Japan: Hakodate

 Saturday, June 24, Hakodate, Japan

Hakodate is located on the southern tip of Hokkaido, northernmost of Japan’s main islands. Mount Hakodate (1100 feet) looms over the town. Our tour to the Onuma Quasi National Park left Hakodate port at 8:30 am, early for us. It took a good hour by bus to get there.

Once at the park, the first order of business was a boat ride on the large lake Onuma. Flat, enclosed boats had windows lining all sides and were large enough for our entire group of 30+ to fit in one boat. It was a leisurely ride among several islands and under bridges. Volcanos loomed in the distance.

Back on the mainland, we hiked over several arched bridges from island to island on well-maintained walking paths. There were white and pink lotus flowers growing in the lake, and a lot of lush vegetation. Very pleasant.

Once back at the port, we walked around downtown Hakodate, which seems to be the squid capital of the world. There was a large fish market selling mainly squid (but also crab and other fish), stuffed animal squids, squid keychains, squid hats, squid t-shirts. Even the manhole covers had squids on them.

Hakodate fish market

Manhole cover

Squid stuffed animal

There was a large ship that had been turned into a museum moored next to our ship. We stopped in on our way back to our ship and toured the interesting museum. A man who was captain of the ship back in the day was there in a volunteer capacity and we posed for selfies with him.

Out on deck of the museum ship, we waved to our shipmates next door. We also watched some young Japanese people practicing very athletic dance moves in a nearby square. 

We made it back to the ship for the 2:30 all aboard.