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Otaru Canal is the waterway which reclaimed land from the offing and was made between land. It is called a reclamation type canal. It completed in 1923. The spread ship which put the cargo from the vessel which anchored at sea was moored, and it was used for landing of cargo. Since trade with Karafuto of Russia was lost after the war, it went out of use quickly also as a base of a physical distribution. In the both banks of a canal, the profound warehouse group built with brick stands in a row, and it can bear old days. Now, the inside of a warehouse other than the role of an original warehouse is remodeled, and it is a restaurants, the general dealers and the souvenir shops. Otaru is the port town which faced the Ishikari bay and prospered as a center of the Hokkaido economy. And, the Otaru harbor has developed as a vestibule leading to the outside of the Hokkaido exploitation. In old times, it prospered by transportation out of the way of the coal produced in the Ishikari district, trade with Russia, and Herring fishery. However, although modern architecture is seen across the street and serves as tourist attractions now, from a peak hour population decreases by no less than 35%, and is in a decline tendency. Although it entered in April, snow remained in in the city or a mountain.

(p.s.)
Otaru port: workshops