Day 17 Hakodate Wandering

Hakodate is the Hokkaido city that we've most visited. Past visits were mostly in the snow, flying up from Tokyo to cross country ski and wander the city in the snow. It is far more interesting and historical than Sapporo - more like Otaru, but bigger. The city has built up the historic areas directly focusing on tourism, both foreign and domestic. Our wandering today takes us to some of these places while keeping to the streets and a visit to the Hakodate Asaishi, a large fish marketplace.

Since they were just down the street we were staying on, we decided to start by heading to the Red Brick Warehouses.

Down the block to the Port with Red Brick Warehouses on both sides — View down our block to the Port with Red Brick Warehouses on both sides

These are a set of large buildings established in the late-Meiji/early-Taisho period (turn of the 20th century) when Hakodate was growing as a open port. They have been preserved and made into tourist-friendly shops.

Hokaido Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses — Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses from the port side

The Japanese are very good at providing places where tourists from anywhere can drop their Yen. Hakodate port area is a good example of this as it caters to a fair amount of cruise tourism as well as Japanese coming up from other parts. The tourist mall that is the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses is a blend of the historic buildings where the inside has become a comfortable browsing zone inside.

I'm fascinated by these places where the standard tourist souvenirs, the t-shirts, magnets, and brick-brack that makes up many of the shops, are intertwined with the (sometimes weird) local goods, like whipped frothy soap in manga faces (she's whipping up a batch)...

To other shops, usually tucked away, squarely aimed at the Japanese domestic tourists, like this Japanese snacks(?)/edibles shop filled with local flavored items like crab sembei (crackers), uni furikake (for sprinkling on your rice), or butter-scallop Pringles. Nobue dropped a few Yen here...

Back outside after the tourism glut where we are in a working port - both for the visitors and the fishing industry that is big in Hakodate.

With the seafood in mind, we head for a different shopping venue that draws a lot of folks - the Hakodate Asaichi (Morning Market).

Lots of live crab of a variety of species...

Live ika (squid) that you can catch for lunch...

And all the standards needed for the local home kitchen.

Time to eat and the Asaichi has many good looking places to do that. Most of the menus are similar - variety of sushi, ika, and fresh fish. We went to one with not too large a waiting list and had Nama Ebi Don (fresh raw shrimp over rice) and miso Gindara (local black cod) grill - ahh...

Back to our place for a short rest/regroup before heading out to more wandering. One of the things we remember from previous visits is going to the top of Mt. Hakodate on the Ropeway for the view of the area. This is also conveniently close to our place, though a up a hill called Nanbu Zaka.

It turns out that Nanbu Zaka has an interesting history - actually a couple of histories. The Nanbu clan was a retainer of the Tokugawa Shoganate from Iwate Prefecture - one of those in the far North of Honshu (the main island) - tasked with maintaining order in Hakodate. This hill is where the garrison for the clan existed until the loss of the Boshin War, when all of Hakodate fell. The only reminder is a memorial marker, a plaque from the city, and the name of the hill.

After the Meiji Restoration and during the early Imperial rule, this became the home to the better-off foreign community. The old Russian and English consulates are on the hill. The most prevalent remainders are a number of churches that were built for the new foreigners; during Tokugawa era, Christianity was a capital offense but, starting with the Meiji government, this was dropped. An example is the Hakodate Catholic Church, which sits right behind Otani Hongan-ji, a Buddhist temple.

Hokaido Catholic Church behind Buddhist temple

We made it to the base station of the Ropeway to go to the top of Mt. Hakodate (remember that was our goal) only to find it closed and people coming out. Turns out the weather forecast had lightning on the way so, for safety reasons, they suspended service; there was, indeed, a loud thunder storm an hour or so later. This was as close as we got to the top of Mt. Hakodate...

It was a good walk with some interesting sites along the way, like this friendly bit of wall art...

The neighborhood whale restaurant...

Or the security at a local fish shop.

After a quick stop at the local Konbini (Japanese slang for convenience stores), its back home to get ready for our last long train trip - Hokaido to Tokyo on the Shinkansen that goes under water.

More shots of the shops, markets, and local sites in the Hakodate Wander gallery.