We're in Hakodate
We've just arrived
I'm just in front of Hakodate train station
I'm just waiting for the tram
To go up Mount Hakodate
To see one of Japan's top 3 scenic night views
As well as the night view
We're also going to explore the Motomachi district
Then at the end
It's the best curry we've ever had in Japan
Possibly even better than Coco Curry
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We've come to Hakodate for just one night
On the way from Tokyo to Sapporo
As a stopover
To see a bit more of Japan
And to break up the 8 hour train journey
Hakodate's the end of the proper bullet train line
Then after that it's a normal train
From here to Sapporo
We're getting the tram from the station
To Suehirocho
Which is in the Motomachi area
For Mount Hakodate
It's only about a mile
Normally we would walk
But it's very snowy & cold
I've got my new snow boots on
You can use your Suica card
From Tokyo
To pay for the tram
Here instead of Suica they have Kitaca
Kita means north
Instead of the Suica penguin
There's a flying squirrel
That was just a short tram ride
Just about 5 minutes or so
It cost 210 yen
If you're going to be taking the tram a lot
You can get a day pass
But I think we're only going to be doing a couple of trips
And look: up there's where we're going
Mount Hakodate
Before we go up the mountain
We're just going to have a walk around this area
It's called the Motomachi area
And it's got some nice architecture
And some pretty sloping roads
To walk around
And explore
This is the Motomachi district
Around the base of Mount Hakodate
It's kind of strange to see so many churches
And western style buildings
This isn't what you see in the rest of Japan
Now I don't know much about Japanese history
But it was a closed country for a long time
And here in Hakodate
It was the first port to open up to foreign trade
Back in the 1800s
And that's why you can really see the Western and European influence
On the architecture
Here we are: Motoi Zaka Slope
Going up towards Mount Hakodate
It's not a real bird
I hope not, agh!
We're not going skiing!
It's the British Consulate
I like how they've stuck on "former"
British consulate
The Queen's Memory English souvenir shop
Victorian Rose tea room
Look how snowy it is!
This shop knows it's place!
It says: "The second most delicious ice cream melon bread in the world"
I wonder where the first most delicious one is
And also:
This might get messy
Don't enjoy this too much!
Look at that ice drift up there!
And is that a stalagmite or tite?
Wow!
These big snowdrifts!
It's really peaceful down here
Especially as we were in Tokyo just a couple of hours ago
This is completely different
In every way, pretty much!
Can you see between these two houses
There's a preview of what the night view's going to be like
From up the mountain
I think it's going to be really good
One of Japan's top 3 views!
I was thinking, as it's one of the top 3 views
Does that mean it's the third?
Because otherwise they'd say it's one of the top 2
I must say, the style of the buildings here
Is very different to the rest of Japan
It's a lot more European
But a lot of the buildings that you'd normally expect to be stone or wood
Have been painted
In just one colour
We saw one a bit like this
Down below
In the town
That was painted all green
Like the colour of green plastic soldiers
The whole thing, even the window frames and everything
All the same colour
It's actually about -5 degrees C during the daytime
And as it got dark
It dropped to about -10
It's even colder when you go up a mountain
Because Hakodate's surrounded by the sea
It does get colder than if you're inland
And very windy
Before we carry on
If you like my hedgehog scarf I'm wearing
It's my design
You can get it from cakeswithfaces.co.uk
Or Etsy
The links are in the description
Now back to Hakodate!
Look at all the crows
Japan always seems to have giant crows
*ship horn*
When the ship siren went off?
Here's the station for the ropeway
To go...
Up the mountain
Oh I look really red!
We've just got our tickets for the ropeway
You get them from a vending machine
For 2 of us, it was 2560 yen
For a round trip
Because I'm not walking down a mountain when it's this cold!
It's best to come around sunset
That's when it's supposed to be the most beautiful
I think when it's dark it'll look really good with all the lights on
They also said
If there's bad weather
It might stop running
So watch out for that
What makes this view special
Is the shape of the land
The city's on a kind of peninsula
With the mountain at the end
So it's kind of unusual
And you can really see the shape
With the sea on both sides
It certainly is an amazing view
And it's very cold & windy up here
It's a good idea for something to do when it's -3 degrees
Let's go up a mountain!
That's a good idea!
But look at the view
We've come round to where you can see both sides of the bay
For the perfect view
And look how many people there are up here!
It's like the bar at happy hour
Agh!
I can't see!
