The port town of Hakodate, which is Hokkaido’s third largest city, wraps up our final destination of Japan’s northern most island. Hakodate was Japan’s first port city that was opened to foreign trade in 1854, after years of Japan’s era of isolation. As such the city has experienced multiple foreign influences that shaped its town landscape, food, and culture. Many of the buildings stayed intact since the 1800s and are some of the primary attractions of the city. Continue reading “Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 9-10 – Hakodate”
After leaving Otaru, we drove along the beautiful coastal highway route leading to Shakotan. Located in the western peninsula on Hokkaido’s west coast, the water is pristine, cool in temperature, and rich in nutrients due to the water currents. As a result, the konbu (kelp) here are some of the best in all of Japan, and prized in many kaiseki restaurants. Rich in umami, it is this kelp that the sea urchins feed off of along Shakotan. As a result, the uni here has a taste that is richer and sweeter than sea urchin caught anywhere else. In fact, Shakotan uni is known to set the price in fish markets like Tsukiji and throughout Japan. Unfortunately, the uni fishing season here is very short, only from June to August.
Hokkaido is the northern island of Japan. We flew from Haneda airport near Tokyo to Asahikawa using the ANA foreigner air tickets which is available only if you purchase before arriving to Japan.
Traveling abroad with a family with four young children is not easy, but Japan is one of the safest countries with a wide variety of attractions and great food. This combination makes it a popular destination in my household. The only challenge is that a family of six is hard to accommodate by Japanese standards. We need to plan out accommodations and what to do and where to eat carefully as Japan tends to be cater to small groups. In fact most hotels accommodate groups up to 3-4 people unless you know what to look for and book as early as possible to secure the few rooms that can accommodate a large family.
In our previous trips we travelled through the Kanto to Kansai regions of Japan, so this time we really wanted to experience other parts of this beautiful country. Our selection narrowed down to whether we wanted to spend time in Hokkaido or Kyushu and the choice was further easier to make given that we will be taking the kids during their summer break, which meant hot and humid weather in the Honshu and Kyushu islands. Thus, the vacation was focused on Hokkaido to avoid the muggy, hot heat the rest of Japan faces during the late June and early July months. In fact, during our stay, the weather for the most part was great in Hokkaido, outside of rain for a day or two during the first two days. We even needed jackets a couple of times in the mountain areas, but otherwise experienced very enjoyable weather. Continue reading “Tabemono Vacation – June/July 2016 Trip to Japan, Hokkaido and Tohoku Itinerary”
