The Otaru Snow Gleaming Festival as the name suggests is held in a small town called Otaru, about 30 kms from Sapporo. This festival is held concurrently with the more famous Sapporo Snow Festival. Despite the reknown of the larger Sapporo Snow Festival, the Otaru festival offers a much more magical experience with thousands of lanterns dotted around Otaru.

San Francisco's Ferry Terminal building is the place to visit for the discriminating foodie. The marketplace is filled with gourmet food providers from organic fruits and vegetables, every variety of mushroom that you can possibly want to indulge in to the most tempting of sweet treats.