Month: April 2020

Read Part I, Part II, and Part III.

 I still had two hours to burn until I could check-in to my hotel, so I decided to go to the ropeway up to the peak of Mount Hakodate. I was already at the bus stop in front of the train station, and the free tourist bus arrived shortly after I made my decision.

Approaching this mountain now for the second time, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t already done this. The mountain was beautiful and it was peak cherry blossom season in Hokkaido.

The ropeway was in an area with strong Greek influences in architecture and a Greek Orthodox church. Just outside the ropeway, there was a mural on a wall of some people that made me feel like I was in Greece two thousand years ago. That sensation passed, I saw the ropeway wouldn’t be open for another half an hour, and started to roam around. I soon found myself in a park at the base of the mountain, filled with cherry blossoms and an old fountain covered in verdigris. I took about 30 photos and a short stop motion sequence of the fountain and started wishing I hadn’t got a hotel so that I could sleep in this park. I also found a vending machine with the most enchanting orange soda I’ve ever had. I generally don’t drink many sweet drinks, but that soda was the nectar of the gods.

After a while, I went back to the ropeway and bought a ticket. I couldn’t help but notice that all the brochures and photographs of the view showed it at night time. I also noticed I was the only one going up alone. I didn’t care, I was fascinated by the view.

At the top, I figured I would go through the gift shop first and was happy to stumble upon a few real marimo moss balls. The ones I had bought for my friends were fake, but these were real and I figured I should get a few and keep them forever. They were tiny. The information on the package said they should grow about one millimeter a year. I started thinking about how large they could be by the time I am old, and how they could bring me back to this place. That was enough incentive to buy a set of two.

The outdoor observatory was windy as hell, but it was a beautiful sunny day. The mountain is at one of the tips of the island of Hokkaido, so looking in most directions, there was only the sea. I thought it was incredible. But the observatory was set up to mostly have a good view looking inland at the city. Seeing the shape of the land was cool, and I could tell from the pictures that this would be the case at night, but with lights from buildings forming the coastline. I saw there was an access road up the mountain and wished I hadn’t bought a round trip ticket so I could use it to walk down. I thought it was strange there was a one-way ticket up the mountain option before.

I was on a mission to get the most out of my ticket up the mountain, and after a while, I noticed that no one from my ropeway car was still on the mountain. The view going back to the foot of the mountain was just as incredible, and I made a short stop motion sequence of it.

It was late enough to check-in to my hotel, and this time I remembered that bikes were available to rent at the hotel. But the advertising was a bit misleading–there were literally three bikes, so none were available. In the hotel room, knowing I would either need to walk or take public transportation, I checked a map and thought about how far away the unexplored areas of town were. There didn’t seem to be much on it or nearby, but I couldn’t stop thinking about a place marked Midori no Shima—Green Island. 

I made my way there. It was, indeed, just a grass-covered island. I walked around the area for a while, but it seemed like I was suddenly in the suburbs and started walking back towards where I had spent the past few days. It was growing dark and I didn’t know where the day had gone. I stopped in what I thought was a coffee shop for a snack, but it was actually an Italian restaurant and I had a proper meal. I wasn’t ready to go to bed but had no appetite for alcohol and wasn’t sure how to pass the time. I felt like I had taken in all I could. I got back to the hotel and figured I would go back out later, but I took a bath and went to bed instead.

In the morning, I took a quick bike ride around the ropeway area to look at the buildings and cherry blossoms. At checkout time, I felt like I had spent enough time in Hakodate and checked out of my third and final hotel room for the trip.

I still had my notes about the ferry from the other day, so I got on a bus outside of Hakodate station. A few blocks from the stop, I seemed to be in a warehouse district. It was, without question, the least touristy part of town I had seen. The ferry was a few blocks away, the sea was hidden until it was right upon you. Other than the smell.

The ferry place wasn’t really a ferry place, they just used one of their cargo ships as a ferry across the strait once every few days. The notes I had were relevant for that day specifically. 

The guys at the ferry place seemed more confused that the situation wasn’t due to a language barrier than anything else. They called me a taxi and had them take me to a fulltime ferry. The guy in the taxi refused to believe that I could speak Japanese and had to call into HQ to make sure the destination I kept saying was correct. It was. He brought me there and I was just in time to catch the next ferry.

Onboard, I picked up some snacks and beer from a vending machine and found a place on the floor to sit where I could see outside. I wasn’t expecting the seating to be on the floor, but there were cushions. There were a couple of Chinese women on the ship with us and they shared my excitement for what felt like an adventurous way to travel. I took advantage of the fact that I was in Japan and left my valuables completely unguarded while I walked around to take pictures with the other two tourists. By the time I came back, all the other passengers were asleep and we hadn’t even left.

