International port
Back in the south of Hokkaido Island is a fairly big city named Hakodate. It has played a fairly significant role during the history of Hokkaido and the Japanese presence on the island. Traditionally Japan did not care too much about the far north country of Hokkaido basically thinking it was more or less a wasteland. This all changed when the Russians starting expanding in the area and kept looking for place where they could increase their huge empire. When the Russian started to take a closer look around the Hokkaido area the Japanese leadership down at the main Honshu Island started to get worried about foreign expansion so close to their home territory. Hence a two of the warlords from northern Honshu were order to send up some of their samurais to take control of Ezo which were the present name of Hokkaido - and they both send 500 samurais north. One of them decided to use Hakodate as the base on Hokkaido Island. This was the first time Hakodate really made its mark on Hokkaido history.
When Perry arrived on his gunboats in Edo bay - present day Tokyo - in 1853 and 1854 he forced the Japanese to open ports to trade and provision for foreign ships. One of the ports which were open for foreigner was Hakodate. This is why the city is not really a typically Japanese city but it’s got a lot of old western influence from the days as an international port. Hence around the town are lots of old western style buildings. Back from the days when Hakodate was the main port in northern Japan the western countries established their consulates in the city hence walking around you’ll pass by the old English and Russian consulates.
On the top of one of the hills in the city you will find a huge selection of different churches and temples. The temples are sort of common in Japan but on this hill are a Lutheran, Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian Church is actually famous in all of Japan. The bell of the church was such a strange sound in Japan back when it was first used back in the late 19th century. Hence the locals took notice and today the current version of the bell has actually been noted down as one of the official 100 sounds of Japan. In addition to the churches is a small graveyard for foreigners who died in Japan there are a few different people buried there - both from the high end of the life like the Danish consul in Hakodate but there are also ordinary sailors buried in the cemetery.
The city is not solely dominated by western style buildings there are also a good number of shrines spread out across the city including several shrines in connection with different cemeteries.
Towering high above the city is a small mountain which can be reached by foot, car or a ropeway. I went for the easy way - and went on the ropeway. From the top of the mountain are some great view of Hakodate and you can see how the city is kind of isolated way out on a tiny island only connected with the mainland by a small strip of land. You can look down at the harbor and the many churches in the city but from the mountain most of the shrines are not visible.
The pace of the city seems really laid back place where everything comes to a halt after about 5.30 in the afternoon. Hence returning from the ropeway there really wasn’t a lot going on in the city.
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