Underwhelmed in Otaru

No offense to those who have been to and love Otaru but there just isn't a lot there. I guess that my expectations were set too high by guide books that recommended this tourist trap on the Sea of Japan. There really isn't much here beyond some old turn of the century buildings and an old canal that, while quaint, is basically an old industrial site that has been converted to a tourist attraction. I guess that I'm underwhelmed because I have seen this type of re-development before in both Canada and the U.S.


Otaru is certainly popular though -- there were tons of foreign tourists both from North America and Asia.  Sadly, a lot of these tourists were "barbarians" -- how often can one person spit into the street? Disgusting.  I've always loved the Japanese because they are generally very clean people -- they keep their cities in great condition. These foreign tourists though were the antithesis of this.  Unbelievable.

I was really glad to get out of Otaru and back to Sapporo... 

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