April 22 - Hakodate, Japan

It’s a beautiful, sunny day here in Hakodate, which is on the southern tip of the island of Hokkaido.  We’ve now been to three of the major islands of Japan -  Kyushu, Honshu and Hokkaido.  Once again I didn’t have a tour booked but decided to go ashore and explore on my own after talking with the Destinations person on the ship.   She told me that this place was easily done on one’s own.

That's Hakodate up there

Hakodate has a pretty interesting history.  It has for centuries been a trading port.  A merchant named Takadaya Kahei is credited with being the founder of the port and opening up trade routes to the Kuril Islands fisheries further north. The Kurils are another one of those groups of islands whose possession is in dispute, with the Japanese claiming three of them, but the Russians claiming and administering all of them.  This western Pacific area is full of disputed territories as I’ve learned as we’ve traveled along.  Anyway Takadaya helped to turn this place into a thriving city.

I’ve written a little earlier about Japan being a closed country with only one southern port open for trade, primarily with the Dutch and to some extent China.  In the mid-nineteenth century efforts of foreign countries including the United States to establish formal relations with Japan were repeatedly rebuffed.  President Millard Fillmore (that’s a president I never learned much about)  in 1852 ordered Commodore Matthew Perry to take his East India Squadron to sail to Japan and establish relations with the country. Perry delivered the initial request in 1853 to a representative of the Japanese emperor.  In 1854 Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay with a larger force and he signed the Treaty of Kanagawa  on March 31, 1854.  The treaty specified permanent friendship between the two countries and allowed for US ships to reprovision in two Japanese ports, one of them being Hakodate.  The treaty ultimately led to the opening of Japan to other western nations and to a beginning of the modernization of the country. 

Since Hakodate was one of those first two ports to be opened, a thriving foreign community arose here.  The Russians were among the countries that came and they built the first Orthodox Church here in Hakodate.  While many of the old buildings no longer exist some of the Japanese buildings still maintain a little of the western influence.  Down at the waterfront is an area called the Red Brick warehouse district which is left from that era.  The buildings have been converted into shops and restaurants.

The Orthodox Church

We are docked right in the downtown area of the city and I got off and walked a couple of blocks to the Hakodate Train Station.  Along the way I passed the street leading to the seafood market.  This place has a thriving fishing industry and is known for its seafood.   There was a chain link fence with lots of scallop shells hanging from it.  When I looked closer I saw that the shells had couples' names written on the shells - a kind of Japanese version of attaching locks to bridges like I've seen in Italy to symbolize eternal love. I had been told that at the station I could find an ATM to get some Japanese Yen.  So far I hadn’t needed any but today I did in order to ride the tram that goes around the city.  The train station was bustling; this area gets a lot of Japanese tourists, especially this time of year because it’s cherry blossom season.  (I didn’t see any.)  I asked someone in the information booth where I might find an ATM.  She pointed to one which turned out to only work with Japanese bank cards.  A clerk in the convenience store next to it spotted my dilemma and came to my rescue.  She directed me to a different one which worked with anything.  I felt a real sense of accomplishment when the machine spit out some cash and my card.  This was only the third time I’ve ever used it.

The Japanese version of the Lovers' Bridge in Verona

The market

A big tank full of nice looking crabs

Armed with some Yen I headed out of the station and across the street to a tram stop.  It came quickly, I boarded and got my ticket.  The tram was crowded, but thankfully someone got off at the next stop and I got a seat.  It was then that I realized I was going in the wrong direction.  Here in Japan they drive on the left (wrong) side of the road and the trams go that way too. There was a nice Japanese man sitting next to me and I asked if I was indeed headed the wrong way.  He spoke some English, but it turns out he was a tourist from Tokyo.  He had to ask someone next to him to confirm I was going someplace I didn’t want to go.  Next I had to push my way through the crowd to get to the front of the tram and be ready to get off at the next stop. When I tried to pay my fare of 210¥  I ran into my next problem.  What I got from the ATM was a 10,000¥  note, the smallest amount it would give me, or at least that I could figure out from the instructions on the machine.  The driver had to scramble around to get change.  Meanwhile I was holding up the tram and I was busy bowing and saying “so sorry” many times.  The Japanese are very nice people and no one looked at me with daggers in their eyes.  Whew!

I crossed over the tracks to get to the other side and a tram came shortly.  I boarded, sat down and across from me were three of my fellow travelers, all going to where I wanted to go.  I have no idea where they were coming from or if they, like me, went the wrong way at first.  We all made it to the correct stop for the Red Brick warehouse district and I handed over a fistful of coins.  The driver took what he needed and so ended my first tram experience.  When the four of us got off, a helpful Japanese man came over and pointed us in the right direction.  I stopped to take a photo and he came back and pointed something interesting to me.  At the intersection there was a yellow mini-tower.  He told me that it used to be a place where a traffic conductor stood to stop traffic when a tram was passing through the intersection.  Evidently there were towers at every major intersection but now of course they have been replaced by traffic lights. All of the yellow towers have been torn down except this one.  Somehow I found that fascinating that I was seeing the last of its kind.

The yellow thing is the traffic conductor's stand

We walked to the warehouses and I went through the stores inside.  They sold a variety of souvenir things, none of which attracted me.  The only thing that did catch my interest was the outlet for a famous Japanese chocolate company.  I’d heard this area was famous for its chocolate so I had to buy some.  After all, back in the US I have never seen Matcha green tea chocolate.  I don’t know how it will taste, but I had to get some.  That was the extent of my purchases.

I liked this old mailbox that has seen better days

The Red Brick Warehouses

After looking around I headed back to the right tram line and as a seasoned rider I boarded, got my ticket and got off at the right stop after paying my fare with coins left over from my first trip.  I walked back through  the market and came back to the ship.  As I walked through I passed this fast food place and looked at the menu.  I wasn't really tempted by the specials on the right side.  Maybe next time.

Jumbo or super-jumbo beef tongue skewers anyone?

Now we’ve just sailed, so bye-bye Hakodate.  It was a nice day even though I accomplished nothing of consequence.  Tomorrow we will stop at our last port in Japan and then we’ll be sailing east toward Alaska.