30 August 2023

After a hearty breakfast of delicious freshly cooked crabs at the Sankaku Market, we started out from Otaru towards the Shakotan Peninsula in our rental car. The plan for the day was to tour the beautiful coastline of the Shakotan Peninsula that is located on the north-western side of Otaru. The famous sightseeing spots at the gorgeous Shakotan Peninsula and its beautiful blue seascapes are Shimamui Coast, Cape Shakotan, and Cape Kamui. I have also added a stopover at Ebisu Rock, if time permits.

Our rental car had to be returned to the Toyoto-Rent-a-Car office in Otaru by 5 PM so we made the decision to head out to the furthest place that we wanted to see, i.e. Cape Kamui, and then see the rest of the sights on our journey back towards Otaru. That way, we would have better control of our timings.

On the way to Cape Kamui, we made an impromptu stop at the Shakotan Sight-seeing Information Center to use the toilets and also to satisfy our craving for some morning coffee. Not surprisingly, the cafe in the information center sells soft-serve ice cream in the famous Shakotan Blue colour.

Cape Kamui

After more than an hour on the 67 km of slow coastal road with lots of tunnels and sea views, we arrived at the Cape Kamui car park at about 11.30 AM. There is a stone with a colourful map showing the path to the tip of Cape Kamui.

Nice map of the area highlighting the path to the tip of the cape.

Cape Kamui is the most popular place on the Shakotan Peninsula providing a 360 degree view from the tip of the cape that protrudes into the blue sea. To get to the tip of the cape, one must hike an undulating 770 m nature trail. The gorgeous scenery along the trail plus the bonus of seeing a lighthouse and a set of rocks, known as the Kamui Rocks, jutting out from the blue sea is definitely worth the sweat and the workout.

Path from the car park (in the background) to the start of the trail is well paved.

There is a gate at the entrance to Cape Kamui with a sign that says “Cape Kamui – a place where women are prohibited”.

There is a “woman is forbidden” sign at the entrance to the Cape Kamui pathway. It was tied to an old folklore but times had changed. Women are welcomed to enter now. In fact, everyone can access Cape Kamui for free but it is advisable to check the opening times and also the weather. The pathway may be closed on days with bad weather or strong winds due to safety reasons.

Even from the entrance, we could already see the majestic coastal scenery and the famous Shakotan blue sea.

The view from near the entrance to Cape Kamui.

Crystal clear water with different shades of blue.

The nature trail is undulating but is easy to walk.

We stopped often to admire the stunning coastal views.

Looking back at the trail that we took to this point.

The midday sun was hot! Should have brought a hat but we were fearful of the “strong winds” that did not show on this day.

Almost at the end of the narrow cape. Looking back, we could see almost the entire cape with the sea on both sides.

The white lighthouse marks the end point of the trail.

We stopped often to view the awesome coastal scenery and snapped photos. It actually took us about 40 minutes to get from the entrance to the lighthouse!

We were glad to take shelter in the shade of the lighthouse to cool down a little before going to see the Kamui Rocks.

The highlight is at the end of the trail. Here, we could see a set of rocks jutting out from the blue sea. There is one tall rock that is in the shape of a human. Legend has it that an Ainu princess was heartbroken after being abandoned by her lover who left Cape Kamui on a ship. She threw herself off the cliff and turned into this rock. Before dying, she also placed a curse that any ship with woman on board will capsized when passing by this place. Hence the “women is forbidden” sign at the entrance.

Kamui Rock, which is said to be the incarnation of a Ainu princess named Charenka, according to old legend.

Enjoying the updraft at the edge of the cliff.

A view of the Shakotan coast from the tip of Cape Kamui.

Eating fresh sea urchin rice bowl at Osyokujidokoro Naramuraya

It was almost 1 PM when we left Cape Kamui. Time for lunch. Shakotan is famous for producing the best sea urchin in Japan. Summer is the best season for sea urchin in Shakotan, which started from June to August.

Poster showing how sea urchins are harvested off the Shakotan coast.

