I cannot remember what makes me want to visit Otaru at the time I am writing this post. I believe its one of the places highly recommended by japan-guide.com. I have no regrets.
I took the early morning train from Sapporo to Otaru, it was a 45 minutes ride by local JR. It was pretty frosty in the morning, the train was very crowded and I did not manage to get a window seat.
