visit in Otaru.

Sankaku Market

This is a great place to start your trip to Otaru, because it's right next to the station. Exit Otaru station, turn left, head up some stairs and you'll soon see the entrance to the covered Sankaku Market. It's predominantly a fish market, but some shops sell other Otaru and Hokkaido delicacies as well. Even if you're not planning on buying anything, it's a great place to wander around and take pictures, as there are lots of odd-looking things on sale: everything from fish cheeks to live clams that occasionally squirt water at you! 

There are lots of dried seafood products for sale too, which are ideal for tourists due to the relatively long shelf-life. I've bought the dried salmon and dried scallops before, both of which are delicious as beer snacks, but you can also get more creative and use them in cooking. If you want to buy something fresh (for example a live crab) a lot of the traders have restaurants opposite their stalls where they can cook whatever you've bought for you.

I usually eat at one of the restaurants that serves seafood donburi. The best one is about halfway down the market, on the corner of where the public toilets are (doesn't sound like the best location for a restaurant, I know). This place is always really busy, but you can write your name on the list first and then wander around the market until they have a table ready for you. You can choose whichever seafood toppings you like for the donburi. Often they have a few daily specials as well. I recommend having a late breakfast / early lunch here and putting your name down by 11.30am. Often they stop taking reservations later during the service, or sell out of certain popular items (such as uni, sea urchin).

The Sea

If you keep walking downhill straight out of the station, you eventually come to the port, where you can look out over Ishikari Bay. There's nothing down here apart for a parking lot and a government building, but I always wonder why there isn't a hotel here as the view from a few floors up would surely be spectacular on a clear day.

I just like to spend a few moments here, take in the view, enjoy the fresh sea air and of course take a few photos!

The Canal

The canal is another really attractive part of Otaru. During the winter months the waterside is also illuminated, making it even more beautiful after dark. You can take a cruise down the canal on a boat. On the side of the canal, there are lots of old stone warehouses and Victorian lamps, giving you a sense of what the town looked like in past times.

Sakaimachi Street

This attractive shopping street is the perfect place to pick up souvenirs, or simply admire the local products. Otaru is well-known for glass-blowing, and many of the shops sell gorgeous little figurines. Music boxes are also produced in Otaru (one of many of the city's European influences) and you can marvel at these cute little boxes, each of which plays a different tune, which can be anything from classical music to the latest pop song.

LeTAO

Towards the end of the Sakaimachi street you can find two LeTAO shops, one opposite the other. LeTAO is a famous Hokkaido brand whose shops are a sweet-lovers' paradise, selling everything from cheesecakes to chocolate truffles. The shops are usually pretty generous with samples too! On my last visit I managed to try their Niagara Chocolate (grape flavour white chocolate), Royal Montagne (chocolate truffle) and Premier Maalu (crunchy wheat chocolate) all for free. After a few hours of wandering around Otaru, I like to sit in the LeTAO cafe on the top floor of the main shop, for coffee and cake. If you want to go all out, you can sample three of their famous cheesecakes in one plate. If you try just one cheesecake, make sure it's the Double Fromage: the base is a rich baked cheesecake, and the top layer is a smooth fresh cheesecake.

Otaru Brewery

This beer hall with on-site microbrewery is a great place to finish your day in Otaru. You can sample the authentic German-style beers (pilsner, white beer, dark beer) and enjoy a picturesque canal-side view. The quality of the beers here is really good, as they use organic ingredients imported from Germany alongside the high-quality Otaru water. Prost and Kampai!

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Okinawa: Top 10 Sights

Somehow my last month in Okinawa disappeared in the blink of an eye, and I'm now back in Hokkaido ready for another ski season. On the day I arrived back on the island it was snowing, proving a brutal awakening for someone who's just spent 4 months in 33 degrees and 80% humidity without a jumper or a pair of long trousers in sight. As soon as I got back I immediately rummaged through the bag of winter clothes I'd left here in a desperate attempt to find as many warm and wooly items as I could to ward off the cold.

