Herring and Chocolate

Friday, July 14

The plan for today was an adventure to Otaru, a seaside town build on the herring fishing industry (sound Dutch to anyone, else?) We went to Nishin Goten (Aoyama Fishermans’ lodging). This was a house on the hill where 120 fishermen lodged at night and then went out during the day. At one point the Okhotsk Sea was so teeming with fish that the sea shone like liquid silver. I really liked seeing the large glass “floats” that the fishermen use to mark and float the nets.

We had a lunch of herring and ramen soup. The herring is on a stick and grilled over an open fire which was being stoked by a blow dryer. We sat facing the sea and watching the boats go by. After lunch we went to Aoyama Villa, which is the home of the owner of the herring company. He is now a “gabazillionaire” according to Teresa. Then entry hall had beautiful paintings on the ceiling with one painting for each native flower in Japan. This home was beautiful with the amazing dark wood, carved wood décor, and lacquer screens.

This afternoon, when the kids came home from school, we all piled in the van and took off for the Ishiya Chocolate Factory. It was part “It’s a small world,” part art/history museum, and part amazing cookie/ice cream shop. There was a large model of the factory made out of cake and icing. There were also several other displays that were all frosting, including a “cage” with 4 large parrots. It was wonderful and a great time was had. While we were in the ice cream shop, we looked out the window and there …wait for it… was a WINDMILL!!!! My suspicion for the past 3 days has truly been confirmed…Japan IS really part of the Netherlands.

After the Chocolate Factory, we played in the park and then went to dinner at a place called Sasuke, which is a Kurukuru sushi bar where the sushi travels around a rail. We had many options that rode past, including salmon, egg, crab, eel, and squid. Happy tummies and lots of satisfaction all around. What a lovely Japanese day.