Solo Snow Trip Hokkaido Part 1 - Hakodate

When I left Sapporo, it was full on dumping and it was good to see snow falling as our train arrived in Hakodate. The only problem though was the weather for the next couple of days. It was an unprecedentedly warm Winter due to the El Nino effect and even Hokkaido was experiencing above zero degrees celsius temps.

Staying at Toyoko Inn Hakodate

I chose this hotel because they had single rooms and the price was great. It is conveniently located about 300m from the train station, 50m to the Morning Market and right next to a Lawsons. The room was slightly retro but clean. Toyoko offers free breakfast and curry rice for patrons Tue-Thu evenings, but with so much good food to try in Asahikawa I had to give these a skip.

Getting to Hakodate Nanae Ski Resort

The next morning I made my way back to the train station for the JR train up to Onuma Koen station. This is when I discovered one of the reasons why Nanae doesn’t get much skiers or boarders. While the bus is timed to pick up travelers from Sapporo and Tokyo, it was not meant for travelers from Hakodate. The free shuttle bus to the resort had just left 5 mins before our train arrived. Seriously? All they had to do was wait another 5 mins. Rather than wait another hour, I bit the bullet and got a taxi to the resort which cost about 4000 yen or roughly a premium seafood bowl at the markets.

Unfortunately it was a “Saiko Tenki desu ne” or perfect weather day as my taxi driver described. Clear blue skies, warm and with Nanae’s base elevation of only 240m - melting snow. On the bright side however, we had show stopping views of Mt Komagatake and it’s characteristic twin peaks.

Skiing Hakodate Nanae Resort

Nanae is a smaller resort with 2 runs and a gondola - one of the longest in Japan at 3.3 km. You can ride the gondola without skiing, so there were lots of excited tourists up the top.

There were groups of tourists in ski schools who mainly stuck to the Konuma course serviced by a pair lift at the lower resort. Those that dared to venture up the Gondola would probably have had a hard time making their way down the 4km green run. Could have been due to the lack of snow, but the course was undulating and hilly. Fun for experienced skiers as they can generate speed off banks and turns. Looked like absolute hell for beginners who were skidding out on the icy conditions.

The intermediate and advanced runs from the quad chair were mostly empty and would have been fun with more snow. But the steep end section on this day was super icy with challenging moguls. There was powder to be found here in the trees up the top and under the chairlift. I don’t really know if you are allowed to ski there because there is a sign saying ‘No skiing under the gondola’. But they could have meant chair. You can duck off to the side on most of the runs as none of them are actually roped off.

I would like to return to ski Nanae in better conditions, but they really need to make it easy for people getting there from Hakodate. I am sure heaps of people visiting Hakodate would like to experience skiing.

Hakodate Asaichi Morning Market

The market was already quite lively at 7am with Chinese & Korean tour groups. I made my way through the crowds fascinated by the fresh fish, live crabs and preserved seafood products. The smells were quite amazing as some stalls were boiling and grilling crab legs and scallops.

The central attraction in the markets is squid fishing. There are tanks full of live squid where for a fee you can hook up a squid with a rod and the chef will sashimi it immediately for you. The other attraction, the live aquarium tanks were a bit of a miss.

On the Northern side of the market is the Donburi Yokocho - a collection of restaurants selling seafood bowls. All shops have windows displaying their menus with plastic samples, so I walked through the laneway checking each of them out before settling on Ikkatei Tabiji.

Ikkatei Tabiji

Ikkatei Tabiji Is famous for their Katsuika Odori Don or Dancing Squid Bowl. The head chef nets a live squid from the tank and expertly slices the body into noodle like pieces. The squid is arranged in a bowl over rice with Ikura. Finally the bowl is topped with its head with tentacles attached. After pouring shoyu over the bowl the tentacles start to move and dance (hence the name). Don’t worry the squid is not alive, its just a reaction of the tentacles to the salt. The squid was so fresh, each bite was crunchy and bursting with flavour with the grated ginger and shoyu complimenting the squid perfectly. Thankfully you don’t have to eat the head as it is, the chef will slice it up for you. The 2 black marble like objects are its eyeballs which you are meant to suck on, not swallow.

Hakodate Kanenomori

With some spare time, I went to check out Hakodate Kanenomori red brick warehouses. They were used in the past to store goods from Hakodate’s maritime trade, but are now a tourist attraction with shops selling souvenirs and food items. Wish I could buy some of the interesting squid snacks, but unfortunately I had to lug around a board bag and a backpack for the next 10 days, which meant no space for goodies.

Hakodate Fish Market

The Hakodate Fish Market is located in one of the warehouses. Not as popular as the morning market, but you can get takeaway sushi, sashimi and seafood bowls for super low prices. You can even eat there and have a beer with your meal.