Based on my research, I had shortlisted two popular restaurants that served the fresh uni-don (sea urchin rice bowl). Osyokujidokoro Misaki and Osyokujidokoro Naramuraya are located about 12 km (16 minutes drive) from Cape Kamui. These restaurants are owned by fisherman in the area, so the sea urchin would be super fresh. According to the Naramuraya website, the fishing for sea urchins, octopus, and Atka mackerel begins at sunrise, and the owner himself does the fishing. The restaurant serves the Shakotan seafood that are freshly caught in the morning.

The two restaurants are located close to each other. We arrived at the Naramuraya first and I managed to park my car in the last available space in front of the restaurant. I was expecting queues based on reviews on the internet but we managed to get a table immediately.

Outside the Naramuraya (中村屋) restaurant.

Menu at Naramuraya

The restaurant serves two types of sea-urchin rice bowls. The purple sea urchin rice bowl costs 4290 yen (tax included) and the rare red sea urchin bowl (Ezobafununi) cost a whopping 8,800 yen (tax included).

There are also other rice bowls options such as the three-colour rice bowls and grilled fish.

My son and wife ordered the three-coloured rice bowls (with crab meat, purple sea urchin and ikura) for 3,630 Yen (tax included) each.

The three coloured rice bowls with crab meat, purple sea urchin and ikura. All rice bowls are served with wasabi, yellow pickles and miso soup.

They were surprised that I took a leap of faith and ordered the uni-don, a rice bowl topped entirely with the purple sea urchin. I figured that I may never pass this way again and this would probably be the last time I eat such fresh uni.

My purple sea urchin rice bowl with freshly caught Shakotan sea urchin.

The creamy sea urchin roe has no odor and is sweet and briny at the same time. I quite enjoy the unique taste and it balances well with the steamed rice.

Shimamui Coast

Our next destination, the Shimamui Coast at Cape Shakotan, is not far from the Naramuraya Restaurant. The Shimamui Coast was included in the top 100 coastlines of Japan.

We followed a sign that pointed to tunnel that is leading to the viewpoint of the Shimamui Coast.

Entrance to the tunnel leading to Shimamui Coast’s observation deck.

Walking through the dark tunnel with light at the end.

This was what greeted us at the end of the tunnel. The beautiful clear blue sea with rocky beach below.

The sign proclaiming that this place is one of Japan's Top 100 most beautiful stretches of coastline. The waters off the Shimamui Coast on the Shakotan Peninsula are strikingly clear.

There is a path that leads down to the rocky beach below. My original plan was to hike down and chill on the beach. My plan was foiled by a bear!

Apparently a brown bear was sighted in the vicinity on 18 August, about 2 weeks ago. As a result, the path to the beach and hiking trails around this part of the coast were cordoned off with yellow tapes.

Bear warning sign at the observation deck.

Since we did not spend too much time at the Shimamui Coast, we decided to go check out Cape Ogon that is the next cape located slightly east of Cape Shakotan.

We drove to Bikuni Port but were unable to locate the trail leading to the observatory point on top of the cape. The port was deserted so there was no one that we could ask for directions. After driving round a few minutes, we decided to abandon Cape Ogon and proceed to our next and final destination. On hindsight, I should have done more research before the trip so we would not miss the trailhead to the Cape Ogon.

Ebisu Rock & Daikoko Rock

Ebisu Rock & Daikoko Rock are located just off the coastal highway leading to Otaru from Cape Ogon. The small road on the left side that leads to the pair of rocks is easy to miss when driving down the coastal highway towards Yochi or Otaru. There is a small unofficial car park at the end of the road.

First view of both rocks from where we parked our car.

We walked back about 100 meters to get a closer view of both rocks that sit on shallow water just off the shore.

Closer view of the Ebisu Rock and Daikoko Rock. Daikoko Rock has a torii gate on top.

The two rocks are named after gods. The locals called them shintai - the physical entities that harbour spiritual beings. A torii could be seen on top of Daikoku Rock. A torii is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine.

These rocks are interesting subjects for a photographer. They made the seascape so much more interesting.

