hakodate day 2

The next morning, we awoke to what seemed to be a clear day, though that wouldn't last very long...breakfast was at the Asaichi (morning market) at a shop called Yosakoi.

Choose three toppings for your donburi and with it comes some ika somen (thinly sliced squid), some pickles, ika shiokara (fermented squid) and miso soup.

I chose crab, amaebi (northern shrimp), and salmon, while Satoshi chose ikura (salmon roe), scallops and maguro (tuna).

We agreed this was WAY better than our dinner the night before.

After breakfast, we went to the Goryokaku area.

Goryokaku literally means 5-sided fort. This area was built in 1864 and built in this shape to protect against attacks on the Magistrate office.

The tower was built in 1964 and renovated in 2006. It looks out over the fort area and city.

Here is what the area is supposed to look like.

And, around the perimeter are 1600 cherry trees, you can imagine how beautiful it must be all pink! Too bad we would miss their cherry blossom season (which is in May).

Satoshi was interested in all the history behind this area, so he took his time looking at the exhibits.

While I waited for him, I had some coffee and this delicious black sesame gelato from Milkissimo.

We then went to check out the Magistrate's office located in the middle of the park which was re-opened in 2010.

The site is approximately 1000 square meters (about 10,000 square feet) and involved the work of "miya-daiku" (carpenters who are trained to do work on shrines and temples) from around Japan.

Lunch was at a tiny cafe called Peaberry on the perimeter of park.

I ordered their beef stew topped with bread. Usually you find something like this topped with puff pastry.

The stew was demi-glace based. I'm glad they used bread and not puff pastry because it was fun dipping it into the stew.

Satoshi went with their homemade pizza.

The crust was thin and there was lots of veggies and sausage on it.

I'm glad we found this place, it was nice to get out of the snow for a bit and a nice way to warm up.

We then went to find Gekko-kamen (Moonlight Mask), a Japanese superhero from the 60's. Its creator was from Hakodate, so there is a statue in a park in the Matsukaze-cho area.

After going back to the hotel to freshen up, we headed to the Motomachi area. In this area, there are many Western style churches, from many different religions like this Catholic church.

The city reminded me of Kobe, with its hilly landscape, though Hakodate was a bit more steep.

Alongside the streets, you could see these things emitting steam, it is a heating system so that the roads don't freeze over.

I think by having these heating systems, they save on having someone come and shovel the roads.

Dinner was at Hakodate Beer Hall, which was similar to Otaru Beer.

I was surprised to see soft shell crab salad on their menu, actually I haven't seen this anywhere I've been in Japan. Besides the salad, we also had this sushi (pictured above), some scallops in a ankake (thick) sauce and spicy shrimp.

Their beer, food and service was good.

Since the weather looked like it was going to hold up, we checked out the lookout from Mt Hakodate.

We were glad we did because it was clear.

I shot a few videos here and here. I also forgot to add a link to the short video I shot of the trams. Check them out if you wish.

Another long day, but we were happy we got to see and eat a lot.

Yosakoi
10-9 Wakamatsu-cho
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Phone: 0138.23.3751
Hours: 5:00-14:00

Milkissimo
43-9 Goryokaku-cho Goryokaku Tower 2F
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Phone: 0138.30.3369

Peaberry
27-8 Goryokaku-cho
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Phone: 0138.54.0920
Closed Mondays

Hakodate Beer Hall
14-12 Suehiro-cho Hakodate History Plaza
Hakodate, Hokkaido
Phone: 0138.27.1010