Sakaimachi Street Otaru Hokkaido Japan August 2012
We visited the Noboribetsu Marine Park Nixe, a combination Danish theme park and aquarium located near Noboribetsu Station. While it isn't a Sea World type marine park, the aquarium is one of the largest in northern Japan, modeled after a Danish castle. It emphasize on rare, interesting fish, as well as some cute staples and we particularly love the king penguin parade. There is a touch pool with small sharks, rays, and horseshoe crabs; a reptile house with snakes, turtles and lizards; dolphin and sea lion shows and a handful of kiddie rides. Next, we visited the Hokkaido Jingu Shrine (北海道神宮). Shinto is a native religion of the Japanese which worships the god in the universe as symbolized by the sun. Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan before Buddhism and other religions set foot in Japan. There were many talismans for different purposes on sales there for tourists to purchase. Next, we went to the Lake Hill Farm in Lake Toya, where we learned how to make Ice Cream ourselves. The ice cream taste is great with the fresh Hokkaido Milk as ingredient.
On the last day of this trip, we visited Otaru city (小樽市) in Shiribeshi, northwest of Sapporo. The city, with many historical storage buildings, has long served as the main port of the Ishikari Bay. Sakaimachi Street (境町通り) is an attractive, preserved merchant street in central Otaru. There are restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, boutiques and museums, as well as a few glass workshops for tourists for a hands-on experience in creating the local Otaru Glass. There is a Music Box Museum with a wide variety of music boxes on sale. In front of the building stands a steam clock, a present by the city of Vancouver. There is also this LeTao Desert Shop where they make one of the best tasting cheesecake. The decor is simple and modern but it's really the pastries that are the draw. Their cheesecake is light, smooth and creamy. The texture in mouth is near disappear. Highly recommended for cheesecake lovers!!
