Otaru is a small town located in northwestern Japan Sapporo is the other side worth a visit. Highly Westernized style, including all the souvenirs it sells, but the city is actually in fact a very Japanese.
Japan was not only Tokyo, which hosted the summer Olympics in 1964, Sapporo hosted the winter Olympics in 1972, which hosts Olimpade Nagano winter 1998, Osaka, or Hiroshima.
The term was highly westernized may also describe the Japanese as a whole. Notice that they always love to adapt the “styles” Westerners, such as the form of the buildings, clothing, jackets, or even dyed her hair blond. However, Japanese people are dressed in suits instead looked very Japanese, not vice versa.
Similarly, Japanese teens who dyed her hair blond with very prominent kejepangannya paint, as seen in harajuku style in various places in the State Sakura.
Otaru city can be told apart because the atmosphere is very Japanese, and also because there are still many residents have Ainu blood, which is a native of Japan, should Aboriginal people in Australia, New Zealand’s Maori people, and also the Indians of the Americas. Otaru’s name also was the original name of the Ainu, which means river of sand Otarunai.
According to tour guide there, people are now difficult to distinguish from the Ainu people of Japan are said to come from Asia because of centuries of assimilation.
“Even so, there are some who face significant Ainu. Hopefully today we can meet at least one of them, “said the guide who called Ina’s. Unfortunately, at the end of July that I did not get to meet any of the Ainu people.
As for the rapidly growing Otaru in the 19th century with the proliferation herring fishery that time, almost all European-style buildings there, including the remains of warehouses that looks similar to a glimpse of the old warehouses in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In fact, according to the existing tourist brochures, in the mid-19th century, the Government Otaru build canals in the city to transport goods from the sea to the garages, just like Amsterdam.
And because the herring fishery has subsided since the early 20th century, most of the warehouses that are now switching functions into a variety of functions, such as shops, restaurants, or even an inn. Some of the canals and then diuruk, while the main channel amended in 1923 to become a means of tourism and transportation alternatives to the present.
With a watery canal clean-channel, Otaru now started to become one of tourist destinations in Japan, even for Japanese people themselves.
Quiet and cool
Today, with a population of only about 150,000 inhabitants and an area of town which is about 250 square kilometers, the city of Otaru is relatively deserted. In the streets it looks more tourists than its population alone. Tourists stand out with festive clothes, shopping bags in both hands, and the camera in the chest.
Tourism in there other than enjoying walking the streets with European-style buildings that have become the majority of stores, as well as various handicrafts shop which is very high quality. There could hardly be found a cheap souvenir and origin so.
One important thing to remember is visited Otaru casually comfortable in the summer, between March and September. In winter, there is very thick snow.
Okay, let’s go directly to souvenirs Otaru which he said everything was westernized.
Otaru is a major souvenir music box, which is clearly a culture in medieval England. In the early 20th century, some wealthy people Otaru bring music box from the UK. Then, they imitate him, and now you can easily buy a music box that contains the song Japanese groups present in Otaru. The quality of his music box is so nice and smooth. The resulting tone was clear and accurate.
The second is a miniature souvenir bears in various forms, from refrigerator magnets to a rag doll to hang on the bag. Why bears?
On the island of Hokkaido, Otaru is a place, there really bears as wild animals. And, this distinctiveness and immortalized in the form of souvenirs.
Westernized souvenirs are also typical of Otaru is a different style of Italian glassworks. Otaru is a typical Japanese. They were not shy to absorb the good from other cultures, then mix it with their own culture to produce exceptional output with a strong personality himself. You to Japan? Do not forget to stop by to Otaru!