Dramatic grey skies welcomed us into Hakodate, our first port for Japan. The only splash of colour was the rainbow water cannon display, performed by a lone white pilot boat. “Toot, Toot, Toot” he announced his arrival, “Toot, Toot, Toot” and he was gone.
Hakodate is the southernmost port of Hokkaido and it was our first port of call for Japan. To avoid the big queues through the ship, they had everyone gather in the Legends Bar if you were touring independently, and in the Casino if on a Princess Tour. We were then ushered through the Vista Lounge attend the mandatory face to face. The Japanese officials wanting to savour their time onboard decided they should process everyone at their leisure. Ships administration did all they could do to speed up the process. First, we walked into the Vista single file so their thermal imaging cameras could pick up any feverish passengers. Then our passport copies were checked and our fingerprints taken before we were allowed to leave the ship.
Our ship was berthed at the Minatomachi pier, so the locals provided free a shuttle to JR Hakodate Station. The trip took around 20 minutes and where we found ourselves conveniently located to visit many of the popular sites, and those further afield were easily accessed by trolley/streetcar.
We had booked a goodwill guide for the six of us. We paid 3000 yen to the guide, and also covered all his fares and lunch. On the shuttle, I mentioned to Garry, “I hope we get a younger student rather than an older person,” mainly because of communication…. Well just as I said that, we pulled up and out the window we saw a little old man holding up a sign with my name on it, damn. Well, if I could be as spritely and knowledgeable as Kazuo at 87 years of age I would be happy.
The Hakodate Morning Market was in full swing by the time we arrived. It doesn’t take long to realise how important food packaging and presentation is to the Japanese. The Market is clean, fresh and very busy. A wonderland of seafood, vegetables, fruit and delicacies showcasing the tastes of Hakodate. There is also every opportunity to taste, as the area is filled with shopfronts displaying bowls with ingredients that each different meal offers. Point and eat, what else could you want.
We then headed to the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses with its stone pavements and electric lamps. No longer used for the purpose they were built, they have been transformed into a restaurant and souvenir shop complex. Beautiful and colourful with presentation at a premium and price tags to match.
The Motomachi district is home to many historical semi western-style buildings, with the grandest being the old Public Hall that stands at the top of the main steep road that leads down to the bay. Immaculate gardens dotted with bronze statues of people and animals each telling a story.
The Museum of Northern Peoples sits at the base of Motomachi and tells of the Ainu people who are indigenous to Hokkaido. Artifacts collected from their daily lives show how these people developed their own unique cultures.
Getting around Hakodate is very easy once you get the gist of it. The easiest to use when visiting is the Hakodate City Train, more commonly known as a streetcar. Both Routes start at Yunokawa and then towards the end it forks, with route 2 heading to Yachigashira, and route 5 to Hakodate Dock. From Motomachi we caught the streetcar (Route 5 as we were currently on the Hakodate Dock Line) to the Goryokaku Stop.
Catching the tram is easy, when you board, through the middle door, you take a ticket from the machine. This shows the number zone you are starting from. When you get off the streetcar you show the driver your ticket and they calculate your fare. You can keep an eye on your fare by looking at the board above the driver, as you travel further the cost of your fare updates underneath your number. Good thing is they will also give you change, unlike say Singapore where you have to drop the correct fare otherwise you forfeit your change.
It was fun rattling along, and if you are in one of the modern cars they make announcements for each stop including what can be accessed in both Japanese and English.
Once off the tram is was a short 5 min walk to Goryokaku Park, but we made a slight detour for lunch. Now Mr Kazou, apart from the accent, spoke English well… understanding English was another issue. Ask him anything about the history he was sharing with you; no problems… Ask him what is on the Menu is another issue. From a Menu that displayed no English, but pictures showing the deals and meals, Mr Kazou did not know how to explain what it all meant, so I am sure he made it up. Everyone else chose well… I decided to be clever and ask “Mr Kazou, what are you eating? “….”udon noodles” was his reply. “Mr Kazou, what is in the noodles” … “um.. um.. “ that should have been my first clue…. “um, tempura, vegetable” he finally replied…. I thought that sounded good… “order one for me too”
Well the only thing that matched his description was the large mound of Udon noodles that came out on my tray. “ok no meat, no tempura and not a vege to be seen anywhere”. Carefully I watched Mr Kazou’s ritual to eat this lunch. On my tray there is a jug of “soup” and a small plate of herbs and spices…
