Hakodate
Day 9 of Japan 2017 trip
Night view of Hakodate from Mount Hakodate
Today I was going to catch a train to Hakodate, Hokkaido. But I woke up a bit late unfortunately.
Hokkaido Bound
I had aimed to try and get to Aomori and probably get a stamp or buy something to do with Aomori. But considering the quite long train time ahead of me just to get to Hakodate, I had to cut things a little short.
Rushing to the station with my luggage, I had found an express train to Shin-Aomori that would allow me enough time to catch up with the Hayabusa train to Shin-Hakodate. Coincidentally this particular train, was the train that my friend Adrian was travelling up to Hakodate on. But alas back in Hirosaki I had a cool 15 minutes to catch the express train to Shin-Aomori. I wanted to get my JR pass stamped for today and get my Shinkansen tickets at the Hirosaki ticket office. With 15 minutes until the express train left I thought this would be no big deal. There were only 2 ticket counters and 5 people in front of me. I was naive.
All the old people were having casual conversations with the ticket staff and basically I had left it too late, those 15 minutes flew fast quickly. I had about 60 seconds to get to the platform so I angrily rushed out of the ticket office and barged through the gate and onto the express train that was just about to depart. I would have to deal with the tickets at Shin-Aomori instead.
At Shin-Aomori, I needed to have a reserved ticket so I had to quickly try and book tickets for the incoming Hayabusa train hoping it wasn't too late and that the seats were not sold out. Successfully this time I got my ticket and still had time to get a stamp of Shin-Aomori. The train arrived a mere 5 mins later.
After texting Adrian I met up with him at the front of the train. My ticket was for some seat towards the back, but I'd happily move if the ticket inspector told me to. There was no intermediate stops however for the 66 minute trip to Shin-Hakodate station so I was pretty confident no one was gonna claim any more seats.
Hakodate Liner. Shin-Hakodate to Hakodate express train
Welcome to Hokkaido
Shin-Hakodate station like many other high speed rail stations in Japan was situated away from the main centre of town, so it required us to take a separate express train (called the Hakodate Liner) just to get to the centre of the city. Unfortunately for Adrian it's not included in the cost of the ticket of the Shinkansen. It's a seperate train and fare. Another 1000 yen or so and another 30min ride. I didn't need to worry since I had my JR pass.
Welcome to Hokkaido!
Anyway, we got to the centre of Hakodate. Stepping foot on the snowy streets of Hokkaido for the first time. Though I would admit I think Hirosaki was probably snowier. We wanted to eat lunch at this stage as it was already about 1pm so we went to a chinese japanese restaurant called Houren Ramen. I had the Yakisoba which was very saucy but overall an average meal at a typical restaurant.
Yakisoba Noodles - Japanese/Chinese style
So much milk in Hokkaido that even the taxis are milk themed
Hakodate Tram
We took the tram down to our accomodation and dropped our bags off then walked off to go check out Mt Hakodate. At the bottom of the ropeway they advertised Hokkaido Soft serve ice cream that is famed for its extremely smooth and high fat content. There was bound to be a Cremia store at the top but I couldn't wait and I tried this non-cremia version of Hokkaido Soft serve. It was fantastic.
We took the ropeway up and of course we were immediately greeted with Cremia. Adrian had never had cremia actually and I was keen to show him what it was. For any who haven't tried it, it's simply one of the best experiences in your mouth. Haha. So creamy and fatty. It's incredibly satisfying to eat.
The top of Mt Hakodate is rated as one of the best night time views in Japan (and the world apparently) and there was certainly a large crowd of people. We had a bit of spare time to kill so we mostly just walked around the top and in and out of the tourist shop. The hordes of crowds still continued to pour in. Plently of Chinese tourists I note too. I had to use my trusty selfie stick to try and rise above the crowds for good shots and such. Plus it was freezing.
(Best viewed on desktop and in full screen mode)
Lucky Pierrot
In the evening we travelled back down the ropeway and headed off to Lucky Pierrot. Lucky Pierrot is Hakodate's own fast food restaurant with many chains throughout the city. They serve burgers, shakes, fries, plus Japanese foods like curry and croquettes.
Interior of Lucky Pierrot
We ordered a smorgasbord to try all of the offerings. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the burgers themselves. The curry was pretty ordinary and generic. The burgers though were satisfying enough.
Share this post
Email