Hokkaido is the northern large island of Japan and most people know of its capital city, Sapporo. But another city you should consider visiting is Hakodate. Hakodate is a port town on the southernmost side of Hokkaido situated on a peninsula jutting out into the ocean. Its a lovely setting along the rocky coast.
The town itself has numerous western style buildings from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s as Hakodate was one of the first ports to open to the outside world after Japan’s period of isolation. Thus, there were many diplomatic missions located there and the western influence is even evident in Hakodate’s “castle”, the Goryokaku. The Goryokaku isn’t like a typical Japanese castle, but is a five pointed fortress patterned after old forts in Europe. You can get a great view of the Goryokaku from the 350′ tower that stands above it.
Hakodate is also well known for its variety of seafood. While we were there, we visited the Hakodate Morning Market which featured dozens of fresh seafood stalls offering crab, squid, scallops, cuttlefish and octopus. To get the entire picture, click here for our video on Hakodate.