1. Add condiments to soup for taste.
2. Pour soup into little bowl, add noodles then eat.
Done … first chopstick full… cold…. Everything on my tray was served cold… Oh well… I can do this … so I start to eat… this is a lot of noodle to get through but I have nothing else. Now on my tray was another little bowl that contained an egg in its shell.. was lovely and white looking... Now as Mr Kazu feverously slurped his way through his meal I missed what he did with his egg. I pointed to my egg, he nodded and said “ha boiled egg, ha boiled egg” and pointed to the bowl of noodles and soup… thinking YAY protein, I will just peel my hard-boiled cold egg and eat it. At that very first crack I realised he was not saying hardboiled egg, but half-boiled egg. My tummy already full of cold noodles turned a little at the sight of this yellow and white jiggly thing looking at me. Once I dropped it in my soup, and the yolk oozed its way across the top, I had to push it away otherwise I would have had a new noodle salad all over my tray in front of me. Everyone was laughing at me as they enjoyed their hot Tempura prawns and salted crab and rice.
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| Garry Chose well |
Still feeling a bit queasy we continued our walk towards the park. The Hakodate Magistrates was originally built at the foot of Mt Hakodate. After deciding that defence wise it was too exposed, in 1857 work started on Goryokaku park.
Goryokaku Park was built as a fortress. The Hakodate Magistrates office, centre for the Shogunate government in the north, is surrounded by a star shape moat. Excavation work created a tall mound following the star shape protecting the offices in the middle. Gorykaku was the site of the Battle of Hakodate, the last phase of the Boshin War. In 1871 most of the buildings were dismantled by the new government and the area turned into a park.
Finally, in 2010 work was completed to restore the main buildings which are now museums that can be visited by the public. Gardens around the Magistrates office are impressive especially in March/April when the thousands of Cherry Blossom trees are in full bloom.
Mr Kazou, a retired school teacher, left us here to go home. We actually really enjoyed our day with him, not just for his knowledge, maybe because he reminded us of our dads… Walking at least 50 minutes a day… at 87 I am sure he will be around to guide us if we ever return to Hakodate.
So now we are left to our own devices. Next to the Park is the Goryokaku Tower which if we felt so inclined we could have visited the top for panoramic views of the park. But as we were doing panoramic that evening we decided to walk back to the Trolley stop and head back to the Railway station where the shuttle was returning everyone back to the ship. Calling into a couple of department stores on the way back we realised that shopping will be at a minimum in Japan as the prices are pretty high.
Once back on the ship we had an hour or so to kill before our assembly time for the Mt Hakodate Ropeway night tour. During our bus ride to the Ropeway station we were warned about crowds. Retracing our drive back into town the Ropeway station is very close to the Motomachi district we had previously visited.
Although the carpark was full of buses, entrance into the ropeway was not congested at all, and after snaking our way around the empty barricades it was not long before we were zooming our way up. Each gondola that holds 125 people, and only takes three minutes to reach the peak that stands at 334 metre above sea level. In the gondola it didn’t seem fast, but when the opposite gondola passed it gave you the perspective of how fast you were going.
We must have been late as everyone else were already up on the peak, and it took a bit of scrambling to get a front-row spot. Looking out at the sea of lights you could just make out the Goryokaku Tower and where the Sun Princess was actually docked.
With only 15 min free time for viewing, it really didn’t matter how much time you spent in the shop because you spent the next 20 min in a queue with a firsthand view to get back down. With Gondolas running every 5 minutes it goes to show you how many people were up there. Just when our guide thought she had everyone on the bus, she found we were actually missing 2…. Tick tick tick …. No sign of our 2 missing passengers… As each gondola arrived at the base, people poured into the carpark, but no one was running for our bus. Finally, as the last bus left the car park our two very nonplussed ladies walked onto the bus exclaiming they got caught in the line…. Obviously ignoring the meeting time up on the peak….
So we were THAT BUS, the tour that is running late. The tour that everyone on the ship cheers at as we pull up… Our guide continued our tour as if nothing was wrong, and our bus weaved its way through the old district to the tune of her running commentary, only stopping long enough to answer her phone telling the ship “yes, we are on our way”. Three times!
Now I wanted to be THAT PERSON, so I said to Garry let’s be last of the bus…. Many politely stopped to let us off, but we smiled and waved them on. Last off the bus I dawdled behind everyone up to the gangway and YES I made it, I was last to ding on ... hmm where is the fanfare, the lights camera, action…. Oh well … At least I can tick it off my Bucket List.
And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.
