Hakodate

About 2-3 weeks ago, I went on a tour to Hakodate city.  On the way there, we pass through the worlds longest underwater tunnel.  It is called the Seikan Tunnel.  Usually on the trip, you can get to the front car and take pictures of the tunnel entrance as you approach it, but the front car was packed, so I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures of it.

Anyhow, once we arrived in Hakodate, we began driving around the city and hitting up some of the famous spots.  One of them is a very old building that is home to probably the first photo studio in Japan.  As you browse through the pictures, you will notice from the interior design, western influence had already begun to take effect in northern Japan.  They offer to dress you up in clothes from the time period, and they photograph you for Y1000 or so.  I decided not to go for it, however, luckily a couple was there who did and I was able to grab a shot of them in the main hall of the building. Despite the many advancements in technology, you will probably be surprised to see how primitive the bathrooms remained.  Of course there were newer bathrooms placed in the building for the tourists and the older ones were only open for exhibition.  The “King’s” bathroom was pretty nice.  Everything was made of wood, but the interesting thing was that he had a standing stall and a “benjo” which is the name for the Japanese floor style toilets.  Oddly enough, that was made of wood as well, so I’m rather curious as to how long they lasted and just how clean they could really get them.

Another interesting place was “Goryou Kaku,” which is the star shaped “fortress” so to speak.  What is now surrounded by a moat, was once land locked.  They re-routed water inland to create the moat.  I went up in the tower to get some bird’s eye shots, and I managed to put together a panorama.  Unfortunately the main buildings were being renovated, perhaps prepping them for the coming winter, who knows, so I didn’t bother to walk to the center.  At this point in history, I believe this is when the westernized imperial Japan began to push the samurai/shogun up north towards Hokkaido.  If I’m not mistaken, the movie “The Last Samurai,” although a fictional account based on non-fiction, is set in this time period, and this is around the location where it took place.  I took pictures of the diorama’s as well, using my newly acquired 85mm 1.2L (what a beauty!).

We did some more sightseeing of course, but the real reason for the trip was the view that the gondola ride to the top of the mountain, promised.  While it is only ~350m high, it was tall enough that it overlooked the entire city of Hakodate.  Earlier in the day the weather was not so good and the cloud cover was heavy.  Initially we thought it would be a waste to go up to the top of the mountain because we wouldn’t even be able to see the city.  Luckily for us, the weather cleared up later into the evening.  I brought my 17-40mm and my tripod.  I took as many shots as I could while I was up there and managed to “stitch” them together to get a nice panorama.  The size was ridiculous, so I had to make it smaller, but I will upload a larger version in the near future.

In any case, enjoy the photos and feel free to leave comments.

On this trip I brought my gripped 50D, 17-40mm f/4L, 85mm f/1.2L and my bogen/manfrotto tripod.  If you have any questions about my setup, feel free to ask away! Enjoy!