Hakodate Plaza Hotel

... positive spin on our detour; he says it will be one more day of Kobe steak. We are using internet cafes, but it is very difficult getting directions to one, because no one speaks English. They do try, however. We are in Otaru and it is raining off and on. We dont have pix yet. We will have to wait til next stop.

Just the deep blue SEA!



This is our fifth day on the high seas, and we are about 1704 nautical miles from Seattle. We should arrive in Hakodate, Japan next Sunday, Oct 4.

So far our Pacific voyage has been interesting. We were all so worried about Cub being well during our journey, but it turns out ...

Our train chugged in to Hakodate around noon. The sky was overcast and the weather was chilly. The only thing on our schedule was a castle where the samurai had their fabled last stand. After we went there and tramped all through the mud trying to find something interesting in the castle, we were stumped. And then it started raining. We retreated to the gift shop where we hid out waiting for the rain to stop before we tried to run to the bus stop. It did not ...

Hai Hakodate! Hakodate (pronounced Hack-o-dah-tay) is a lovely port on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. It is famous for seafood. Isn't it interesting though that this simple word 'seafood' can mean different things depending on your culture and upbringing. For Brad and I, looking forward to 'seafood' kind of (naively) meant "we'll have some prawns, calamari and hot chips next to the sea. Ok, throw in some crab legs and a wedge of lemon ...

We've stayed about 1 week on Hokkaido and went to 4 different places. The first one was Toya-Ko, a volcanic area with some smoking mounts. The last eruption happened in 2000 from Mt. Usu, an active stratovolcano. This national parc has splendid sceneries and was very interesting, but we wouldn't really want to leave there knowing that a volcano could wake up anytime ! After that, we headed to Sapporo where we met the rain and even some ...

Nous avons passes nos derniers jours sur Hokkaido et le nord du Japon dans la baie d'Hakodate. Nous avons loge dans une petite auberge tenue par un couple de 60 ans qui tient le magasin de crabes au coin de la rue ! Saito-San a fait en sorte que nous nous sentions bien chez elle et nous a donne toutes les informations necessaires pour visiter sa ville. On voit qu'elle a l'habitude et surtout qu'elle aime faire decouvrir sa ville ! L'apres-midi de notre ...

... spaced evenly away from one another. It's a very Western architecture up North. You get steepled roofs (for snow), vinyl (or faux wood) siding, some yard space, maybe. And it kinda fits into Hakodate's foreign inspired lifestyle. Historically, Hakodate was 1 of 3 ports opened to trading after Perry brokered the treaty in the 1800s. The city has ex-Russian, British and American consulates. Only the British is immediately recognizable (though I suppose the concrete ...

... lanterns running along the decks to attract the squid. Fish is all the rage on this island. Think I might be facing my fears again sometime very soon! There was a serious blizzard going on here for most of my stay so I missed the usually beautiful view across the bay sadly. Oh well... on to Sapporo....

apres 4 heures de train, dont 30 min danss un tunel de 58km sous l'ocean! je suis arriver a haakodate en hiver. Aceuilli par des flocons de neiges intensement soufles par le vent, le contraste avec les plus 30 degre d'okinawa il y a 5 jours est tres grand! Hakodate est la premiere grosse ville sur l'ile de hokaido. mais les hotels cheap sont rare, je me suis rive le nez a deux hotel fermer pour l ...

... closet. As with every other concern I had about visiting Japan, we have been pleasantly surprised. Our room is small, but with efficient design it is not crowded for those traveling light. Instead of using an innerspring, the thin, firm but comfortable mattress is on a platform. This provides plenty of space to tuck our bags under the bed. The bathroom is a compact integrated unit that includes a small, but deep, tub with shower that ...