Hokkaido · City
Otaru
小樽市おたるしOtaru-shiHerring, coal and banks: the port that built Hokkaido's economy
Otaru is a port city on Ishikari Bay west of Sapporo that grew rich on herring, coal shipping and banking between the 1880s and the 1920s. Its preserved canal, stone warehouses, former bank buildings and glassworks make it one of Hokkaido's best-kept townscapes of that era.
Overview
Otaru stretches along a narrow strip between steep hills and Ishikari Bay, about 35 km north-west of Sapporo. In the Meiji and Taishō periods it was one of the busiest ports in northern Japan: herring boats landed catches along the Shakotan coast, the first railway in Hokkaido brought coal from the Horonai mines to its wharves from 1880, and shipping lines to Honshu and Sakhalin made it the island's commercial capital. Banks, trading houses and shipping companies built stone and brick offices in the centre, earning the district the name Wall Street of the North.
The herring vanished in the 1950s, coal traffic declined and trade moved to Tomakomai and Sapporo, leaving the old port district largely intact. A citizens' movement in the 1970s and 1980s saved part of the Otaru Canal and its warehouses, which were converted into restaurants, museums and shops; a combination of preserved townscape, glass and music-box workshops and fresh seafood has since made Otaru one of the most-visited towns in Hokkaido.
The city also has a literary history: Kobayashi Takiji, author of the proletarian novel Kanikōsen (The Crab Cannery Ship), grew up here, and the writer and critic Itō Sei was born nearby.
Landmarks
Otaru Canal
小樽運河Otaru UngaCanal of 1923 lined by stone warehouses; the preserved section with gas lamps and a walkway is the city's emblem.
Bank of Japan Otaru Museum
日本銀行旧小樽支店金融資料館Nippon Ginkō Kyū-Otaru Shiten Kin'yū ShiryōkanThe 1912 branch building by Tatsuno Kingo, architect of Tokyo Station, now a museum of money and banking.
Former Otaru Branch of Nippon Yūsen
旧日本郵船小樽支店Kyū-Nippon Yūsen Otaru ShitenStone office of 1906 where the border between Japanese and Russian Sakhalin was negotiated; an Important Cultural Property.
Sakaimachi Street
堺町通りSakaimachi-dōriStreet of merchant houses and warehouses with glass studios, sweet shops and the Otaru Music Box Museum in a stone building of 1912.
Otaru City General Museum
小樽市総合博物館Otaru-shi Sōgō HakubutsukanRailway museum at the former Temiya terminus with the American-built locomotive Shizuka of the Horonai Railway and preserved rolling stock.
Otaru Kihinkan
小樽貴賓館Otaru KihinkanThe villa of the herring magnate Aoyama family in Shukutsu, built from 1917 to 1923, an example of the wealth of the herring era.
Mount Tengu
天狗山Tengu-yamaA 532 m hill with a ropeway and a ski area overlooking the city and Ishikari Bay.
Districts
Canal and port district
The historic core between the canal and Ironai crossroads, with warehouses, banks and trading-house offices.
Sakaimachi and Märchen crossroads
Shopping street of glassware and sweets ending at a square with a steam clock outside the Music Box Museum.
Temiya
手宮TemiyaNorthern district at the terminus of the first railway, with the old track bed now a walking path.
Shukutsu
祝津ShukutsuFishing harbour on the northern headland with herring mansions and the Otaru Aquarium.
History
Otaru grew from a trading post of the Matsumae domain on the Ainu coast into a port town when herring fishing boomed in the nineteenth century. In 1880 the Horonai Railway opened between Temiya in Otaru and Sapporo, the first railway in Hokkaido, and was soon extended to the Horonai coalfield; coal and herring products passed through the harbour, and banks and merchants followed.
By the 1920s Otaru was among the largest cities in Hokkaido. The decline of herring and coal in the post-war decades left many historic buildings empty, and the debate over the canal from the 1970s became one of Japan's best-known townscape preservation cases.
1880
The Horonai Railway opens between Temiya (Otaru) and Sapporo, the first railway in Hokkaido.
