I Am A Celebrity!: Cruising in Japan

OUR PACKAGE with HAL included more "extras" than we normally get on our Celebrity Cruises. That was possibly a positive, as we got "comped" two "specialty dining nights, as well as several HAL excursions. The problem with the excursions was that they filled up and then, comped or not, they weren't available - at least not the ones we were most interested in. We missed the DMV excursion in South Korea that way. We were one of the last on the "Herring Mansion" excursion in Otaru. As it turns out, I wasn't that enamored anyway. The Mansion is kind of cool, but not up to the "hype" in my view.

OTARU WAS the northernmost port we would stop at in Japan. During the week, our cruise director gave a talk and noted that just the previous week there was still snow on the ground in Otaru. By Japan's standards - it is kind of a small city of about 100,000 people. It's biggest modern positive is that it is right next door to Sapporo, which was a site for the Winter Olympics and is a pretty big tourist attraction.

THE HISTORIC significance of Otaru is probably the more notable deal. Once a very small enclave of its indigenous Ainu tribes, the population was perhaps around 1,000 people in the 1800's. They were herring fishermen, and the herring population was huge and plentiful. By 1860, the population had grown to 60,000 and the herring yield exceeded 100 million tons. It was at one point one of Japan's richest towns and richest industries. Interestingly, the vast bulk of the herring was actually not consumed by people but was ground up and used for fertilizer. This unprecedented surge in herring production and wealth in the area has been referred to as the "Herring Gold Rush." The result was the rapid growth of warehouses, banking and other buildings. Much like the gold rush in the Americas, it was short lived, as over-fishing depleted the herring fisheries. This happened right around the time of the end of World War II, and the financial center of Hokkaido moved to Sapporo, which is now the premier city in the prefecture. Today, Otaru's warehouses and bank buildings have mainly been repurposed to restaurants and shops, catering to the tourist trade.

OUR EXCURSION in Otaru was par for the course for a ship-based excursion. Not great, but not terrible. We made 3 stops. The first was a stop on the somewhat famous canal in the middle of the city. I have seen photographs of this canal with snow on the ground and evening lights. That would have made a much nicer photograph in my view. Along the canal, the warehouses are said to have nice restaurants and shops. Our stop was much too abbreviated. We had maybe 20 minutes there. Certainly not long enough to do more than stop at the main bridge and make a few snapshots. I would recommend that HAL consider skipping the so-called "saki" stop altogether and giving more time (at least a full hour) to wander around the canal area.

OUR NEXT stop was the "Herring Mansion," a large home built by one of the herring fishery owners who had amassed great wealth during the boom. The exterior grounds were nice. The buildings were more "traditional" Japanese wood architecture. Being very early spring for the area, most of the flowers and flowering plants had not yet come to life. Like much of the world, there were enough other visitors around that the place was overcrowded, which makes it difficult to really see and enjoy the site.

THE PRIMARY draw, in my view, is the interior of the buildings, which has some pretty nice, ornate woodwork and design. Unfortunately, with the exception of the main "great room" type area where we staged up, photography indoors was not allowed. In some places, the crowd was so large that it was difficult to move around or see anything. I cannot say for certain that a private tour would have been better, but it is certainly one of the biggest reasons we opt for them whenever possible.

OUR FINAL stop was at a so-called sake distillery. We were not able to see the inside, or the operation, and really only got to see their touristy store, and taste a couple "thimbles" of the sake. In my view a waste of time that would have been better allocated to free time around the canal. Just my two cents.

BY NOW, our trip was nearing a close, and perhaps I was just getting weary. :-) Our last stop would be the next day: Hakodate.

I Am A Celebrity!

Sunday, July 14, 2024

Cruising in Japan - Otaru

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