[ Sept.2014 ] During our first trip to Hokkaido, we visited Otaru city, which has some romantic image, too.
But unfortunately it rained all day that day.
We got prepared, buying easy rain coats, but when we met the Rickshaw man who said “The north part of the canal here has the atmosphere of original Otaru, but most of people do not go there and instead, go shopping”, which made our mind change and took the Rickshaw again, only a few days after our first experience of Rickshaw in Asakusa in Tokyo.
This time, we took it for one hour, treating ourselves.
Luckily, it was the same company as the one in Asakusa, so we could use the discount ticket.
This Rickshaw driver was from Yamaguchi prefecture and was transferred to Otaru, but knew a lot about Otaru and guided us with care.
Otaru was first prospered by fishing herrings.
In the past, there were so many herrings that the sea looked silver.
After that, the city developed as a main trading port town.
The large ships could not anchor on the shore, so barges were used.
And the laborers for carrying the goods were important in those days, who were respected when they could carry things which were more than 12 kg.
The canal was constructed so that they could load and unload goods safely without any waves.
This canal has only 1.2 km long, but because it is bend, it looks as if it went on and on, which attracts a lot of painters and photographers.
And the reason why it is bend is that it was not constructed by digging, but by filling in the sea off and along the shore.– Each of his explanation was interesting and impressive.
