Otaru Canal is one of the highlights of the town of Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan. In the past, smaller vessels were used to transport cargo from large ships to the warehouses along the canal. The canal became obsolete when modern dock facilities allowed for unloading of cargo from large vessels directly.
Thankfully, the citizens of the town restored the canal in the 1980s, instead of landfilling it, resulting in the beautiful canal that we now see. The warehouses were also transformed into museums, shops and restaurants. I had nice local beer in one of these warehouse restaurants!
This photo was taken on one of the bridges a little after sunset for the beautiful lights and the reflection of the warehoused along the canal. I was lucky to get such a clear shot of the reflections. Some boats travelled along the canal a little while later and the water was never still enough after that to capture the reflections nicely.
Here's another shot that I took along the side of the canal a little earlier, with a nice reflection of the warehouses as well.