Ebisu Rock is narrow and looks to be unstable with erosion at the base. I wonder how long more can the rock stay upright.

Ebisu Rock was the last attraction we saw on the Shakotan Peninsula. We arrived back in Otaru at about 4 PM and returned our rental car as planned.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Otaru on foot. This would be covered in a separate post.

30 August 2023

We returned our rental car at the Toyota Rent-a-Car office located near the Otaru JR Train Station after 9 days on the road. This marked the end of our road trip in Hokkaido. Earlier in the day, we had explored the Shakotan Peninsula by car from Otaru and would spend the rest of the day exploring Otaru’s Sakaimachi Street on foot. Sakaimachi Street is only a ten minutes walk from the car rental office and located close to the Otaru Canal.

Sakaimachi Street in Otaru.

In the older days when Otaru thrived as a port city, many trading companies constructed impressive Western-style buildings in the city to house their offices and shops. Since then, many of these buildings along Sakaimachi Street have been converted into restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, boutiques, and museums.

We started at the end of the street that is nearer to the Otaru Canal. We could hear the gentle sound of tingling glass in the air as we strolled down Sakaimachi Street. Many shops hang wind chimes made of glass outside their shops and these sounded so nice in the evening breeze.

One of the wind chimes made with colourful glass along the street.

Glassware is one of the famous trades in Otaru. Otaru used to be a fishing port. When the herring fishing industry declined in the 1950s, the makers of glass buoys shifted to the production of refined glassware instead. Kitachi Glass is the most famous glass shop with three or four stores in Otaru with beautiful glassware such as lamps, sake sets, etc.

Browsing inside one of the handicraft shop.

There is a small side street with retro buildings. I spotted a poster of an actor that I recalled from my childhood days where I enjoyed watching Japanese samurai and ninja films on black and white TV.

This samurai actor depicted on the picture looks kind of familiar to me.

A side street filled with colourful Japanese umbrellas!

There are famous pastry shops located along Sakaimachi Street such as LeTao, Rokkatei and Kitakaro. We skipped these as we wanted to visit the Music Box Museum located near the end of Sakaimachi Street before it closes at 6 PM. This museum houses a nice collection of antiques and music boxes in various sizes.

We reached the end of Sakaimachi Street at slightly past 5 PM. So we had some time to take a look inside the Music Box Museum. We took a quick photo outside the Hello Kitty Cafe located next to the music box museum.

The Otaru Music Box Museum located at one end of Sakaimachi Street. Note the steam clock standing just in front of the entrance.

The museum operates more like a shop than a museum. There are lots of attractive and cute stuff to tempt the shoppers on the ground floor.

Can select a music box mechanism from many available tunes. There are traditional, classical music and even modern pop tunes.

The upper floors of the 3-storey building have a special collection of music boxes, antiques clocks and mechanisms.

Even though we did not plan to buy anything, it was nice to visit this place.

We left the museum just before closing time and went across the street junction to sit by the Allnight Lamp to rest our feet. A few minutes later, we watched the steam clock outside did its mini performance. Every 15 minutes, the clock will play a melodious tune and even emit some steam.

The Otaru Steam Clock just outside the Music Box Museum.

By now, almost all of the shops along the Sakaimachi Street had shut its doors as we made our way back towards the Otaru Authent Hotel.

We saw the street with the Japanese umbrellas again. This time, it was nicer with the lights on.

We ended the day with dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We had craving for some Chinese food and found that Otaru is known for its Ankake Yakisoba which is stir-fried noodles with a starchy sauce.

We went to restaurant called Narutoken without realising that it is probably related to the Naruto restaurant where we ate the half fried chicken for supper.

We ordered the Ankake Yakisoba, 5-piece Zangi and a plate of gyoza. The zangi is the Hokkaido style fried chicken similar to the karaage. The chicken pieces are seasoned with soy sauce and ginger and then battered with wheat flour.

The fried noodles with the tasty thick sauce is quite similar to those we get back home. Comfort food indeed.