You’ll hop on a train to Otaru with your host, where you’ll see a side to Japanese history vastly different from the temples and shrines you’d expect – one of colonial architecture, old port markets, and steam clocks. You’ll stroll along the canal, an old-world promenade illuminated by the golden glow of oil lamps in the early evening and lined with old warehouses converted into antique stores and cafes, or hop on a canal cruise for a different vantage point. You’ll discover the city’s famous glass-blowing industry and shop for intricate souvenirs, see the Otaru Music Box Museum’s collection of 25,000 music boxes (or customize your own brand-new one), and sample sake at the Tanaka Sake Brewery before heading back to Sapporo.

Thirty minutes northwest of Sapporo, the small harbor city of Otaru seems like a relic from a bygone era. With your local host, you’ll explore this fascinating pocket of Japanese history. In the quaint city center, see the perfectly preserved western-style buildings of Sakaimachi-dōri, an old merchant street harking back to Otaru’s late 19th-century history as a powerful port city, and swivel your head between elegant buildings on Nichigin-dōri, the old “Wall Street of the North”, just around the corner. Stroll the cobbled pathways of the breathtakingly beautiful Otaru Canal along Ishikari Bay, squid ink ice-cream in hand, before grabbing a bite to eat and a freshly brewed draft beer at the Bavarian-style Otaru Brewery beer hall.