Otaru area

Otaru's stone warehouses along the canal date to the 1920s when the city was Hokkaido's biggest port. After the herring fishery collapsed in the 1950s the city pivoted hard into glassworks (Kitaichi opened in 1901), Western pastry (LeTAO is the headliner; Naruto and Kitakaro are older), sushi (Otaru's reputation here is on par with Tsukiji), and music boxes (the Music Box Museum holds the country's largest collection). The Sakaimachi merchant street preserves Meiji-era bank and trading-house facades, several of which are now glass workshops or cafes. Mt. Tengu rises behind the city for a sunset view of the harbor.