After our little sidequest to Onuma National Park, it was time to go to our actual destination: Hakodate.
Luckily we found a sign in the snow saying 'shortcut to train station' which is where we started. It was barely a minute before we hit a silent road which we simply followed for 7 minutes, discussing and digesting what wonders we had just enjoyed.
We timed it pretty well, just ten minutes or so I think before we got on the next train and headed to Hakodate.
Honestly, we should have spent at least a couple of days here, but in the end due to our big park diversion, we had only the evening and the following morning. But what an awesome moment in time it was!
Christmas in Hakodate
We left the hotel as soon as we dumped our stuff off. What a gorgeous view!
I'd also like to point out our rather Auspiciously Christmassy room number:
My back injury was still recovering and I already just spent hours walking around a forest and lake with 10kg on my shoulders. It felt great unloading but tbh I didn't fully appreciate what was around because I was so achy.
We wanted to see the harbour fireworks that were going on every evening at 6pm but we didn't quite make it in time. We saw some, but tbh it only went on for barely a minute or two, so whatever.
When we arrived at the main spot, we saw a huge tree, imported as a gift from Canada I believe, lit up like you wouldn't believe. Depressingly, neither my android nor my wife's iPhone could pick up the colours and seemed to just 'round up' to white. Annoying, because it was beautiful.
My phone did a pretty good job when it came to communist red-yellow colours, though!
The tree is actually floating on a barge in the water!
This area was packed with visitors enjoying these red-brick factory warehouses converted to shops. My eyes lit up when I saw a HONEY shop, literally selling combs of honey in a box. The vibes here were fantastic with uplifting music, laser lights and smoke machines, loads of people, kids running around throwing snow at each other.
Really cool.
But in the end I feel we rushed it. We were pretty hungry, too. I guess we'll just have to save Hakodate for a second trip. If nothing else but for the train ride there.
The Snowy Beach Experience
The following morning we saw the beauty of the town - quite a contrast from Tokyo - out of our hotel window, and immediately went out to see what's what.
We headed towards the coast where we just happened to find the most beautiful, empty beach. Have y'all ever seen a snowy beach before?
There were perhaps 4 other people there at one point, but soon after we were totally alone. We sat down on my coat - it wasn't that cold but it WAS snowing a bit - and just watched the waves come in for a while, the water clean enough to see the sand being dragged up from the floor, undulating within the waves themselves as they crashed towards us.
We watched the Japanese crows make patterns in the snow as they circled around looking for food, making their distinct laughing caws.
We walked through the water in our semi-waterproof snow boots and wondered what it would be like to have one of these quite modern but not exactly elite beach front houses. I imagine it would be surprisingly cheap!
Unfortunately our time here was cut WAY too short, as we had the main course of a ski trip to go to.
My back was feeling much better on this day so I was feeling somewhat positive about the idea. So, we ate some great food as usual and headed back the way we came on another 3-hour train journey to a rather more foreign land in Japan - Niseko!
Once again, the train Journey was incredible. This time with added sunset warmth:
Off to Niseko!
[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 41.76396 lat 140.72262 long Hakodate for Christmas! d3scr))