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Most tourists who visit the city of Hakodate make sure to climb to the top of Mt. Hakodate, a mountain on the west side of town that commands a panoramic view of the city. At the foot of the mountain, one sees clusters of elegant Western-style buildings, including a church and a former consulate, and rows of houses crowned with brightly-colored roofs of red, blue and light green. Further east, much taller buildings rise toward the sky, a telltale sign that the city is developing in an easterly direction.
The fabled night view of this thriving city offers a glittering sea of lights and neon signs that demarcate the physical shape of a city that perches on a projection jutting out into the Tsugaru Straits. Hakodate’s night cityscape is counted as one of the three most captivating in the world, along with Hong Kong and Naples.
Hakodate is located in southwestern Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island. The city was built on a sandbank created over the ages by ocean currents carrying sediment. It is surrounded on three sides by the sea, which provides fertile grounds for the squid, crab and salmon that have been supporting the city’s prosperous fishing industry for centuries. Hakodate has also distinguished itself as a vibrant international city, with its port linked to major cities both in Japan and overseas, and attracting people from around the world.
Hakodate was one of the first three Japanese ports opened to foreign trade after the end of Japan’s 215 years of national seclusion under the Tokugawa shogunate. Commodore Matthew C. Perry, the American naval officer who negotiated trade treaty, reopening Japan to the Western world, visited Hakodate 150 years ago and called it one of the best ports in the world in his personal journal, “Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan.” As one of the key transportation hubs in Japan, Hakodate is now working to establish regular services to South Korea and other Asian countries.
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| The panoramic view from the summit of the 334-meter Mt. Hakodate, with the natural harbor to the left, the Pacific Ocean to the right, and the fan-shaped city sandwiched in between. The sparkling night view of this robust city of 300,000 people is world famous. |
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