Hakodate

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YAYYYYY! I got to skip school (and thusly Sports Days) on Friday and Thursday. The occasion you ask? Mioka's mother planned a trip to take Mioka and I sightseeing in Hakodate. Hakodate is a small port town about 4 hours away from Sapporo. While we were in Hakodate, otoosan would stay at home because of work, and Mihiro would spend the next three days at his grandmother's.

As I mentioned before, Hakodate is about a four hour drive from Sapporo. However, this time frame seems to have been calculated "as the crow flies" rather than taking into acount the actual road to Hakodate. Driving there definately took us about seven hours, rather than four (with pit stops for food and washroom breaks, as well as dropping Mihiro off), and I don't think we managed to spend three hours at obaachan's and the local conbinii (convenience stores). However, time adds up, and I could be wrong. To be honest, I was happy to arrive at obaachan's to drop Mihiro off. She lives about two hours away from Sapporo, and two hours in the car with a very, VERY noisy Mihiro is more than enought time spent with the boy for me. The rest of the drive progressed quite nicely after that.

The drive was very scenic, as the road is almost entirely beside the ocean. You pass by many small fishing towns as well as orchards, which gives a bit more insight into the agricultural and fishing aspects of traditional Hokkaido culture. One town is famous for its uni, or sea urchin. We didn't stop, but Mioka's mother joked about eating there since she knows I'm not fond of the taste of uni.

A few hours later, we arrived in Hakodate, which is famous for its squid. There are various squid images everywhere. On signs, railings, sewer covers, well you get the picture I'm sure. It is also considered to be the number one place to live in Japan, according to Mioka's mother. It was about six pm when we arrived. We left at eleven am. >_> So much for this four hour drive I thought. At least Hakodate looks nice after dark. Actually, on second thought, Hakodate Bay Area and Christmas Square looks nice after dark. The rest of the town barely has any lights. >_< Christmas Square and the Bay Area is considered very romantic and is a popular spot for young couples to visit. It reminded me of the San Fransisco Bay Area, except smaller, with less shopping. Being a bigger city type of girl, I'm not quite sure why Hakodate is such an appealing place to live, but I will agree that it is very nice to visit for a few days. (Think Banff; not much to do, but it's still nice.)

More to come tomorrow since it's Silver Week and there won't be much for me to do.

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Comments

[Renata Jarabek]

Hello
Hi Arielle, I continue to be amazed at your wonderful blogs. They are so interesting and informative. You are certainly having an amazing adventure. Have you become a squid fan? All the best. R.J

[jenn]

hello! sorry to comment so randomly on your blog. :) i've always wanted to visit japan and you seem to give an interesting account of your daily life there. do you mind if i follow your blog?

[Erieru]

Feel free to!

[Erieru]

Haha. It's fun here, but daily life is definately similar to home. Get up, go to school, do homework, etc. I'm afraid to say that my writing technique is pretty bad when it comes to this type of diary thing though. >_< I shall have to get tips from the English teachers back home (and not embarrass myself by showing them this lol). ^_~ Squid has a funny texture, like it's partly frozen, but it tastes ok. I think like your cookies more! =D