My friend from Otaru suggested taking the train towards Otaru but getting off at the station before the Otaru main station. This station is called South Otaru, or Minami Otaru in Japanese. Japanese people like contractions and my friend kept referring to it as "Nantaru" ("nan" is another way to read the kanji for south, and "taru" is the last part of Otaru). From there it is about the right distance for a walk to get to Otaru station, and during that walk you will see all the famous things Otaru has to offer (which is mainly some souvenir shops and the canals).
We did as suggested and when walking towards the canals I noticed a shop called "Kinderlieb". This is the place where all the games in the snack bar Ropossa (that we went to the first night) come from. We took a look inside, and they had lots of interesting toys there. They also had Swedish made table cloths and things like that, with a certificate in Swedish!
When we left the store, I took a photo of myself in front of the building and sent a comment to the Ropossa mama saying: "At Kinderlieb now". Before I could push the button for attaching the photo too, there was a message from her to me saying: "You should visit Kinderlieb, it is right where you are!" She had seen my Facebook update that we just got off the train at Nantaru. Synchronicity.
Jag älskar Otaru!!!
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