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HAKODATE |
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If you travel to Hokkaido by train, the first major city you'll come
to after emerging from the Seikan Tunnel is the attractive port of
HAKODATE , 260km southwest of Sapporo. Along with Shimoda on the Izu
Hanto , this was one of the first ports to open to foreign traders
following the Japan-US amity treaty of 1854. Over the next few years,
ten countries including Britain, Russia and the USA established
consulates in Hakodate, and foreigners built fancy wooden homes and
elaborate churches on the steep hillsides, leaving the city with a
legacy of European and American-style architecture. In 1868 the last of
the Tokugawa shogun's forces was defeated in a siege of Hakodate's
Goryokaku fort, a victory celebrated each year in mid-May with a period
costume parade through the town. A much larger parade is held during the
Hakodate Port Festival, from August 1 to 5, when 20,000 people in cotton
kimono and straw hats perform the "squid dance", an entertaining jig
where hands are flapped and clapped in time to rhythmic drumming.
Despite the fishy aroma that sometimes hangs in the air, Hakodate has
some compelling attractions. While you're here, be sure to check out the
lively morning market of Asa-ichi , the turn-of-the-century settlers'
homes in the Motomachi area, and the outstanding exhibition on Ainu
culture at the main museum. Finally, no self-respecting traveller should
leave before taking in the "million-dollar" night view from the top of
Hakodate-yama , the mountain in the middle of the hammerhead tip of the
peninsula. Within easy day-trip range of the city is the Onuma Quasi
National Park , a beautiful lakeland and mountain area, with good hiking
trails.
The City
Any tour of Hakodate should kick off at the atmospheric Asa-ichi , the
morning market (Mon-Sat 5am-noon) immediately to the west of the station.
Even if you arrive at the relatively late hour of 9am, there's still
plenty to see at the hundreds of tightly packed stalls in this waterside
location. Old ladies in headscarves squat amid piles of vegetables and
flowers at the back of the market, and huge, alien-like red crabs, squid
and musk melons are the local specialities. Don't leave without stopping
in one of the noodle stalls .
A ten-minute walk west from the market will lead to Hakodate-yama and
the Motomachi district - alternatively, you can take a tram and get off
at Jyujigai. The 334-metre-high peak, crowned with television signal
transmitters, is an excellent spot from which to soak up the town. On a
clear day the view is spectacular, but best of all is the night-time
panorama, when the twinkling lights of the port and the boats fishing
for squid just off the coast create a magical scene - though be prepared
for hordes of tourists hanging off the platform railings for a better
view. The energetic can climb to the summit along a trail (May-Oct), but
most people opt for the cable car (daily 10am-10pm; ¥640 one way, ¥1160
return), which is a seven-minute uphill walk from the Jyujigai tram
stop. The cheaper alternative is to take the bus (30min; ¥360) from
Hakodate Station, which runs from April 25 to October 15 between 1.15pm
and 9pm, while, for drivers, the serpentine road up the mountain is open
to private vehicles after 10pm. The viewing platforms are above the
summit cable-car station, along with a couple of restaurants and gift
shops.
Heading downhill, you'll find yourself in Motomachi , with its Western-style,
late nineteenth-century architecture - it's easy when you're here to see
why Hakodate is known as the San Francisco of Japan. The best thing to
do is simply wander about, stopping to explore some of the churches,
which are free (few of the other buildings merit their entrance charges).
The most striking is the white Russian Orthodox Church , seven minutes
uphill from Jyujigai tram stop, and built in 1919, complete with green
copper-clad onion domes and spires. Inside, the icon-festooned carved
wood altarpiece is impressive and piped Russian choral music adds to the
atmosphere. Nearby, the Episcopal Church , with its unusual modern
architecture, is more interesting to observe from outside than in, while,
slightly downhill, the Gothic-style Motomachi Roman Catholic Church is
worth stepping into for its decoration based on the stations of the
cross.
Walking west for a couple of hundred metres across the hillside streets
will bring you to the extraordinary Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward (daily:
April-Oct 9am-7pm; Jan-March, Nov & Dec 9am-5pm; ¥300), a sky-blue-and-lemon-painted
confection with pillars, verandahs and fancy wrought-iron and plaster
decoration. After a fire destroyed the original hall, this replacement
was completed in 1910. In front of the hall is the small Motomachi Park,
below which stands the rather twee Old British Consulate , which looked
after the Empire's affairs in Hokkaido from 1859 to 1934. The cream and
blue building now houses a highly missable museum, a stuffy British
tearoom and a giftshop.
Far more interesting is the Hakodate City Museum of Northern Peoples
(daily: April-Oct 9am-7pm; Jan-March, Nov & Dec 9am-5pm; ¥300), in an
old bank down the Motoi-zaka slope, which leads away from the consulate.
The museum's superb collection of artefacts relating to the Ainu and
other races across Eastern Siberian and Alaskan islands, has good
written English explanations and is well worth the entrance fee. Some of
the clothes on display are amazing - look out for the Chinese silk robe
embroidered with dragons, an example of the trade that existed between
China, the islanders of Sakhalin and the Ainu.
Hakodate's other attractions include the heavily hyped remains of
Goryokaku , a Western-style fort some 3km northeast of the station and
five minutes' walk north of the Goryokaku-koen-mae tram stop. Built in
the late nineteenth century, the star-shaped fort was originally
designed to protect Hokkaido against attack from Russia. In the event,
however, it was used by Tokugawa's naval forces in a last-ditch battle
to uphold the shogun against the emperor in the short-lived civil war
that ushered in the Meiji Restoration of 1869. What's left of the fort
today - a leafy park, the moat and outer walls - looks best from the top
of the rather ugly, sixty-metre-high viewing tower (daily 8am-7pm; ¥630)
by the main entrance. It's best to visit here between late July to
mid-August, when open-air plays about Hakodate's history are performed
enthusiastically by five hundred amateur actors on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday evenings.
Also rather disappointing is the Trappistine Convent , 10km southeast of
Hakodate Station, established in 1868 by eight French nuns. You can't go
inside - home-made cakes and biscuits are the real reason tour buses
stop here. It takes at least one hour by public transport to reach the
convent, either by an infrequent bus from Hakodate Station, or by tram
to Yunokawa, then a bus.
On the way to the convent you'll pass the drab seaside area of Yunokawa,
the oldest onsen resort in Hokkaido and definitely looking it. A better
(and cheaper) onsen option, closer to the town centre, is the huge
public bath at Yachigashira (daily 6am-9.30pm; ¥340), a couple of
minutes' walk from tram terminus #2 on the eastern side of
Hakodate-yama.
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