I sat down and drank a beer and ate some dried squid. The boat started moving eventually. Looking out into the sea was exciting at first, but after about an hour I had finished all my beer and snacks and fell asleep. I woke up hoping to get a glimpse of the shore before we arrived, but found that we had already docked and would be disembarking soon. We arrived in what looked like a parking lot and I was lucky enough for there to be a taxi left without a passenger. I put my bag in the backseat of the car and took one last look at the sea. I turned around and was shocked by the deep green of the great pine trees in the distance.

Read Part V and Part VI.

These days, I’m just tellin’ stories.

Read Part I and Part II.

They invited me to join them for the after-party after the show. The owner would cook Hakodate style yakisoba. He assured me that I wouldn’t be able to find this in a restaurant–anyone who wanted it would just go to their mom’s house.

Someone showed up with two paper bags full of liquor.

As we drank and ate, I found out the owner was a Zen Buddhist and an old punk. I hadn’t met anyone into either of those things since I moved to Japan. I felt at home. Towards the end of the night, we played some music together and then I walked back to my hotel. I blacked out the moment I set foot inside and woke up with the lights on, my shoes on, and an open yet full beer on the table.

I didn’t have time to do much of anything, so I drank as much water as I could and checked out of my room without a moment to spare. Walking towards Hakodate Station, I was filled with regret that I was leaving. I had had such a great time in the city. I went into the station and over to the information center. After looking over some brochures, I decided to just ask the desk clerk about the ferry schedule.

She spoke English very well. She told me my options and offer to call me a taxi or explain the bus route to me. She assured me the bus would be simple because I could speak Japanese.

I went out to the bus stop in front of the station and caught a glimpse of the sea. I looked around and saw there was a hotel around the corner. I got out my phone and booked a room, then walked over. I didn’t need to be back at work for a week.

I wouldn’t be able to check-in for a  few hours, but they let me store my stuff there. I wouldn’t be able to borrow one of their bikes until I checked-in, but I felt light as a feather relieved of all my camping equipment anyway.

I made for the old warehouse district. There was a clown-themed burger place I had heard was another must-see place to eat, and another burger sounded good. I rationalized that it was still a local specialty as the chain was only in Hakodate, and I’d be going to the original Lucky Perriot with vibrant clown and circus imagery all over the place. I’d also get a nice walk down the boardwalk and see the old red brick warehouses shopping district in the daylight.

I decided I may as well see what was for sale in the old buildings. For the most part, it was nothing special. But it was love at first sight when I saw Dr. Heming Grand’Pa.

Dr. Heming Grand’Pa was a cartoon character loosely based on Ernest Hemmingway made by a local artist, sporting a baseball cap, big glasses, and bushy white beard. It was the silliest thing I had ever seen. I controlled myself and just bought a hat with the logo on it rather than purchasing everything else in the store, picked up a few marimo moss ball souvenir keychains for some friends, and made my way down the boardwalk to Lucky Perriot.

I walked in just as some Australian people were, so the lady at the counter, who had the silliest high pitched voice, figured I was with them and I nearly needed to step in to cross the linguistic barrier to rectify the situation, but she figured it out in context before I needed to say anything (the Australians did not appear to speak Japanese).

I ordered their classic burger that came with some mysterious sauce, and I got a clown-themed soda of indistinguishable, yet sweet, flavor. It wasn’t a bad meal, but it was far more touristy and underwhelming compared to Hot Box. No burger would ever really amount to much compared to Hot Box, though.

It was late enough to be able to check-in to my hotel, but I decided to stop at the department store on my way back. I picked up a shirt I could wear for work, a green t-shirt, and a pair of gray jeans (after mistaking another customer for an employee several times before he informed me that he didn’t work there).

At the hotel, I asked if they could bring me up some shaving cream and a shipping box. I went ahead and plugged my phone in and tore the tags off my new clothes while I waited. The shaving cream and the box came, I shaved, took a shower, and put my new clothes and hat on. I packed a good bit of my camping supplies and asked the people at the desk to send it to my apartment. Out of my camping clothes and crust-beard, I felt more like a regular member of society. After pondering the options on my phone for a bit, I decided to walk around town and look for good looking places to eat and drink.

I found a nice looking place, but the meal wasn’t particularly memorable. Then, I stopped at a bar and had a mojito while I consulted a map. There were two big parts of town I hadn’t been to yet, but both were rather far away and the past few days of near-constant walking were making the respective treks sound like a bit much. So I decided to go back to the jazz bar from the night before.

Much like the first night, no one else was around. I had vermouth and left. I went back to Bar Boozer after that, but Taeko wasn’t working. I had a drink anyway and found myself suddenly feeling fairly drunk just after leaving. I decided to call it an early night.

The following morning was a repeat of the one before: outside the train station, I decided I wanted to see more of the city and booked a third hotel room.

Read Part IV, Part V, and Part VI.

These days, I’m just tellin’ stories.