2nd Day in Hakodate

I need to get back to posting about my week long summer vacation in Hokkaido. Sorry, that this has taken me so long. I will pick up where I left off, in Hakodate. This was my second and final day in this city.

Today, I did make the early start that I had wanted. First stop Cape Tachimachi. This was not a place I had planned to visit, but it was so close to my hostel and I kept seeing signs for it, so I decided to check it out. After a bit of a hike, I was not disappointed. The cape provided a lovely view of the ocean and the town of Hakodate. There were even squid on the fence. They really love the squidThere were lots of Japanese tourists there, also taking in the beauty of Gods' creation. It is times like this that evidence of a loving, Creator God is so strong to me. After being mesmerized by the view, it was time to get back to the hostel, get my bag and see everything I had missed the day before.

This is a map of Hakodate; it is shaped like an hour glass. The picture was taken standing at the red arrow at the bottom. I had been to the top part the day before. And before the day was over I would make it all the way over on the right off of this map. I really saw ALL of Hakodate. FYI this map is not facing north. North is on the right.

I wanted to check out the Asa-ichi (morning market). I had read it was quite a sight with all of the vendors selling the fish, squid and crab they had caught the night before. It really was a sight to behold. Here are a few pics from my time walking around there.

This man "caught" a squid. It wasn't really that difficult considering the tank.
The tank where the man was "fishing".

Famous Hokkaido crabs destined for someone's dinner table.

Sea urchins

Plastic food at a restaurant. It all looks so good. How does one decide? They were giving samples of some of the crab. I had heard that I had to try it. And I really wanted someone to offer me a sample, but no one did and I was too afraid to ask for one. But a nice vendor did talk to me for a bit in English, and he recommended a restaurant where I should eat.

A big boat and me over by the port.

I spent some time wandering around looking at churches. There were so many churches in Hakodate I couldn't believe it. Here is one of the many.

A view looking down at the port from the top of one of the many hills in this town.

I also wanted to try to find the onsen that the lady had recommended to me the day before. It turns out it was quite a long streetcar ride to the onsen. I rode the streetcar and got off where I thought the onsen was. Turns out I got off one stop too late, so I had to get back on and back track, good thing I had a day pass.

Soaking my feet in between looking for the real onsen. But I ended up having to ask a few people to point me in the right direction. From what little I understood, I think there were many bath houses in the area that all get there water from the same spring. Here is a lamp post from the area. The area was called Yu no kawa. Yu means bath and kawa is river. So this is bath river. I finally found an old run down looking place that had a public bath house. The lady working there spoke a little English and she warned me that the water was very hot. But that it was cooler in the outside bath. I thanked her for her help and went in. It was really small and really crowded. I had never seen such a small, crowded bath house, but it was nice. The water was definitely full of calcium, because there were calcium deposits all over everything. It was kind of cool. The water was definitely hot. There weren't any women sitting in the inside bath. It was too hot. But the outdoor bath was full. I enjoyed it.

After my bath, I wandered around the area and ended up finding a beach. I went and sat on the sand and enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing and the seagulls flying over head. I also saw a super cute Japanese family playing in the waves. The mom was so funny. She was just like a little kid jumping and playing in the waves. I loved watching them.

After getting back to the city, I was hungry and ready for dinner. I decided to try to find the restaurant that had been recommended to me by the nice man at the morning market. The restaurant was really close to the train station and easy to find. I walked up and looked at the plastic food models, and decided to check it out. This is the restaurant where I ate. It is called Kahee Seafood Restaurant. I sat down, but the whole menu was in Japanese without any pictures. So I had to take the server outside and point at the plastic food to get what I wanted. I chose an assortment of many different types of seafood. It also came with miso soup and Japanese green tea. Yes, that is a crab leg sticking out of my miso soup. It was delish. The staff was super nice to me and tried to talk to me, and on my way out, my server gave me a calender with the night view of Hakodate on it. It is a beautiful picture.

With the sun going down, it was time for me to check out this night view for myself. There are two ways to get to the top of Hakodate Mountain. One is the slightly pricey rope way, and the other is the cheaper bus. I chose the bus. I must say that when I got to the top I was quite surprised to see how many people were up there. The place was packed. And everyone was poised to take pictures of the view. It reminded me so much of the top of Mt. Fuji just before sunrise, with all of the Japanese people ready with their cameras to capture the first rays of the sun coming over the horizon.

Anyway, I had to fight to get to the front of the crowd to get a picture. I kept hoping that the people at the front would take their picture and get out of the way, so people behind them could get a picture too. But they just wanted to stand and stare at the view. I can't really blame them; it was beautiful. From the top, we could also see the squid boats out in the ocean with their lights on to attract the squid. It was quite a sight.

I didn't stay up there too long, because it was chilly and too crowded. I decided to go back down and take a few pics of the harbor area. I also stopped to soak my feet in the foot bath. While I was sitting there two Japanese ladies came up and sat next to me. When the put their feet in, one of them said "Awesome". I turned and smiled and the other one said "Sorry". It turns out that the first lady didn't really speak much English, but the second lady had been to university in the States. We had a nice conversation partly in Japanese and English. I mentioned that I was taking the bus back to Sapporo, but it wasn't for a few hours. They asked me what I was going to do, I said just wander around. Then, I think, they asked me to get a drink with them. I think that is what they asked; I'm not 100% sure. But I declined; it would have been fun, but the funds were getting low.

I did go and take a few more pictures of the city at night. It was really pretty. Then I got on the night bus for Sapporo and fell asleep. Goodbye Hakodate!