Hakodate, Japan>, Jul 05, 2009
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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.