Arriving at Hakodate, Hokkaido.

Located at the southern tip of Hokkaido, Hakodate is a port city that was one of the first points of direct contact with the Western civilization in Meiji Japan when Amercian warships sailed there in 1854. This Western influence is evident today in the historical designs and architecture especially in the Western Area to this day. These cityscapes and the night view from the top of Mt. Hakodate, fresh and abundant seafood and hot spas are what attracts about 5 million visitors annually to Hakodate. Temperature for December is expected to hover around -1.9 degrees celcius.

On arrival from Singapore, we will take a domestic JAL flight from Osaka Kansai Airport to Hakodate Airport. On arrival at Hakodate airport at 1.30pm, we will take a 20 minutes shuttle bus service (300Y(SGD3.80) per pax) by the Hakodate Teisan Bus company from the airport to JR Hakodate Train Station. The train station houses the tourist information centre(Opening hrs: 9am - 7pm) which will be our first stop as we get information and maps and orientate ourselves. We will also see if we can make advance purchase of train tickets ( heard it is priced at 6500Y(SGD83) for a one way trip per pax ) to our next destination Noboribetsu.

Above: (Blue) Express Train to Noboribetsu

Hakodate's classic trams

We will take a leisurely 15 minutes walk from the station to our hotel - Hotel Royal Hakodate. We will take a short breather after checking in and most probably leave for Mt Hakodate at 4.30pm. The plan is to go up to Mt Hakodate to catch a bird eye view of the city which will make some pretty good snapshots. Hakodate is supposedly one of the world three major ' million $ night view' in the world besides Naples and Hong Kong .

We will walk to Hakodate Tram Station which is 10 minutes walk away. There we will take a tram down to Jyuji-Gai Tram Station and then alight there to walk to the Mt Hakodate Ropeway Station, all in all taking 20minutes. There, we will be taking some shots while waiting for the ropeway gondola to bring us up to the peak in 3 minutes. There is a gondola ride every 10 minutes. Return trip costs 1160Y per pax(SGD 14.80). There are shops and restaurants at the peak but we will be there more for the view. We will probably shop and look see look see. The restaurants have a good view there but we think that that the food and pricing is not to our liking though. We could get a better meal elsewhere in the city. Would however be good for those who want a romantic candlelight dinner with a beautiful view. We will probably linger till 7pm to catch the view as it merges from daylight to night.

Then it's down the ropeway and a walk back through the Jyuji-Gai tram station, down to the Red Brick Waterfront warehouse (Aka Renga Soukogun) above, where Gayle wants to try their local beer at the beer hall there. There are a few eateries,cafes and a shopping street there . We plan to see what's good to eat there and shop. There is also a shop we plan to drop by a shop that specializes in Christmas gifts and souvenirs all year round. After we gotten a full belly and some buys, we will be either walk back to the tram station and take a tram to Hakodate station and make our way back to our hotel or if we are too lazy and tired, we will splurge on a cab back to

Hokkaido Port in the evening

the hotel to take a good rest as we plan to wake up early for the 6am morning market to grab some fresh salmon sasimi and sea urchin for breakfast! More on our next posting!

Hakodate's morning seafood market ! Yummy !