Otaru City is located in the southern part of Hokkaido Prefecture: it is along the Sea of Japan.  Otaru is a harbor city, half an hour northwest of Sapporo by train.  Its beautiful canal area and the interesting herring mansion make Otaru a pleasant one day trip from Sapporo or a nice stop en route to or from the Shakotan Peninsula.  For Japanese, Otaru is a nostalgic city which reminds us of the good old days of westernization in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century.  Since the Japanese government opened the colonization office in Sapporo in 1869, Otaru have developed as an important harbor city for transportation of the local products to other parts of Japan.
  Thus the word Otaru is always associated with the canal surrounded by the western-styled brick storehouses which are still used for shops, restaurants and museums.  In the golden age at the end of the nineteenth century, marine merchants could afford to build mansions.  However, after the best time the city had to acclimatize the new severe situation.  Although some are still working for sea products, others like Kitaichi Glass Works found another way to survive.  Now Otaru is also famous for producing fine glass works and orgels (musical boxes).  The former symbol of their prosperity has turned into the major sightseeing spot for tourists.  Still, however, you can enjoy the best sea product of Hokkaido including sushi.  The population is 141,536 (August 2006).
  

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One Joycean from Otaru
  
  The early Joycean scholar/translator Sei Ito (伊藤 整, 1905-1969) was born in Matsumae County, southern Hokkaido in 1905 and his family moved to Shioya (塩谷), Otaru in 1906.  After he graduated from Otaru Koto Shogyo Gakko (Otaru Higher Commercial School; now Otaru University of Commerce) he went to Tokyo and entered Tokyo Shoka Daigaku (Tokyo University of Commerce; now Hitotsubashi University), although he dropped out of school later.
  He gradually became one of the most important literary critics in the twentieth century Japanese literature.  He was greatly influenced by James Joyce and put forward "Shin-Shinri-shugi" (Neo-Psychologism).  He completed the first traslation of Ulysses with Sadamu Nagamatsu (永松 定) and Hisanori Tsujino (辻野 久憲) in 1931-1934.  Ito started his literary career as a poet and expanded the activities to novels and criticism.  He aimed at theorizing autobiographical literature and also wrote some novels.  In 1950 Ito had gone to court defending his translation of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (abridged trans. 1935; completed trans. 1950) from the public prosecutions.  The Japanese branch of the "Association of Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists" (PEN) and the "Bungei Club" (the Japanese association of literature) supported Ito.  It took six years for the court to convict him and the publisher of publishing a "pornography."  As opposed to the UK and America, the Japanese translations of Ulysses was not so severely treated as a "obscene novel" because either the translators or publishers purposely deleted or omitted some obscene sentences and paragraphs from the Japanese translations in earlier editions in order to avoid censorship.  Ito published his autobiographical novel Wakai Shijin no Shozo (A Portrait of the Poet as a Young Man) in 1956.