It's mandatory to have pretty lights if you're round here
To contribute to the night view
Round this side
There's a lot less people
It's not the perfect view of both sides of the bay
But it's a nicer experience
You can stand here without getting jostled by everybody
And it's still beautiful
I think during the day
It would be pretty
But I think it's a lot better at night
With all the lights on
It looks really magical
And because the lights are different colours
At this time of day, just after sunset
Before it's got really dark
You can still see the colours
Of everything else
And not just blackness and lights
In the gift shop we spotted Melon Kuma
Melon bear
The mascot of Yubari city in Hokkaido
He's a bear who ate too many melons
Instead of being cute & friendly like all the other mascots
He attacks them!
He's absolutely terrifying
Sorry if you have nightmares!
At the vending machines here
They do hot drinks
So we've got some hot chocolate to warm our hands up
So: the night view was amazing
It really was beautiful
The experience:
Really crowded!
There were so many people up there
I don't know if it's because it's the Sapporo Snow Festival at the moment
So lots of people are coming to Hokkaido
And doing the same thing we are
Stopping over here on the way
But there were too many people up there!
Everyone was jostling
To see the view
So you couldn't really get a good calm view
Enjoying the sights
As you'd really like to
But it was very beautiful
With all the lights on
And I'm glad we came up at this time of day
There's some pretty illuminations down here
This evening we went out for dinner at Masala Curris
A Japanese curry place
And it was really good
It was really quirkily done up
The owners had just put all their favourite stuff around the place
And it felt really relaxed
And it was just a really nice place to be
And the food was really delicious as well
You could pick the sort of curry you wanted
And the spice level, just like at Coco Curry
And what toppings you wanted
So you could really customise it
But the place had a lot more heart than going to a chain like Coco Curry
Phil said it was one of the best curries he's had!
Yes, I think it was one of the best curries I've ever had
Wow, that's saying something!
Not just Japanese style curry
But I think in general
It was just really well made
The flavour was really well balanced
It had a great level of spice
And really good texture
It was just an incredible curry
And I really regret ordering a medium
I should have gone for an extra large size
A lot of Japanese places
Like small bars & restaurants,
The owner just does them up how they want
And it gives it a real sense of style
And that was one of these places
It was run by just two people
A man cooking & a woman taking the orders
She was helping with the cooking as well
They made you your curry specially
They did, yes
They said they'd run out of the vegetable one
And I said, "Agh, I can't eat chicken"
And they said "Wait a minute"
And they said ok, we can make you a small one
That was really nice
That was really nice of them
So what did you have?
You had a vegetable curry...
And then as toppings I chose broccoli & asparagus
And some tofu as well
I had their standard curry
Which had ground up chicken in it
And it had onions & garlic & all the rest of the stuff as well
And on top of it I had a hash brown
Which sounds crazy
That does sound weird
But I'm not sure I ever want to eat a curry without a hash brown again!
And also on the table
Were little pickled onions
Which - I love pickled onions
Yeah, this is a place I could eat at a lot
It was really good
And then walking back,
It was just so quiet on the streets
All the snow was falling
And it was really beautiful
It was also really freezing cold
And windy
So all the snow was going in your face
But it was really beautiful
And the streets felt deserted
We looked back
And couldn't see anyone else's footprints
In the snow
And it was just nice to be here after being in Tokyo
Where it's all busy and crazy
And manic
To be somewhere like this
Is a real difference
It feels like we're in a deserted town
It's so quiet here!
The snow's covered our tracks from earlier
And there's no one else's footprints around
Just ours
And it is absolutely freezing
Outside
When you go outside
It feels like an onslaught
But tomorrow we're going to dress up properly
In all our thermals
It's the wind that's doing it today
It's cold, and when the wind blows
It's.... it's pretty painful
But
You get moments of beauty out there as well
Because it's empty
I've never been anywhere in Japan so quiet
Yeah, I mean I guess anyone with any sense
Who lives here
Isn't going out in the snow
Certainly not walking around in it
But there's very few cars on the road
There's not many people
The other people we've seen ar probably tourists
A few streets as we were walking down
There's just nobody there
I think this is something you miss out on
If you only go to major tourist attractions
If you wander away from the crowds
And the tour groups
And just go and walk around in the backstreets
You can get more of a feel for what Japan's really like
It might not sound like much
But just walking through these quiet snowy backstreets
Was actually a really great experience
Next time
We'll be seeing more of Hakodate
At the morning market
Trying fresh Hokkaido seafood
And the most expensive fruit
I've ever seen
Then we're moving on to Sapporo
For the snow festival
I'll see you on Thursday