Hakodate from Above: Japan’s Famous Night View

Part I of my new Journey North East series. My parents and bro are in town and after enjoying some delicious Monjayaki in Tokyo, we kick off the tour by taking a bullet train straight north to Hakodate, in the southern part of Hokkaido – traversing a unique under-sea section along the way. We spend the day eating and exploring, and also enjoyed the famous night view from atop Mt Hakodate.

In the next videos, we’ll be exploring some lesser known areas in the Tohoku region. Subscribe and stay tuned!

Series playlist (updated as videos get posted):

Music from:
Epidemic Sounds

CAMERA
– Sony ZV-E10
LENSES
– Sony 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS
– Sigma 30mm F1.4
– Sony 11mm F1.8
– Sony 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS

EDITED with the FOSS video editor https://kdenlive.org/

December is upon us. And with it, the first gasps of a mild winter in Japan. With my parents and brother in town, we embark on a long trip north east. Through the sights and sounds… Rain and snow… Lights! Food… And culture.

Join us on this multi-part series. On an adventure that begins one evening in Asakusa Tokyo Alright, here we go. We are enjoying some Monjayaki. It is a Tokyo specialty. It’s this slimy dish. It looks… it really tastes a lot better than it looks. It is delicious. We are still in Tokyo for tonight.

But tomorrow, at the crack of dawn, we’ll be taking a train all the way down to Hokkaido. So we will be enjoying our Tokyo specialty food while we can. Delicious. Okay, so we are heading to Ueno Station now, where we’ll be taking the Shinkansen all the way up north.

So we bought some Ekiben, which are special train station Bento lunch boxes, which we will enjoy in the train. And so, beneath overcast skies in the metropolis, we set out on a five hour bullet train ride to the southern Hokkaido city of Hakodate.

We are now at.. somewhere around the northern tip of Honshu. And we will soon enter into a tunnel that leads underwater. And then that takes us over into Hokkaido Island. Okay, I believe we are in the Seikan Tunnel now, which will lead underwater, to take us over to Hokkaido.

Apparently there is a 23 kilometer stretch underwater. But as you can see, you can see nothing. It’s basically just a tunnel. So we are presumably underwater now. But I’m still getting internet. Which is kind of impressive. So the announcer just came on and told us “welcome to Hokkaido”. So.. welcome to Hokkaido.

So according to the weather report, the highest temperature here today is one degree. It is probably one degree now – it is.. cold. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been on a one-car train. Nice and retro sort of station. Pretty nice. Welcome to Hakodate.

We are going to head to the hotel next to the station. Drop our luggage first and then we’ll go look for lunch. No idea what this is supposed to be.. it moves every now and then. It’s a windy day. We are out looking for some soup curry, which is a Hokkaido specialty.

And would serve us well in this very blustery cold weather. Hopefully it’s not closed or something! Despite the frigid temperatures, there was no trace of snow, rather to our disappointment. Still, there was that delightful unfamiliarity of wandering a foreign town.

So soup curry is basically curry, but in a very brothy soupy kind of form. And of course that’s supposed to go very well with the very cold weather here in Hokkaido. It also comes with a lot of vegetables, so it’s a very rich and very hearty combination. We have slaughtered the food.

It is very delicious. Very friendly staff as well. Recommended restaurant, I would say. Excellent stuff. We’re back out in the cold, we are going to go try and take a tram now towards the Motomachi area. While pretty cool looking from the outside, riding a tram feels hardly different from a bus, really.

Okay, so we are at Jujigai We’re heading towards the Motomachi district, which has a lot of historic western buildings. From the time where Japan first opened up her ports to foreign trade, apparently there are like churches and stuff like that. Warehouses.

Alongside Shimoda in Izu, Hakodate was one of the first ports re-opened to foreign ships in the 19th century, and reflecting that heritage, the slopes of the Motomachi district preserves a number of charming western buildings. And yet in the middle of the slope was a Japanese temple compound. Striking in its prominence.

So that is Mt Hakodate. Famed as apparently one of the best night views you can get in Japan. We will be taking a ropeway up there come sunset, but not now. So the one earlier was probably a Roman Catholic church, and this one..

..is probably Eastern Orthodox from the design and the characteristic cross. It’s really a shame that there is no snow. I think snow would really enhance this aesthetic. I assume these are old warehouses from the port where they did the trade and all that.

Okay, so brief respite from the cold and it’s time to go back out. I think we’re going to start heading for the ropeway now. Yknow the main problem is that it’s just really windy and that really exacerbates the effects of the weather. Otherwise I could see this being a pretty peaceful stroll.

But now… it’s frigid. Warmth. Warmth! So apparently in addition to being a tourist attraction, this is also a radio station. It says “FM Iruka”. Pretty good view already, but the real deal is supposed to be when the lights come on, which is around 4:35, we’ll be just hanging about until then.

The lights are starting to come on, it looks good, but there’s a heck of a lot of people up here. So we’re done with the observation deck up at the top, it’s extremely cold! We’re now down here indoors, and there’s a surprisingly good view here as well,

So we can kind of enjoy this for a bit longer. Alright, we’re back downstairs now. There seems to be some nice lights here. So we’re in a seafood izakaya now, it is going to be expensive, but hopefully it’ll be really good. Scallops! It’s… a little on the small side, which is slightly disappointing. Oh, but it tastes really good though! Oh, that looks good, I think that’s Kanimiso, which is my favourite. Alright, so this was delicious. It is extremely expensive because of the crab, but the crab was worth it. it is very good.. the fish, is also really good

So all in all, I think we’re pretty happy with this meal, we may have to adjust our budget a little bit, but it’s probably worth it. This is Hokkaido right, if you’re gonna come here you gotta get the seafood.. and the seafood delivered. This is delicious.

So just got done at the Onsen bath in the hotel, and apparently after every bath, you get one complimentary popsicle, which is nice, this is pineapple flavoured, helps with the cooling down yknow? And so after a long day, we tucked ourselves into bed,

Not knowing then that the morning would greet us with fresh snowfall. Up next, we check out more of Hakodate in the snow, including a unique 19th century fort, before heading back down south to the city of Aomori. seeking local delicacies along the way. Subscribe! And join us! As the journey continues.