On my journey up from the far south to the far north of the country, I travelled with my parents for a few weeks, including doing a walking tour through the scenic Nakasendo Way with Walk Japan. I also spent a few days in Kyoto, where I returned to some old faviroutes, such as Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari, as well as discovering new places like the stunning Golden Pavillion, Kinkaku-ji. I then spent an amazing 5 days in Tokyo with my friend Hannah, who was celebrating her 30th birthday with a trip to Japan and South Korea. We spent her birthday at Disney Sea resort, a wonderful reminder that refusing to grow up is so much more fun than acting like an adult.

I still have so many posts to write about all the things I've done during my first year in Japan. Now that I'm back in civilisation (ie. have wifi at home) I hope to catch up on all this over the next few months. For now though, I'm going to start with a look back at the summer I spent in tropical Okinawa, with this post on my top 10 highlights. These are scattered all over the island (and one is on a nearby island), so it wouldn't be possible to do all of these in a short trip to Okinawa (unless you're extremely dedicated and willing to drive around a lot!). However, whatever your interests, I hope there are a couple of things on the list that you would add to your itinerary when visiting Okinawa. So without further ado, my favourite sights in Okinawa are (in no particular order):

1. Churaumi Aquarium

The marine life around Okinawa is famously diverse, rivalling that of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The aquarium is a great place to get up close and personal with a huge range of the species. You even have the opportunity to stroke sea cucumbers and starfish if you dare! The star of the aquarium is undoubtedly the huge whale shark in the main tank.

2. Ocean Expo Park

Although Churaumi Aquarium is the main attraction of Ocean Expo Park, the park is deserving of a mention as a destination in and of itself. Its name comes from the fact that it was the venue for an international Ocean Exposition in 1975. Today it has many places worth visiting, including the Oceanic Culture Museum, a traditional Okinawa Village, and the Tropical Dream Centre (an incredible park full of orchids and other plants). Ocean Expo Park even has its own beach, Emerald Beach, so remember to bring your swimmers!

3. Cape Manza

This particularly scenic part of the coast, towards the middle of the island, gets its name from the fact that it resembles an elephant's trunk. It's one of the most popular pictures for postcards in Okinawa, and when you go there you can see why. A lovely viewpoint on a sunny day. 

4. Nago Pineapple Park & Okinawa Fruits Land

These two different fruit-themed parks are located right next to each other, so you may as well visit both! The tropical climate in Okinawa means that there's not much that you can't grow, at any time of the year. At the pineapple park you drive through the park in a pineapple cart, and then can sample all kinds of pineapple goods (everything from pineapple wine to pineapple cake, and of course fresh pineapple) in the amazing gift shop at the end. Okinawa Fruits Land takes the form of a treasure hunt, where you wander through the park collecting stamps as you learn different facts about various fruit trees growing there. Did you know that avocados are know as 'butter of the forest'?

5. Aha & Hiji Falls

These two waterfalls are found in the northern part of the island. Hiji falls charges for entry (500 JPY) and you have to hike up a trail (which takes around 45 minutes to an hour at a leisurely pace) to access it. Aha falls is free entry but altogether more difficult to find... and it has a rather tricky albeit short descent down to the water. Both are beautiful, although I think Aha is more impressive due to its relative seclusion and the beautiful pool in front of the falls themselves.

6. Shuri Castle

Since landing in Japan a year ago, I have seen so many castles. These days I feel like I've seen them all and it takes quite a lot to impress me. Shuri Castle however is really unique and different to the castles on mainland Japan, due to the strong Chinese influence on its design. So it's still worth visiting even if you've been to some of Japan's other castles. If you only have time to visit one thing in Naha, the island's capital, I recommend Shuri Castle.

7. Zamami Island

I spent a couple of days on Zamami island, part of the Kerama islands, which are located a couple of hours' ferry ride from Naha's Tomari port. It was definitely a highlight of my time in Okinawa. The island's Furuzamami beach is an incredible snorkelling spot, where you can see an amazing variety of fish in the coral reef just metres away from the shore. Ama beach is a spot where you can swim with the sea turtles when they come in at high tide. This was a truly breath-taking experience for me. If you love the sea and marine life a trip to the Kerama islands is not to be missed.

