May 28, 2010 - Hakodate and the Black Ships

Not many of the townspeople of Hakodate, witnessing the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in the harbour on March 17th 1854, will have suspected that the arrival was part of a series of events that would lead that same harbour to be the scene of the last battle of the Boshin War, the Japanese Civil War, that led to the restoration of the Emperor to political power. Not that there were many people left in town to witness the historic event, because the Matsumae clan, Daimyos of the area, had taken great precaution. Women and children were...

Nov 19, 2008 - Hakodate

It was time to leave Osaka and move on to Hakodate. The train trip was not that interesting – pretty much the only thing to do is drink beer and eat bento boxes (fine by me!) and that is what happened. At around 8pm we arrived in Hakodate, in a blizzard (by our standards) which was completely unexpected. Searching for our hotel took a relatively long time because unbeknown to us, it was one of the only Toyoko inns not to have “Tokoyo inn” written on the top, but the Japanese characters for it. We eventually found it however and made...

Sep 29, 2008 - The Land of the Rising Sun

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” JAMES MICHENER I took my first steps on Asian soil yesterday and I apologize to those of you out there who have been this way before…I just want to record my first impressions of Japan. I reserve the right to change some of these views as we spend the next four days in this delightful nation. Japan is clean and neat - the people all appear delighted to see us – they love to show off their country – there is no litter on the...

Jan 2, 2008 - Hakodate

Vandaag om 7 uur met de trein naar Hakodate vertrokken. De treinreis duurde een aantal uur en heb genoten van het uitzicht. Ondanks alle sneeuw zag het er nog steeds erg indrukwekkend uit. Veel mooie bergen en wat oude vulkanen gezien. In Hakodate aangekomen de taxi genomen naar het hotel en daar de hotspring ingedoken. Had het hotel geboekt omdat er een hotspring bij zou zitten. Ik verwachte dus een natuurlijke bron buiten in de sneeuw maar de "onsen" zoals Japanners dat noemen is regelmatig een zwembadachtig iets op de bovenste verdieping...

May 15, 2006 - Which kid would you steal?

Hakodate is one of the main entry points into Hokkaido. One can reach this lovely tourist trap through the Sendai Tunnel, the longest underwater tunnel in the world. Hakodate is renowned for being both a port town and a landscape of Western-style buildings. Perhaps most notably, the view from Mt. Hakodate of the surrounding city at night is supposedly one of the Best Night Views in Japan. Whatever that means. After a very strange evening in the Nice Day Inn (we got our money`s worth through endless solicitations of local information and by...