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~1.5h小樽 日本銀行旧小樽支店

The Wall Street of the North

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The Wall Street of the North, OtaruThe Bank of Japan Otaru MuseumBank of Japan Otaru Museum01s3Bank of Japan, Otaru Branch1 / 4

The Wall Street of the NorthPhoto: 663highland / CC BY 2.5

Tap a photo to see it large. 4 photographs, every one credited.

Round trip
1 hr 30 min
From the ship and back
Fits
a 3.5-hour call or longer
Margin already counted
Getting there
Walk
See the rides below
Booking
Just turn up
Nothing to reserve

Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada

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. The museum opens 9:30–17:00 April to November and 10:00–17:00 December to March (last entry 16:30). It is closed on Wednesdays unless a national holiday, 29 December to 5 January, and on 26 November 2026. The street is always open.

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.
Before you count on it
  • Closed on Wednesdays unless a national holiday, 29 December to 5 January, and on 26 November 2026. Check the day before you plan around it.
  • 1 hr 30 min door to door needs a 3.5-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
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 day this belongs to

Routes that already include it

Each one is a finished day timed from the official timetables, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.

The canal on footNeeds a 4-hour call · ~2h door to door2–3 hours ashore, no transport at allCanal, glass and SakaimachiNeeds a 7-hour call · ~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
The canal, on foot from the ship, Otaru2 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 detailBuild your own bowl at Sankaku Market, Otaru3 hr for both

Build your own bowl at Sankaku Market

Sixteen shops, six of them small eateries, under one roof on a triangular plot beside the station.

See the detailOtaru rickshaws by world waif in Hokkaido3 hr for both

Rickshaw through the old town

Twelve or thirty minutes at strolling pace past the canal warehouses and the old shipping-line office.

See the detail
The one rule: be back on board 60 minutes before all-aboard. Build the whole day on the Otaru plan page.
Everything in one pageThe complete Otaru guide: berth, into town, your hours, tours that fitOpen the complete guide →