8. Okinawa Prefectural Museum

This museum is surprisingly good, and deals with many elements of Okinawa, ranging from its wildlife to its folk culture, and of course the US invasion and its continued military presence on the island. A thought-prevoking and informative place to spend half a day. The building also houses an art museum.

9. Orion Happy Park

Orion is Okinawa's premier beer, and they offer a tour of their brewery in Nago. Of course the tour is followed by a sampling session! This isn't a park as the name suggests, but you will certainly leave happy and with a belly full of freshly brewed beer.

10. Ryukyu Mura

I've already sung the praises of Ryukyu Mura in this blog post, and the culture park certainly deserves its spot in rounding out my Okinawa Top 10.

If you visited Okinawa, which of these places would be at the top of your list?

Sapporo Beer Museum and Biergarten

Whilst visiting the Sapporo Snow Festival a couple of months ago, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the Sapporo Beer Museum, dedicated to Hokkaido's most famous brew.

The red brick building dates back to 1890

The museum is about the history of Sapporo Breweries and beer brewing in Japan more generally. There are good quality English-language leaflets available so you can actually learn quite a bit about the history of the company as you walk around the displays, even if you don't speak Japanese. The attractive building which houses the museum dates to 1890, and was originally the factory for the Sapporo Sugar Company.

A view of the building's tower, which can be seen from miles away!

The museum has a series of really cool animated models on the 3rd floor, which display the different stages of the brewing process. There is also a timeline of the history of the company, including where the brewing technique came from. A member of the company went to Germany in 1873 to learn the craft, and returned as Japan's first brewing master: which probably explains why the beer tastes so good! 

One of my favourite elements of the museum, which continues down on the 2nd floor, are the displays of the packaging design and posters from previous eras.

Yebisu beer bottles from the early 1900s

Interesting choice of brand name...

Some of the company's non-alcoholic beverages

A range of rather artistic designs for beer cans

The museum itself is free to enter, but you have to pay for the samples at the end. You can get a tasting set of three beers (Sapporo Black Label, Sapporo Classic and Kaitakushi Beer) for 500JPY, which is pretty good value I think. You also get a free snack of cheese or crackers to go with your beer!

The tasting set goes down well!

Next door to the museum is the Sapporo Biergarten, where you can go on to have a few more beers if the tasting set wasn't enough!

You can enjoy draft beer in this nostalgic beer hall, as well as one of Hokkaido's best-loved dishes, Genghis Khan (Jingisukan). The dish consists of mutton and a selection of vegetables (cabbage, beansprouts etc), which are all cooked by the diner on a metal skillet at the table. It is well worth trying, although be warned that you will leave smelling of grilled lamb!!

You start by melting some fat onto the skillet...

... and then grill away to your heart's content!

The Sapporo Beer Museum and Biergarten are definitely a fun way to spend an afternoon in Sapporo! If you visit Sapporo and visit just one place, you can't go wrong with the a trip to the Beer Museum.

Have you tried any Japanese beers? How do you think they compare to European or American beers?

Richmond Half Marathon // Jackson + Rye

I like to think that training and eating go hand in hand. Which is just as well really, as they are the two things that I enjoy doing most. When I've got a race scheduled, my race-day prep not only includes running through a mental checklist of essentials (race number, face wipes, safety pins) but also involves taking into consideration post-race refueling (aka stuffing your face). Running a race is generally a pretty good way to justify having a slap up meal. Last Sunday, I ran Richmond Half Marathon and then headed to Jackson + Rye for a meal.

I arrived at Old Deer Park at around 8.15am to run the Salomon Citytrail Richmond Half Marathon. The race was much bigger than I expected, with hundreds of people already milling around the event village when I got there, and queuing for the substantial number of portaloos (one of the most important utilities at any race, as fellow runners will appreciate). I watched the 10k race set off at 8.30am, which was quite a small field. Then I went to drop my bag off (the bag drop was self-service so no queuing necessary - thumbs up!), after which I lined up for the half marathon, which was setting off in waves from 9am. I followed the 2 hour pacer into their pen as I was planning on taking it fairly easy. Then I noticed that the pacer went over to another pen and that the 1.50 pacer had appeared ahead of me. I knew I wouldn't be going at that pace but I couldn't be bothered to change pens at the last minute, so stayed put!