1906
The Otaru branch of Nippon Yūsen is completed; the Russo-Japanese border commission on Sakhalin meets there.
1912
The Bank of Japan's Otaru branch building, designed by Tatsuno Kingo, is completed.
1922
Otaru is incorporated as a city.
1923
Completion of the Otaru Canal.
1950s
The herring runs off the west coast of Hokkaido collapse.
1986
Part of the canal is filled in for a road; the remaining section is preserved with a promenade.
Culture
Glass is Otaru's signature craft: it began with the glass floats made for the herring fishery from the early 1900s and turned into a large industry of tableware and ornaments, alongside workshops that assemble music boxes. The preserved townscape, the canal and the snow give the city a strong presence in Japanese film and television. Literary memorials recall Kobayashi Takiji, Itō Sei and Ishikawa Takuboku, who worked briefly at an Otaru newspaper in 1907.
Festivals
Otaru Snow Light Path
小樽雪あかりの路Otaru Yuki Akari no MichiAbout ten days in February since 1999: candles in snow lanterns along the canal and the old Temiya railway line, and floating lights on the water.
Otaru Ushio Festival
おたる潮まつりOtaru Ushio MatsuriThe summer port festival at the end of July, with the Ushio dance procession and fireworks over the harbour.
Sumiyoshi Shrine festival
The main shrine festival in mid-July, with portable shrines carried through the old districts.
Food
Sushi
寿司sushiOtaru has a dense concentration of sushi restaurants, many along Sushiya-dōri, serving local sea urchin, squid and shellfish.
Herring soba
にしんそばnishin sobaBuckwheat noodles topped with sweet-simmered dried herring, a reminder of the herring era.
Otaru ankake yakisoba
あんかけ焼そばankake yakisobaCrisp fried noodles under a thick sauce of seafood and vegetables, a local diner favourite.
Sea urchin
うにuniLanded on the Shakotan coast in summer and served raw on rice.
Getting around
- JR Hakodate Main Line trains run along the coast from Sapporo; Otaru Station serves the canal district, Minami-Otaru Station the Sakaimachi area.
- Some rapid trains from New Chitose Airport run through Sapporo to Otaru.
- Long-distance ferries sail from Otaru Port to Niigata and Maizuru on the Sea of Japan coast of Honshu.
- The centre is compact and walkable; city buses serve Tengu-yama and Shukutsu.
Day trips
Hokkaido's capital, about 30–45 minutes by train.
Yoichi
Town west of Otaru with a whisky distillery founded in 1934 by Taketsuru Masataka and orchards.
Shakotan Peninsula
Cliff coast with the blue waters of Cape Kamui and Cape Shakotan, known for sea urchin.
The volcano known as Ezo Fuji and its ski resorts, about 90 minutes south-west by road.
Other cities in the prefecture
Frequently asked questions
How far is Otaru from Sapporo?
About 35 km; JR trains along the coast take roughly 30–45 minutes, and some rapid trains from New Chitose Airport continue through to Otaru.
Why is Otaru called the 'Wall Street of the North'?
In the early twentieth century more than twenty banks, including a branch of the Bank of Japan, had offices in the port, which financed Hokkaido's trade with Honshu and Sakhalin.
Is the Otaru Canal historic?
The canal was completed in 1923 for lighters unloading ships offshore. After a long preservation campaign about half of it was filled in for a road in the 1980s, and the remaining section with its warehouses and gas lamps was kept.
What is the Otaru Snow Light Path?
A winter festival in February when the canal and the old railway line are lit with candles in snow lanterns and floating glass floats.
Where does the name Otaru come from?
From the Ainu name of a river, usually explained as ota oru nai, 'river flowing through sand'.
Related
Sources
- 1.令和2年国勢調査 (opens in a new tab) — Statistics Bureau of Japan
- 2.小樽市ホームページ (opens in a new tab) — 小樽市
- 3.北海道庁 (opens in a new tab) — 北海道
- 4.Japan National Tourism Organization (opens in a new tab) — JNTO