A 3 and a half hour ferry ride across the Tsugaru Straits gets you to Hakodate, Hokkaido. That’s after you get a ticket from the terminal building to confirm you have a booking (the ticket you’ve loaded onto your phone doesn’t count). This trip would have been really difficult without Google Translate!!

Hokkaido is famous for its beautiful wilderness, world class powdered snow, delicious seafood (crab and salmon) and fascinating Ainu indigenous culture.

Making the most of the lovely weather, visited Goryokaku Tower in Hakodate to have a look at the Fort below, an interesting pentagonal star shape. It has its origins in 16thC Europe. During this war-torn era, cities were surrounded by forts. With the development of guns and cannons, structures that reduced blind spots in gun battles were designed to protect those cities….star-shaped citadels. In Japan, people who had come into contact with European designs and technology, during the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate in the mid 1800’s, built the Goryokaku fort.

The Meiji Restoration was a coup d’etat that resulted in the dissolution of Japan’s feudal system of government and the restoration of the imperial system. Members of the ruling samurai class had become concerned about the shogunate’s ability to protect the country as more Western countries attempted to “open” Japan after more than two hundred years (1603-1867) of virtual isolation. They wanted to unite the country under a new, centralized government in order to strengthen their army to defend against foreign influence. The reforms enacted during the Meiji emperor’s rule brought about the modernization and Westernization of the country and paved the way for Japan to become a major international power. Among other accomplishments, during the Meiji period Japan adopted a constitution and a parliamentary system, instituted universal education, built railroads and installed telegraph lines, and established strong army and navy forces. (History lesson over!)

Next to see the hot tubbing monkeys…oh dear!, should have read reviews prior to visiting. I was envisaging hot springs in a botanical garden with monkeys enjoying themselves splish-splashing. Such a sad scene greeted me – about 40 monkeys, some diseased, trapped in a stark concrete pit, with a small hot pool they occasionally climbed into. No trees or plants to relieve their awful living conditions. And tourists throwing bread at them, some more successful than others in getting the crumbs. Had to get out of there quickly.

I saw a promo for a painting exhibition at the Museum of Art celebrating Maeda Masao’s 120th anniversary – such a lovely collection of woodblock prints from him. He was born in 1904 in Hakodate and studied oil painting in Tokyo. The exhibition featured some of his vivid landscape scenes from the island of Hokkaido. I particularly liked the one titled ‘Cat’.

I was driving past Omori beach and saw an interesting statue so went to investigate. It was of Takuboku Ishikawa, a Japanese poet who once composed a song as he walked along this beach during his time in Hakodate. The plaque underneath him has the song engraved. A lovely tribute.

Mt Hakodate offers a stunning city nightscape. Rated in the top 3 of the world, after Tokyo and Hong Kong. It was a really cold and crisp night but crystal clear views. The cable car takes you from the foot of the mountain to the top in about 3 minutes.