We had our last breakfast at our hotel, they had a nice breakfast buffet.
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I was kind of sad to leave Sapporo. We’ve been here for 4 days and we know our way around, we have our fav hangouts, it’s so familiar. Time to start our journey south (refer to the map for our route).
We took the train to Hakokate. We started at the Goryokaku History Corridor which consisted of a star-shaped fortress and the Goryokaku Tower, which had some dioramas of history. It started with the arrival of the American fleet in 1854, fighting/war within Japan, new government, more fighting and finally end of the Hakodate War in 1869.
The fortress has its root in 16th century Europe, star-shaped forts do not have blind spots. Construction of the fort began in 1857, complete in 1864. It seems the fort construction was brought about by Commodore Perry of the USA demanding(?!) Japan open their ports.
Next a bus ride to the old part of town, Motomachi district, where we took a walking tour. It was a nice day and an interesting tour. There were interesting buildings and churches along the way, with Western influence (see above about Perry). The blue & yellow building is the Old Public hall, formerly British Consulate. The church is Roman Catholic with the red roof.
Next we took the Hokkaido Usuzan Ropeway (cable car). The Japanese love their little mascots, even if I think that ropeway guy (sitting on top) is scary. Some great views of the city. We got an orange drink from the vending machines at the top.
Then we took a bus to the hotel and had a group dinner at a local beer hall. The beer hall was a bit different than an American beer hall. The evening was a bit stiff because our tour group was new and not yet acquainted with each other.
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