函館！

Okay so I arrived in Hakodate on the 7th, so I guess it's been a while, but I haven't posted anything about this wonderful city yet. I'm tired from writing so much on my trip to Tokyo, so this blog will be mostly picture based. If you need a quick introduction, here's a quick Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakodate,_Hokkaid%C5%8D


Enough with the chatter, pictures!

View from my hotel window on the first day. That's when I knew I was in for a good ride. :)

As Hakodate is a port town, of course you're going to expect oceans views and seafood. We dug in to the latter the day we got here - should never mistreat your tongue :-)

Me having delicious roast scallop (ホタテ) in a sea food shop! Yes my haircut is ridiculous.

Abby taking a picture of a cat sculpture right beside the sea!

Such views are commonplace... :-D

Historic warehouses in the Bay Area of Hakodate (ベイエリア)

Delicious ramen are a Hokkaido specialty. Of course I can't miss out!

At the イカ (squid) square along the coast. Squid is Hakodate's most famous seafood product, and is abundant through most of the year. In the Squid square there's a huge and very pretty statue of the animal, but I forgot to take a picture...　残念ですね。In August there is a huge festival (祭り) that features the squid. I'll be sure to update about that!

When we were at イカ square we saw these people practicing a very interesting dance... It turned out that they were preparing for a performance in a Sapporo 祭り。They were extremely うまい so I'm sure they did well!

A close up.

海も山も見えて、本当にきれいなところですね。Knew I was going to put that to use somewhere.  Thanks JSL! :-) btw the mountain you can see here is the famous Mount Hakodate (函館山). I haven't climbed it but I hope to, soon!

Hakodate is a very hilly town, and there are many steep slopes, called 坂. The HIF building is located on one of these slopes, from which you can see the sea with ease. Here's another picture:

The HIF building is the one on the left.

Of course, what's a blog/album about Japan without some mind-blowing exotic finds? You saw it right - this merchandise claims to be bear meat! Granted, it is 30% bear meat, but still... Apparently the Japanese people are right up there with the Cantonese in terms of eating exotic foods.

More to come, if not this weekend! :-)


P.S. I realize the problem with the white highlighting in my previous posts. I don't know how to fix it though, or the formatting Nazi in me would have taken care of it in an instant... Can someone more well versed in Blogspot than me teach me how? Thanks!