I woke up feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep on a comfortable futon. We headed to our private dining room to enjoy a Japanese style breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed off to Kim’s Glass Design studio owned by Naoki Kimura that Keala from Hawaiian Airlines/Holoholo Hokkaido recommended to us. We never would have heard about this place if not for Keala and I dare say that this was one of the highlights of our trip!
We designed and blew our own glass! After making our glasses (to be picked up the following day), we headed to Yoichi to visit the Nikka Whisky Distillery where we could buy something to put in our beautiful glasses. We hired two taxis to take us there.
The driver of the taxi that I was in was so nice and decided that he wanted to give us ice cream. He stopped at a 7-11 and bought us a premium gold vanilla ice cream cone. It was smooth and delicious and hit the spot!
At Nikka, it was raining slightly so we used the Nikka Distillery-provided umbrellas to go exploring the beautiful campus. We learned a little bit about the whisky making process as well as the history behind the family who started this business. And–we got to the place we were excited to go to–the whisky tasting room!
After getting back to the ryokan, we enjoyed drinks and dinner and laughs. This is where I learned about the yummy shiso shochu I love.
Another awesome day. Living Hilo Style in Otaru.
Living Hilo Style 