On the Shinkansen (bullet train).
Now the real journey, the reason why we came here, was about to begin. A four hour ride on the bullet train north and we arrived late afternoon in the port city of Hakodate. Hungry as we were there was not much to do except eat.
On the Shinkansen (bullet train).
Oysters and, as shameful as it is to admit, whale meat.
Crab over rice.
Not quite satiated after the meal, we went to a wildly themed hamburger restaurant called Lucky Pierrot. There are a total of seventeen Lucky Pierrot restaurants in Hakodate, each with a different theme. Ours was clown themed. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.
Not a great burger if I'm being honest.
Still in Hakodate, we explored the city during daytime by visiting the ferry museum and local markets.
Overgrown grass as a sign of abandonment and rural flight was something we would see even more later on.
Breakfast from the convenience store. Sadly the old BOSS latte flavor has been replaced by a weaker one.
The same Lucky Pierrot restaurant as before but during daytime.
I'm going to bet that they sell whale-derived food products here.
Before the Shinkansen was expanded to cross the strait separating Hokkaido from Japan's main island, Honshu, the Seikan ferry would carry passengers between Hakodate and Aomori. One of those ships has been repurposed into a museum.
Here comes more ship than you probably care about. Feel free to skip to the next section.
Enough of the ferry.
At last, here's a practice which I find absolutely disgraceful and that should be abolished along with whaling: keeping octopuses in small boxes until they get butchered.
