Hakodate: Beyond Nostalgia

...The place is even more beautiful than in my memories. The way the city wraps around the narrow peninsula, the wide open bays surrounded by dramatic mountains, the Meiji-era buildings of Motomachi, the greenry and stone architecture of Goryokaku, the blinding lights of the squid fisherman off on the horizon past dusk; the city is absolutely stunning in ways that I never even noticed before...

View from Mt. Hakodate

Overlooking the bay from Motomachi

Restored warehouses on the wharf
Reconstruction of the Headquarters in Goryokaku
Goryokaku from above, the first Western style military fort in Japan. Site of the final stand of the real last samurai at the end of the Japanese Civil War
Huts on the coast
The 150 year old foreigner's cemetery, resting place of sailors and officials since Matthew Perry's time


Hakodate Station at night
Squid fisheries at night luring their catch with blinding lights
Reuniting with old friends. Children grow quite a bit in four years