PORT OF JAPAN
The Wall Street of the NorthSuwon city wall north gateLlanthony Priory, Remains of Precinct Wall North of Inner Gatehouse
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See in Otaru · #5 of the port's ten

The Wall Street of the North

~1.5h — the round trip from the gangway, with the 60-minute margin kept aside.

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Photo: 663highland / CC BY 2.5

Tap a photo to see it large. 3 photographs, each credited.

Round trip
1 hr 30 min
From the ship and back
Fits
a 2–3 hour stop ashore
Margin already counted
Getting there
Walk
See the rides below
Booking
Just turn up
Nothing to reserve
Why we send people here

When the herring were running, Otaru was the financial centre of Hokkaido and Nichigin-dori held branch after branch in cut stone. The Bank of Japan building is now a free museum, and the street is the clearest evidence of how much money passed through.

Why it earns the hours
  • Short enough to be certain of: 1 hr 30 min door to door, so even a tender day works.
  • Reachable on foot from the berth, so no timetable can strand you.
The story

Why The Wall Street of the North is famous

For a few decades either side of 1900 herring arrived on this coast in numbers that turned the sea white, and Otaru became the financial centre of Hokkaido. Twenty-odd banks built on one street in stone, and the Bank of Japan branch of 1912 is the grandest. The fish stopped coming in the 1950s and the street stayed.

Where it is

The Wall Street of the North and your ship

Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.

The arithmetic

Where the 1 hr 30 min goes

Counted from the moment you step off the gangway. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.

Out9 minWalk
There1 hr 12 minWhat you came for
Back9 minTo the gangway

9 minutes each way is the honest figure for walk, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 12 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.

If you have longer

What fits alongside it

Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare on a 6-hour stop ashore.

The canal, on foot from the ship2 hr 30 min for bothFinished in 1923 on reclaimed land so barges could unload straight into the warehouses. The city condemned it for a road in the 1960s; citizens fought for a decade and saved half. You are walking beside the half that won the argument.Build your own bowl at Sankaku Market3 hr for bothSeventeen stalls wedged beside the station on a triangular plot. Point at scallop, uni, crab and salmon roe and they build the bowl over rice in front of you. Cheaper and better than anything with a view.Rickshaw through the old town3 hr for bothThirty minutes at strolling pace with a runner who narrates. It is the rare bookable that fits even the shortest call, and the commentary is where the herring story actually lands.
The day this belongs to

Routes that already include it

Each one is a finished day we have walked and timed, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.

The canal on foot2–3 hours · ~3h door to door2–3 hours ashore, no transport at allCanal, glass and Sakaimachi4–6 hours · ~5h door to door4–6 hours ashore
Pairs well with

What to put beside it

Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.

Build your own day →
2 hr 30 min for both

The canal, on foot from the ship

Finished in 1923 on reclaimed land so barges could unload straight into the warehouses.

See the detail →3 hr for both

Build your own bowl at Sankaku Market

Seventeen stalls wedged beside the station on a triangular plot.

See the detail →3 hr for both

Rickshaw through the old town

Thirty minutes at strolling pace with a runner who narrates.

See the detail →
The one rule: be back on board 60 minutes before all-aboard. Build the whole day on the Otaru plan page.