day 232 - Hakodate

Morning fish markets near the dock sell everything you could imagine, and more.

We ate salmon roe, giant crab and sashimi squid and tuna. The lady next to us chose this dish. It was exceptionally fresh - when she poured on wasabi & soy-sauce, the squid waved its tentacles!

The ropeway to the top of Hakodate-yama.

Surely some of the best night-lights we've seen - possibly rivaling Nagasaki.

Corn icecream? We were sceptical... It's a corn-flavoured wafer coating over a very creamy Hokkaido dairy icecream. Oishi!

Yesterday was the beginning of a 12 day holiday in Hokkaido, the northern-most of Japan's Big 5 islands. After arriving by plane in Hakodate, a large fishing-port and modern city, we checked out all the local seafood specialties of crabs, salmon roe, squid and sea-urchin then headed by ropeway (again!) for a great night-view of the city squeezed into the narrow waist of an isthmus.

Today we set off by tram and on foot to explore the old European settlements which sprang up after Admiral Perry "opened up" the country to the West in the mid 1800s.