The Eye of Patrick

As I exited Otaru station I was engulfed by the masses of people flowing out of the trains in every possible direction. There was a sense of excitement as everyone knew they were going to see something magical, but could not believe it until they saw it themselves.

The reason for our journey to Otaru was for the simple reason to see the beauty of fire and ice. Though a smaller festival then the one held in Sapporo (Yuki Matsuri), the Snow Gleaming Festival (Yukiakari no Michi) has grown into something special in its own right. While you can visit it during the day, the true magic begins at night when the towns’ people light up the many little candles that come to illuminate the many ice candles and sculptures, each one acting as a beacon to lead you towards the canal. The remaining canal helps to provide a hint of what was once a major harbor transit point, for the inward movement of goods in the early 20^th century. The canal is lined with brick buildings and Victorian style street lamps, which is very different from traditional Japanese architecture.

The water was still, helping to create a wonderful reflection of the buildings near it. Without a tripod I had to use any flat surface to rest my camera on to take a photo. This was a game of chance as I had to hope my camera would not move and that people would not get in the way. Being so near to water always gives me worries of losing my camera. But luckily I escaped with both some wonderful shots and my camera. It was a great learning opportunity in taking photos at night in low light situation. There is something about night photography that really gets me excited to take photos. I think I enjoy the challenge of trying to capture the exciting movement of light on the buildings or the movement of both traffic and people as the blur by.

This festival is a wonderful place to take photos in as you were able to get fairly close to many of the illuminated snow sculptures and there were so many different ones to see. Though it can be crowded, it was never too crowded to prevent you from enjoying the festival. As it is winter and near the water it can get fairly cold, so it is best to dress in many layers. Recently Otaru has turned itself into a tourist center and so there are many shops and restaurants to visit if you feel cold. Some say that the best sushi can be found here as it is so near the water, though I did not have the time to check it out.

The wonderful thing about the Otaru festival, or at least this year was that it ran during the same time as Yuki Matsuri in Sapporo. So during the day you could check out the world famous festival there and then at night take the train to Otaru to see another festival with a different perspective on making the winter fun.

So dress warm, charge your battery and visit Otaru Gleaming Festival next winter.

How to get to Otaru:

Several trains per hour operate between Sapporo and Otaru along the JR Hakodate Main Line. The journey takes 30 minutes by rapid train (kaisoku) and 45 minutes by local train (futsu). The one way fare is 620 Yen. (Japan-guide.com)