It is hard to believe this is day 100 of this cruise. It doesn’t seem like we’ve been on this ship for that many days – and we are not looking forward to the 111 day when we disembark. But that’s still 11 days away, so moving on with today!!!
It was such fun to wake up to snow topped mountains outside our window as we docked in Hakodate, Japan. It is a city on the island of Hakodate, the most northern of the Japanese main islands. It was in the 30s and the high was predicted to be 42 degrees. So, out came the gloves, hats, big coats, etc. (We used them our first day in Yokohama, but this was much colder!)
This island is different from the other three major islands of Japan. Only 5 million people live on the island, with most of them in the city of Hakadate (300,000) and the capital city, Sapporo.
Also, an indigenous people live here called Ainu. Long ago they were hunters, fishermen, and farmers. They were nomadic with their own language, traditions, and customs. Their kimonos were made from tree bark that were made into a tapa like cloth with geometric shapes on it. They also had their own music. They now live like modern day Japanese, but their traditions are kept alive in festivals and museums.
Our tour began at 8:30 a.m.,and we were to see the highlights of Hakodate in half a day. We started with the well known morning market which is mainly a fish market. Their main fish is squid, and we saw it in many forms. You could fish one out of a tank of water and have them cook it for you and then eat it right there on a table. Since it was so soon after breakfast, no one was much interested! This city is sometimes referred to as “Squid City”, and elementary students learn how to do the “squid dance.” The people here also drink sake from a squid that has been shaped into a cup – and when they are through, they just eat their cup!
They also have three types of crabs – King, Queen, and Hairy. We saw all three – I have never seen such big crabs before. It was interesting to stroll around the different stalls – some selling fresh fish, others dried, with some vegetables and flowers in some of the back stalls. Surprisingly, it didn’t smelly fishy at all. At the end of the stalls, they sold ice cream, with their specialty being squid ink ice cream. It is a blackish color. One lady tried it and said it wasn’t really sweet, but didn’t taste like squid. We couldn’t bring ourselves to try it so early in the morning. While we were in the market, it began to snow outside – very exciting!
Back on the warm bus we made our way to our next stop which was the cable car to take us to the top of Mt. Hakodate. It held about 120 people (so it was rather large), and it only took 3 minutes to get from the bottom to the top. It was very smooth. We could overlook the city below us as well as some forest area. Mt. Hakodate was created about 1 million years ago by a volcano. It is 1,100 feet high with 12 peaks. There are 150 various birds at the top because this is a migratory stop for them. It is beautiful in the evening and is a popular place for couples to go at night (our guide told us this!)
The Sea of Japan on the left (where our ship was docked) and the Pacific on the right.
It was a wonderful panoramic view.
It was suggested by our guide that the one souvenir that we might want to get here are the purses the prisoners make because we wouldn’t be able to find them anywhere else. She also said they may have a shortage on them because they don’t have that many prisoners. (We later learned that it is a youth prison that makes these.) The young girls, especially, like these purses that have the word “prison” stamped on them. Doug found one that was really attractive (the “prison” stamp was on the inside) and bought one for me.
On the way to our third stop, our guide shared more about this island with us. You can find brown bear, red fox, and deer here. (We didn’t see any, but we were in the city.) They have four seasons including 5 months of winter and only 2 months of summer. In the winter it can get down to –43 degrees. It is a paradise for skiers and snow boarders. They have about 30 hot springs and resorts, and our guide told us that everyone goes naked in them, but if we went, not to worry because all people “have the same parts!” Because it is not as crowded on this island, they have enough land to grow their food so not only do they have enough, it is safer because of less chemicals. There is a tunnel that connects this island to Honshu which was built 20 years ago. It is longer than the Chunnel that connects France and England.
Our last stop was the Goryokaku Tower and fort area. We took an elevator to the top of the tower to get a good view of the fort area, which has now been made into a public park, and it is a popular destination when 1,600 cherry blossoms are in bloom. (We were two weeks too early to see them now.) The fort area was in the shape of a star, and dioramas around the tower floor told some of the history of the fort.
A model of the area (too big to get into a pic even from the top!) Moat still surrounds it.
Basically, it was created as a symbol of a new era and the place where the feudal system was abolished. The tower also had a transparent floor where you could look down to the ground from the top of the tower.
After the tour, we had a quick lunch on the ship and then took the shuttle to the Community Center. They had a few crafts on sale there, but not really what we wanted. Girls from IAI Girls’ High School designated this Holland America Day and were on the pier and at the Community Center to help us with translations, maps, etc. They were all in their uniforms and were very polite.
We found out that the City Museum of Northern People (Ainu) was only about a five minute walk away. We had heard about an instrument that was part of their culture and could be found in the gift shop at this museum. When we got there, the “gift shop” was a glass counter, mainly with books in Japanese. When we asked about this instrument, the woman behind the desk showed us one. (We had visions of perhaps hanging it on a wall in our home.) It was the size of a fork, had one string, and you pulled it at both ends while it was near your mouth to make a unique sound. Doug could actually make the sounds with it and was congratulated by a Japanese visitor at the museum. We decided to buy it since we had made a special trip, but it won’t be hanging in display on our walls!
Took the shuttle back to the ship just in time to catch an unexpected show put on by about twenty-five or thirty 6 year olds.
They were in costume and danced and sang for us. Their last dance was the “squid dance” in which they invited passengers up on stage to join in the fun. They were just adorable.
We sailed away from Hakodate while we were having dinner. It was sad to be leaving our last Japanese port. We really liked the places we visited here, and would like to return to see more of the country.
After dinner, we went to see the movie Red Cliff – an epic drama based on a 208 A.D. Chinese battle. It was 2 1/2 hours long. It had subtitles that were hard to read, but it was a good movie and we were glad we saw it.
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