Hakodate

Ooaj Travel Guide, tourism, hotel reservation, residence, plane, cheap pension for you holidays in hakodate

Free Travel guide Ooaj.com A free travel guide for holidays. Hotels in hakodate, Bed and Breakfast!

Hakodate (??) is a large city in southern Hokkaido, Japan.

	hakodate Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By plane 2.2 By train 2.3 By boat 3 Get around 4 See 5 Do 6 Buy 7 Eat 8 Drink 9 Sleep 10 Get out 11 External links

Understand

Rebels in the north The Republic of Ezo (蝦夷共和国 Ezo Ky?wakoku) was a short-lived breakaway state of Japan with its capital at Hakodate. After the defeat of the forces of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the Boshin War (1868-1869), a part of the Shogun's navy led by Admiral Enomoto Takeaki fled to the northern island of Ezo (now known as Hokkaido). On 25 December 1868, the Ezo Republic declared its independence, and elected Enomoto as its president. However, Imperial forces soon consolidated their hold on mainland Japan, and in May 1869 dispatched a fleet to Ezo. With no prospect of victory, Enomoto decided to destroy his arms, and on 18 May 1869, the Republic surrendered without a fight and accepted the Meiji Emperor's rule. Enomoto was sentenced to a brief prison sentence, but was freed in 1872 and accepted a post as a government official in the newly renamed Hokkaido Land Agency.

Hakodate is the largest city in southern Hokkaido. One of the first cities in Japan to be opened to trade, as Yokohama and Kobe there are some signs of foreign influence. Hakodate was also the capital of the short-lived Republic of Ezo (see box) in the aftermath of the Meiji Restoration.

Get in

By plane

Hakodate Airport (???? Hakodate k?k?, HKD) is 20 minutes by bus (¥300) from the train station.

Both JAL and ANA offer nonstop service to Hakodate from Tokyo Haneda Airport and Osaka Itami Airport. JAL offers air connections to the rest of Hokkaido, while ANA also offers nonstop service from the new Chubu International Airport in Nagoya.

Sapporo's busier Chitose Airport, 2-3 hours to the north by train, also offers a fairly convenient alternative.

By train

Currently, the fastest way to reach Hakodate by train from Tokyo is by a combination of Shinkansen and Limited Express trains, transferring between the two at Hachinohe station. The one-way trip lasts about 6 hours and costs almost ¥19,000. If you have a 7-Day Japan Rail Pass, you will save about ¥9,000 off of the total cost if you travel round-trip using this method.

The Shinkansen is inching slowly towards Hakodate, but still has a fair ways to go and is unlikely to reach the city before 2020.

A popular way to reach Hakodate is by overnight sleeper train. Two Hokutosei (???) sleeper trains depart daily from Ueno Station in Tokyo. The ride to Hachinohe is between 12 and 14 hours in duration. The Cassiopeia (?????) sleeper train also runs from Ueno to Hakodate a few times a week, but its cabins are more expensive than the Hokutosei. All three of these trains eventually continue to Sapporo.

From Osaka and Kyoto, the Nihonkai (???) #1 makes daily runs to Hakodate via the northern Honshu coast, taking almost 18 hours to make the one-way trip. Starting in March of 2006, this train will terminate at Aomori instead, but you will still be able to connect to a Limited Express train at Aomori for the final run to Hakodate.

By boat

Hakodate is a major port. Major operator Higashi-Nihon Ferry 1 (http://www.higashinihon-ferry.co.jp/) offers frequent services to Aomori (3:40, ¥1850) and less frequent services to Oma (1:40, ¥1170) on the remote Shimokita Peninsula. The main ferry terminal is 4 km from the center and reachable on buses 1 and 19.

Get around

Hakodate has a useful two-line tram network connected to the train station.

See

• Mount Hakodate (??? Hakodateyama, 334m). Offers spectacular views of the city of Hakodate in clear weather and offers, according to locals, one of the Three Best Night Views of not merely Japan but the entire world (the other claimants being Naples and Hong Kong). A ropeway 2 (http://www.334.co.jp/) will take you up for a steep ¥640/1160 one-way/return, buses are cheaper but more boring.

• Fort Goryokaku (???). Completed in 1864, this was Japan's first Western-style fortress and finished just in time for it to be occupied by the Ezo Republic as their headquarters. It never saw any action though, as the rebels surrendered peacefully. Most of the fort was consequently demolished and this is now a large park and popular cherry-blossom spot in spring.

Do

Hakodate's biggest festival is the yearly Port Festival, known for its festive Squid Dance (Ika-odori).

Buy

You can buy fresh seafood in the morning market.

Eat

Hakodate's signature fish is squid and its signature dish is Hakodate shio r?men, a version of the ubiquitous noodle dish prepared with — you guessed it — squid stock instead of the usual pork. Nearby Mori-machi is also reputed to have Japan's finest IkaMeshi, which is essentially rice-stuffed squid.

Drink

There are two main drinking districts in Hakodate, Daimon, which is close to the station, and Goryokaku, in particular Hon-Cho. Foreigners seem to be more welcome in the Goryokaku area.

• Bagus. A surfer-style bar open 'til morning.
• Bar Big Job (behind Hokuyo-Ginko bank). An English-style standing room only bar.
• Eiley's. An Irish pub.

Sleep

Get out

• Lake Onuma, half an hour to the north by express train, offers a pleasant quick gateway.
• Matsumae, an hour drive from Hakodate along the coast, has the only castle in Hokkaido, which is in Matsumae park, famed in southern Hokkaido (Minami Hokkaido) for excellent cherry blossom viewing in early April.
• Esan, known for its Tsutsuji (Azalea) festival in June, is about a 45 minute car ride from Hakodate, also mostly along the coast, but in the direction opposite of Matsumae.

External links

• Hakodate City (http://www.city.hakodate.hokkaido.jp/kikaku/english/)

Biggest country to travel: Biggest cities to travel: Islands in the top travel 40: World Travel guide Random travel link: Germany Bangladesh Pakistan Japan Lagos in Nigeria Moscow in Russia Tehran in Iran Jakarta in Indonesia Cyclades Australia Bali Zanzibar Kauai Cuba Samoa Cape_Verde Nepal Denmark Marseille Swansea Provence alpes cote d azur Thailand Travel Isle of Man

• Url Rewriting, optimisation, referencement professionnel: Atuvu Referencement
• Cours 2 langues, cours d'anglais tous niveaux Cours 2 Langues
• Photographe aix en provence Daniel Weiss
• Ooaj Travel Guide Home Page