Otaru City is much frequented by all kinds of people from all over Japan. This city is famous for its high popularity. The pictures show the Otaru Canal. It is the chief feature of this city. It was constructed for the purpose of increasing the amount of transport between Hokkaido and Honshu (mainland Japan) about a century ago. Numerous commodities from Honshu must have been gathered here and scattered all over Hokkaido. There is no doubt that Otaru was the center of development of Hokkaido in the Meiji Era.
Decades ago, after habours, railroad networks and other infrastructures like that were built, Otaru City was going to fill in this Canal to reclaim new land and this newly-made land would be a parking lot or a park for citizens belonging to Otaru City. However, at that time, most citizens objected to this municipal plan and wanted to preserve the Canal as a cultural heritage site.
Consequently, the Canal has been preserved. The choice of the citizens was a bold decision, I think. If it were not for the Canal, the popularity of Otaru City would be smaller. Many shops and restaurants are open around the Canal. The Otaru Canal is collecting not commodities but tourists now.
(Vocabulary)
frequent （ホテル・店など）によく行く, 頻繁に行く
The hotel is frequented by American tourists.
そのホテルはアメリカ人観光客が頻繁に利用している．
[他] 〈動物が〉 〈場所〉 に生息する, 現れる
feature 特徴, 特色, 特質 (ある地域の) 地形, 地勢, 特徴
a geographical feature 地形
fill sth in ＜穴・ひび＞をふさぐ（埋める） (＋fill in with)
Fill in the hole with cement. 穴をセメントでふさぎなさい．
reclaim
1 〈失ったもの〉 を取り戻す
2 〈税金〉 を返還［還付］してもらう [同意] claim back
3 〈土地〉 を開拓［開墾］する, 埋め立てる
4 〈廃棄物〉 を回収する, 再生利用する
(KW: 小樽 倉庫街 運河)
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