IMAGE	IMAGE NO.	DATA
Sakai-machi-dori		Sakai-machi-dori Street (堺町通り).
	hot2006-003	(Sunday 10 September) Rokka-tei Kita-no-Daichi Bijyutsu-kan (六花亭 北の大地美術館; lit. "Six-flower Tavern/Northern Land Museum," founded in 1921), 7-22 Sakai-machi (about 10 minute walk from JR Otaru Station).  It displays many items of Kyuichiro Aihara (相原 求一朗, Saitama-born painter, 1918-1999) and Naoyuki Sakamoto (坂本 直行; Kushiro-born painter and descendant of Ryoma Sakamoto [坂本 龍馬], 1906-1982) on the second floor.  The first floor is the space for shopping, esp. sweets.
	hot2006-005	(Sunday 10 September) Side street of Rokka-tei Kita-no-Daichi Bijyutsu-kan
	hot2006-007	(Sunday 10 September) Main building of "Otaru Orugoru-kan" (Otaru Orgel [Musical Box] Emporium), 4-1 Sumiyoshi.  The Japanese word "Orugoru" is derived from the Dutch word "orgel."  There are three thousands of various Japanese musical boxes (many of them made in Otaru) for sale.  This building was originally built in the Meiji Era in the late nineteenth century.
	hot2006-010	(Sunday 10 September) A "jinrikisha" (人力車; rickshaw) at "Meruhen-kosaten" (lit. "Fairy Tales' Carfax") in front of "Otaru Orugoru-kan."  The Japanese word "meruhen" is derived from the German word "Marchen."
	hot2006-011	(Sunday 10 September) "Kitaichi Garasu Kengaku Kobo" (Kitaichi Glass Atelier for Tourists), 6-7 Sakai-machi: it offers free tours and some experience in creating glassworks.
	hot2006-012	(Sunday 10 September) "Now glass-blowing these items," "Kitaichi Garasu Kengaku Kobo" (Kitaichi Glass Atelier for Tourists), 6-7 Sakai-machi
	hot2006-013	(Sunday 10 September) A glass-crafts woman working, "Kitaichi Garasu Kengaku Kobo" (Kitaichi Glass Atelier for Tourists), 6-7 Sakai-machi
	hot2006-015	(Sunday 10 September) Two glass-blowers working, "Kitaichi Garasu Kengaku Kobo" (Kitaichi Glass Atelier for Tourists), 6-7 Sakai-machi
	hot2006-016	(Sunday 10 September) Two glass-blowers working, "Kitaichi Garasu Kengaku Kobo" (Kitaichi Glass Atelier for Tourists), 6-7 Sakai-machi
	hot2006-018	(Sunday 10 September) Two glass-blowers working, "Kitaichi Garasu Kengaku Kobo" (Kitaichi Glass Atelier for Tourists), 6-7 Sakai-machi.  As a local old man told me, most of glass-workers are women these days, because of harder work and less salary: You need great patience to continue this work here, although this is definitely a wonderful job.
	hot2006-019	(Sunday 10 September) "Maruyasu-shoji" (crab shop), 6-4 Sakai-machi
	hot2006-020	(Sunday 10 September) "Maruyasu-shoji" (crab shop), 6-4 Sakai-machi
	hot2006-025	(Sunday 10 September) Sakai-machi Street
	hot2006-026	(Sunday 10 September) Kitaichi Venezia Museum (Museo Dell'Arte Veneziana), 5-27 Sakai-machi.  They display numerous items of Venetian glassworks including Vittorio Costantini's "Insects Collection," Romano del Angeli and antique Venezian mirrors.
Otaru Unga		Otaru Unga (the Otaru Canal) bears the major image of the city.  Otaru Unga Shoku-do (小樽運河食堂), 6-5 Minato-machi, Otaru, is located along the Otaru Canal: about 10 minute walk from JR Otaru Station.
	hot2006-028	(Sunday 10 September) Otaru Unga Shoku-do Complex
	hot2006-029	(Sunday 10 September) The sign of Otaru Unga Shoku-do
	hot2006-030	(Sunday 10 September) "Hatsukoi Shotengai" (The First Love Mall), inside of the building of Otaru Unga Shoku-do
	hot2006-031	(Sunday 10 September) Asakusa-bashi Beef Hall, Otaru Unga Shoku-do
	hot2006-033	(Sunday 10 September) Members of the Tsuchinotomi Society at Asakusa-bashi Beef Hall, Otaru Unga Shoku-do
	hot2006-034	(Sunday 10 September) Members of the Tsuchinotomi Society at Asakusa-bashi Beef Hall, Otaru Unga Shoku-do
	hot2006-035	(Sunday 10 September) Members of the Tsuchinotomi Society at Asakusa-bashi Beef Hall, Otaru Unga Shoku-do
	hot2006-048	(Sunday 10 September) A group photo of the Tsuchinotomi Society in front of Unga-koen (Canal Park)
	hot2006-049	(Sunday 10 September) A view near Unga-koen (Canal Park)
	hot2006-050	(Sunday 10 September) Otaru Canal near Unga-koen (Canal Park)
	hot2006-051	(Sunday 10 September) Otaru Canal near Unga-koen (Canal Park)
	hot2006-052	(Sunday 10 September) A view between Ryugu-bashi Bridge (竜宮橋) and Chuo-bashi Bridge (中央橋), Otaru Canal
	hot2006-053	(Sunday 10 September) Bust of Isami Hiroi (広井 勇, 1862-1928)  Hiroi was born in Kochi in 1862.  After he graduated from Sapporo No-gakko (now Hokkaido University) in 1881, he studied in the United States and Europe over six years.  Coming back here, he built Kita Bohatei (北防波堤; the North Breakwater, 1289 m) and began to research the durability of concrete from various perspectives and conditions: His extended research and experiments, which are now succeeded to Otaru Kowan Kensetsu Jimusho (Otaru Harbor Building Office), are said to be very rare and or of worldwide fame.  His bust, made in 1929, one year after his death in Otaru-koen (小樽公園), was shifted to the present location in Unga-koen in 1999.
Shukutsu		Shukutsu (祝津)
	hot2006-036	(Sunday 10 September) Aotsuka-shokudo (青塚食堂), 3-210 Shukutsu, Otaru (tel: 0134-22-8034/ fax: 0134-22-8396).  Highly recommended if you like delicious seafood.
	hot2006-038	(Sunday 10 September) Saleswomen/cooks charcoaling delicious seafood, Aotsuka-shokudo
	hot2006-039	(Sunday 10 September) A saleswoman/cook charbroiling herrings, Aotsuka-shokudo
	hot2006-040	(Sunday 10 September) Mouthwatering Herrings (even after having a big lunch)!  Aotsuka-shokudo.
	hot2006-041	(Sunday 10 September) Kazuteru Sasaki sinking his teeth into a herring!nbsp; Aotsuka-shokudo.
	hot2006-042	(Sunday 10 September) Kazuteru and I eat the tasty herring!nbsp; Aotsuka-shokudo.
	hot2006-043	(Sunday 10 September) "Nishin-goten" (the Herring Mansion, built in 1897), 3-228 Shukutsu (tel: 0134-22-1038).  Built during the most prosperous period in the history of Otaru's fishing industry, this large-scale dormitory provided accommodation for herring fishermen at the time.  The interior houses equipment used in their work and day-to-day lives, as well as photographs and important data from the era.  Designated as a tangible cultural property of Hokkaido.
	hot2006-044	(Sunday 10 September) Shukutsu Coast
	hot2006-045	(Sunday 10 September) Shukutsu Coast
	hot2006-046	(Sunday 10 September) Shukutsu Marina Yacht Harbor
	hot2006-047	(Sunday 10 September) The Sea of Japan, viewed from Shukutsu Coast

        

Copyright (c) 2006 Eishiro Ito.  All rights reserved.