Seeking Colors and Hot Springs - A Post-Trip Retrospective of the 2018 Autumn Japan Tour, Part 8 (Final): Halloween Rampage: Noboribetsu - Yoichi - Otaru - Sapporo!

Setting off from the hotel in the morning, we casually threw our coats over our shoulders and headed out. A young Japanese attendant standing inside the hotel door quickly stopped us, smiling gently and saying softly, "I'm sorry, it's very cold outside. It would be better if you put on your coats properly before going out." After expressing our thanks, we fully geared up and stepped outside. Whoa, it was freezing—must be below zero, and it must have snowed in the mountains!

Sure enough, later along the way, we saw through the car window snow piled on the roadside and mountains covered in white in the distance... After all, this is Hokkaido!

The vast and misty Lake Toya and Lake Shikotsu were formed after volcanic eruptions. This park is very spacious and worth a good look if you have time. Unfortunately, we only managed to take a few photos at the edge when a heavy rain poured down.

We took shelter from the rain in the souvenir shop of the observation deck. It was crowded with people—several large tour groups had converged at once. The shop sold many local specialties. Many tourists lined up under the guidance of their tour guides to buy a facial cream said to be available only here, rich in horse oil or horse placenta. Particularly, the Korean and Chinese tour groups could be described as scrambling for it. I overheard a Chinese tour guide pointing at the Korean group and saying, "Look how savvy they are—everyone buys a lot!" I suspect the Korean guide was saying the same about these Chinese tourists.

The quality of skincare products depends on the user's experience, so I won't comment. But, as a foodie, I have to especially mention these Hokkaido local dairy products, like ice cream—they never disappoint! I particularly highly recommend this balloon milk pudding—it's not only delicious but also fun. My frog, in its travel diary, collected the one on the upper right, a Tohoku region specialty balloon yokan. I really want to tell my little frog that actually, the balloon milk pudding tastes even better!

We had lunch at the Yoichi Whisky Distillery (Yoichi Distillery) cafeteria, and then braved the rain to tour this famous distillery.

PS: Located in western Hokkaido, only 20 kilometers from Otaru, the beautiful seaside town of Yoichi is a place with great mountains, water, and products. Besides being famous for whisky and seafood, it also produces abundant fruits: cherries, strawberries, grapes, apples, and pears. If you have time and are there in the right season, be sure to come and taste them.

Just looking at the scenery, it already feels very Scottish—especially with the incessant rain.

It was also my first time visiting a genuine whisky cellar.

The big boss of this distillery is Masataka Taketsuru, known as the father of Japanese whisky. There is a Japanese drama called "Massan" that tells his story. In his youth, he traveled far to Scotland to learn brewing. After completing his studies, he returned to Japan and searched the country until he found Yoichi—a place with great mountains, water, and products, and the most similar to Scotland—where he established this distillery. He created the Nikka brand, and by adhering to the authentic flavor of Scottish whisky, he rewrote the history of Japanese sake culture, allowing Japanese whisky to successfully rank among the world's top whisky brands.

Japan also has another person named Shinjiro Torii (who has some connection with him), also known as the father of Japanese whisky. He advocated modifying whisky to suit Japanese tastes, pursuing another extreme. His Suntory brand covers a wide range, from whisky to fruit juices (even convenience stores in Guangzhou sell its oolong tea drinks), and has become a model for going global.

As for whisky alone, the products of these two companies already occupy half of the Japanese whisky industry.

These are two different types of barley. You can't tell the difference just from the surface of the grains. This one growing symmetrically on both sides of the stalk (left) is called "two-row barley" (niko barley), suitable for making beer, whisky, etc. The other, which grows like a six-petal flower on the stalk, is called "six-row barley" (rokuro barley). This is what we use for barley tea and oatmeal.

From right to left, the picture shows the appearance of new make spirit, 5-year cask-aged whisky, and 15-year cask-aged whisky in barrels. So that beautiful amber color is a gift of time.

Nikka is an abbreviation for Nippon Kaju, meaning Japanese fruit juice. While waiting for the whisky to mature slowly, the distillery's main products are various apple juices and apple brandy.

Several award-winning Nikka whiskies, as soon as they are released from the cask, are eagerly collected by people. They are definitely unavailable on the market and hard to come by. However, this little bar occasionally releases a little bit, selling it by the glass to allow whisky pilgrims to indulge.

———— Driving on, the dividing line ————

By the time we arrived in Otaru, the moderate rain had turned into a downpour. My innate "rain child" attribute once again showed its power... Fortunately, there were many shops to while away the time. This is the famous Otaru Music Box Hall—people with decision-making difficulties should be cautious!

Cute little screw and nut-shaped dolls from the iron town of Muroran, Hokkaido.

There were also some small music boxes with simple designs, but the music inside was carefully selected—these are tunes from the hugely popular anime "Your Name."

Kitakaro and Rokkatei—as a foodie, if you don't eat or buy anything, you'd be embarrassed to say you've been to Otaru.

At the second floor of Rokkatei, you can buy its famous cream puffs and other pastries individually, and coffee is free. I didn't know cream puffs could be so delicious—the foodie happily lined up again to buy two more portions...

A pastry shop called "LeTAO" is known as "the pride of Otaru." It specializes in various desserts. The picture shows its most famous double-layer cheesecake.

This is what the frozen packaging looks like; it needs to be thawed before eating. After leaving it at room temperature for a few hours, you can enjoy the creamy, soft, and delicate LeTAO double-layer cheesecake. If I have to point out a flaw, it's that I bought too little—it wasn't enough, I couldn't stop eating it... Fortunately, I later found it was also sold at the airport, so I didn't have to regret it all the way home—but that's a story for later.

From time to time, heavy rain poured down. Even in Otaru, anyone would lose their romantic feelings. It felt like just checking in with my little frog, another tourist stop!

Back in Sapporo. I highly recommend the restaurant for dinner: Kirin Beer Garden. If you like drinking and are a meat lover, give it a try. This is a combined teppanyaki and shabu-shabu setup—you can eat however you like. Various meats (pork, beef, lamb, chicken) and drinks are all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink at a fixed price. The ingredients aren't the best, but they are fresh. The venue is also large. When we arrived, on the other side of the hall, a Japanese company had nearly a hundred people having a group dinner. The downside: although they thoughtfully provide a huge plastic bag to wrap your coat, you will still come out smelling of barbecue smoke. Just be mentally prepared.

A few steps out of the restaurant is the bustling Tanuki Koji shopping street. As we joined the crowd, we noticed that the people around us looked very eerie. Checking the calendar, we realized it was Halloween. So we joined the "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons" with the kids of Sapporo!

I love Hokkaido. I love the places I've visited. I will come again. So, see you next time!