It was pretty chilly to start, but the sun decided to come out just as we headed across the starting line. After a quick loop around Old Deer Park we were off onto the streets of Richmond and followed a course that took us along mixed terrain including pavements, tow paths, and across fields, in a loop that passed Kew Gardens, Richmond bridge, Teddington lock and Ham. It's a lovely, scenic and flat route, parts of which will be familiar to those who have run races such as the Towpath 10, Cabbage Patch 10 and Richmond Running Festival. About 6.5 miles in, I saw the lead runner racing back, covering the last couple of miles to the finish. When I reached that point myself later on, I saw a girl running in the opposite direction, just about to reach the half way point. I felt fer her - she must have been the last person in the race. I hope she made it in the end!

Course map

About 2 hours and 7 minutes after crossing the start line, I made it to the finish. Finishers were awarded with a load of goodies - I could barely carry it all! The medal was pretty cool, the goody bag, sponsored by Whole Foods, was top notch, and we also got a finisher's t-shirt and a number of drinks to quench our thirst (water, Vita Coco and juice). 

Once I'd collected my bag, I walked (rather gingerly) towards Richmond town centre where I was meeting my parents, who were in London for the weekend. We had a booking at Jackson + Rye for lunch and, having run past it earlier, I knew exactly where it was: in a lovely spot right on the waterfront.

Jackson + Rye has an American diner-style menu with a Southern twist, and cool New York style interior decor to boot. When choosing this restaurant, I'd initially made my decision based on the brunch offerings on the menu, including American style pancakes and a number of appealing egg dishes. However, once I'd sat down and realised I quite fancied a post-race beer, the lunch options began to look more attractive. I ended up ordering crab cakes with radish slaw & chipotle mayo with a side of what was probably the most Southern-sounding dish on the menu, creamed corn grits & parmesan. And a Brooklyn lager to drink.

Will run for beer.

I really enjoyed the food - it was wholesome but had enough of a twist to ensure it steered clear of boring. The chipotle mayo really brought the crab cakes to life, and the radish slaw had a pleasantly surprising pickled tang to it. I loved the texture of the grits, they were beautifully creamy, with a handful of sweetcorn kernels thrown in for a textural contrast and extra sweetness. However, I couldn't really taste the parmesan and the grits were quite bland in flavour. I think with some extra seasoning and a generous sprinkling of parmesan these would have been divine.

Crab cakes & creamed corn grits

As it was a beautiful, sunny day, we decided to go for a wander on the hunt for dessert rather than stay in the restaurant (even though the dessert options looked tempting - peanut butter cookies with grape jelly, yum!). We went to the well-established Italian ice cream shop, Gelateria Danieli which is now in its tenth year. The ice cream is the great traditional Italian style you know and love - rich and creamy - but they also have some rather unusual and innovative flavours, including walnut & maple syrup, strawberry cheesecake and banana & salted peanut. I decided to go for one relatively traditional flavour (tiramisu) and one more unusual one (bakewell tart).

Beautifully thick, creamy ice cream!

The bakewell tart flavour was sensational - the perfect balance of sweet marzipan and tart cherries. I think the tiramisu flavour suffered next to these big flavours, as it tasted fairly bland in comparison. It probably would have been delicious on its own but it couldn't stand up to its bold partner. I should have chosen a more compatible pair of flavours! The prices here are incredibly reasonable given the location and the quality of the ice cream: 2 scoops cost £3.50. Gelatria Danieli also have a shop on Shaftesbury Avenue, and one in Kingston. Go and give them a try on a sunny day!

Having savoured the last bite of my ice cream, I realised that I was probably no longer in a calorie deficit and so called it a day.

What's your favourite post-race or post-workout indulgence?