Day 6 (Part 1): Goryokaku

Day 5 can be accessed here.

Day 6 (Part 2): From Hakodate to Sendai can be accessed here.

Day 7 will be coming up soon!

Since there wasn't any nice night view shots of Hakodate from the hotel in my previous post, am including this shot taken from my room on the eighth floor. The area was not as brightly lit and there was almost no one as this was taken around 1 am after I came back from the bar. The row of lights in the far distance marked the boundary between land and sea while the other hotel (Route Inn) can be seen in the far right. The station is located to the middle left with the JR logo clearly visible even from my room.

Hakodate Morning Market 函館朝市

The Hakodate Morning Market (better known as the Hakodate Asaichi) is just a stone's throw away from the station spanning four city blocks. As always, my interest was not in shopping for fresh seafood catch but actually eating some. For that you would need to seek out the middle alley in between the four blocks known as Yokocho Shijo (横丁市場) where there are a number of yummy donburi restaurants!

The Yokocho Shijo is clearly marked here

A crab specialist shop... the prices were pretty specialist too ^^;

Foreboding skies... but was actually lucky that it rained earlier in the morning before I set out to the market

The original plan was to eat at Uni Murakami (うに むらかみ, address: 北海道函館市大手町22-1) but unfortunately they were only open after 9 am and I was on a pretty tight schedule with Goryokaku next on the plan. Furthermore, this may sound like a cardinal sin to a lot of seafood lovers headed to Japan, I don't really like uni that much. So decided to head to an equally delicious alternative, Kikuyo Shokudou (きくよ食堂 本店, address: 北海道函館市若松町11-15), with its rich history stretching back to Showa 31st year (1956). This was a fact proudly shared by the boss when he asked me how was the food and it was really good. Diners were also given yellow food mats which taught you the Hakodate dialect, was the first thing that caught my eye when I sat down.

Look for the bright yellow sign sticking out from its comparatively more dreary competitors

Really liked the two drawings in the top middle

It's always fun to watch squids swimming in the water

I forgot what fish I ordered ^^: but the squid sashimi was really good. Never really liked squid as I always found it too rubbery but this was the right punyu punyu feel to it ^^
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Goryokaku 五稜郭

After a most filling breakfast with the boss meticulously explaining to me the different shops at the morning market, it was time to head to Goryokaku. Had to take a 20 minutes long streetcar ride from the station to the stop near the park but Hakodate's streetcars were considerably less bumpy than Sapporo's so didn't feel as carsick.

Spotted a super cute Hello Kitty merchandise showcase along the way!

Another Pierrot branch... was super tempted to head in for a quick burger but really no time ):

Goryokaku is a massive star shaped Western style citadel which was built in the last years of the Edo Period for the defense of Hakodate against the imperialist threat posed by the Western powers. A few years later, the fort became the site of a civil war between an army of the shogunate and the superior troops of the newly established Meiji government. After the fort had lost its military importance, it was eventually turned into a public park in the 1910s.

One of the three bridges allowing access to the fort, which was enfiladed by two slanting embankments on both sides

As can be seen in this layout diagram ^^

Plaque commemorating the chief architect of Goryokaku, Takeda Ayasaburo. Apparently his face is still bronze because people would rub it for good luck or something like that.

Must have been a really pretty sight with cherry blossom trees lining the embankment

The former magistrate's office (箱館奉行所) where officers of the old Shogunate used to administer Hokkaido from. The original building was demolished after the fall of the shogunate in 1871, but the city meticulously reconstructed this part of the complex and opened it to the public in 2010.

The 107 metres tall Goryokaku tower was constructed in 2006 and is a really popular destination particularly during the sakura blooming period. But as it was too early for sakuras to bloom when I was there, the asking price of 840 yen (about 11 SGD) was too expensive for me to justify heading up to the observatory floor. But I must say they put quite a lot of effort in displaying the relics from the Boshin war and the Shogunate period on the free atrium floor which s a huge plus for me.

Took a break at the park souvenir shop on my way out to the tower... loved the warm light and wooden finishing

Ah yes, looks a bit like Changi airport tower hor.

Even Perry's black ships were featured at the rather extensive exhibit on the atrium floor

Taken from the interwebz, the reason why you should go up the tower during the sakura blooming period

Komaba Streetcar Garage 駒場車庫

As I managed to save some time from not going up to the observatory (should have went for the burger at Pierrot), decided to do a little side trip which I researched earlier while sipping coffee in the tower. The railway companies in Japan increasingly had anime girl mascots known as tetsudou musume or railway girls, and for Hakodate, it was Matsukaze Karen (松風かれん) as the representative. As both her and the Hakodate stamp were featured in the 2nd National Railway Girls Tour (全国鉄道むすめ巡り2nd) in 2013, I decided to go check out the related limited edition goods only available at their head office. Just as well, as the Komaba streetcar garage just nearby was definitely worth a visit if you like train tracks and carriages (which I incidentally do for both!~). 

The most modern streetcar I had taken so far haha, so it's not necessarily all vintage designs ^^

Loved the different streetcar designs that located on the various tracks

Matsukaze Karen's the girl in blue ^^

The chop and booklet for the tour... I CHOPPED BUT FORGOT TO TAKE THE BOOKLET WITH ME WHEN I LEFT T_T

For Day 6 (Part 2): From Hakodate to Sendai, click here.