Day 2 in Hakodate

Day 2 in Hakodate, we plan to wake up early at 5plus for a visit to the morning fish market (starts at 6am in winter) for a good breakfast. For our stay in Japan, we have booked hotel stays without breakfast as the food is so good in Japan, it would be wasteful to spend money on continental breakfast in the hotel. We will walk the usual route from our hotel to JR Hakodate train station since the morning market or asa-ichi as it is commonly known is just a few blocks diagonally across the station.

The Morning Market (朝市 asa-ichi) comprises of 360 shops along a couple of bayfront buildings,spanning 4 city blocks where there are rows of vendors and some restaurants selling a variety of seafood. The most famous seafood there are the often cited crabs. We plan to have their common breakfast bowl – a donburi(rice bowl) topped with salmon sahimi, sea urchin(uni) slices and salmon roe(ikura). If we can pack it in, we may have a try at one crab(kani), considering how huge it is. The market is open from 6am in the winter to noon.

Hokadate's famous crabs!

Thereafter we will walk 5 minutes away from the market to the moored Seikan Strait ferryboat called the Mashu Maru Memorial Ship, which used to link Aomori in Honshu with Hokkaido. There is a restaurant and a coffee shop at the bow. We may get a hot drink there and enjoy the scenery around the port.

After that, we will head back to the JR Hakodate Train station to get our tickets to Noboribetsu if we were unable to get it the previous afternoon. We will then return to the Tourist Office – Kanko Annaijo which is located to the north of the JR Hakodate Station for any information which we may require. Good for us, the staff there can speak English. It is open from 9am – 7pm. To get there by tram, drop off at the Hakodate-eki-mae tram stop.

We will be planning to purchase a 1 day tram ticket pass which costs about ¥600(SGD$7.90) and is value for money . The tram day pass is also a discount card for certain tourist spots like the Ropeway to Mt Hakodate which is 10% discount wef from Dec 2007. These passes can be bought on the trams. One thing to note is that when getting on a tram, we have do so from the doors that will open up in the middle or back, and take a ticket from the ticket dispenser that we see as we enter the tram on both the right and left side.
We will take a tram and then alight at the Goryokaku-koen-mae tram stop and take a 10 minutes walk to visit the Goryokaku Tower which is a 107m tower that gives a good view of the city area, Hakodate mountain and even to Aomori, the northern most prefecture of Honshu Island. Admission fee to the top is ¥840 (SGD$10.90) per adult. It is open from 8am – 7pm.

(Above) Goryokaku Tower

To have some snacks, we will go to Kantaro , a ‘kaiten’ sushi restaurant , meaning the sushi goes round on a conveyor belt. It is said to be much cheaper than a ‘real’ sushi restaurant but almost as good. Pricing is from ¥100 or so for 2 pieces of sushi . Located opposite the Hakodate Central Library , and just north of Goryokaku Park, no more than a 10-minute walk from the Goryokaku tram stop. It is opened daily from 11am – 10pm. Alternatively, there is also Hokuhokutei which is a short walk from the Fort Goryokaku also. Lunch is served from 11 am to 3 pm while dinner is from 4pm to 10pm. This sushi restaurant, is a good value for lunch when all plates are ¥129(SGD$1.60). After that, we will walk over to the Goryokaku Pentagonal Fort(above) nearby, which has become a famous tourist spot. Built by the Tokugawa shogunate to guard attacks from the northern region, this fort became the battleground for the Battle of Goryokaku. Being Japan's first western-style fort, Goryokaku is characterized by its star-shaped pentagonal structure. Today, the fort is has become a park featuring Goryokaku Tower and the Hakodate City Museum Annex. It is a pity that we are there in winter for in the spring, the area is covered with cherry blossoms that bloom from 1,600 trees.

Sweet dessert from La Tachi
By now it would be lunchtime and I plan to take Gayle to a Japanese restaurant with French style cooking – La Tachi which I heard serves some fine food with Japanese flair. We will probably take a ¥1,000(SGD$13) taxi ride from Goryokaku to soothe aching legs. Lunch is served from 11.30am to 2.30pm and dinner is from 5.30pm to 8.30pm.

We will then return by tram to Hakodate Eki-mae stop and head for the police station opposite JR Hakodate Station, to be in time for the last run at 2pm of the Horse carriage tour of Hakodate(below).It would be a good respite to rest our legs while we take in 22 tourist sights along the tour which will take about 2 ½ hours. The first run starts at 11am followed by three more runs each hour with the last at 2pm.

After the tour ends, me being a car enthusiast, we will walk over to the nearby Classic Car Museum of Hakodate(Below) which is situated within a building complex on the Hakodate bay side. It traces the history of vehicles from a horse-drawn carriage made in 1750 to the automobiles of the 1950's, and also exhibits classic cars such as small-sized sports cars and a nostalgic T-Model Ford. The collection includes over 200 vehicles, and there are approximately 60 cars on constant display. Admission fee is ¥1,000(SGD$13) per adult.

If there’s time, we will take the Blue Moon Bay Hakodate Bay cruise. The 40 minute ride will be a relaxing way to end the day. It costs ¥1.600 ( SGD$21) and departs from the harbour near the Red Brick Waterfront warehouse (Aka Renga Soukogun). It comes with a complimentary soft drink. We will probably only be in time to catch the last cruise at 5pm. To take a tram there, drop at the Suehiro-cho tram stop.

By now, it would be dinner time and after some research of eateries in the Suehiro area where teh cruise docks, we have narrowed down to two possibilities. If we still gave a penchant for French food, we can head for Poisson, a chic French restaurant that has a 1930s feel, opened for dinner from 5pm.

Alternatively, if we crave for Japanese food, we could head for Tenya , a good traditional tempura restaurant. It costs ¥700(SGD$9.10) for a tendon - a bowl of rice with some tenpura on top or ¥2,000(SGD$26) for a tokujo tenpura teishoku featuring the best quality tempura with soup and rice. It is opened from 11.30am – 9pm(break from 3pm – 5pm ) except for Tuesday when it is closed. Those taking the tram can drop off at the Horai-Cho Tram Stop.

We will probably walk around the the Red Brick Waterfront warehouse (Aka Renga Soukogun) and grab some burgers for supper back at the hotel, from Hakodate’s burger chain – Lucky Pierrot. The place is easily recognizable because of its circus theme, which includes a big picture of a clown on the front of the restaurant. Burger prices start from ¥315(SGD$3.90) for a chicken burger.

Then it’s back to the hotel for a good night’s rest as we will be heading for our next destination - Noboribetsu the next day.