26th June, 2014
This town is famous for its squid. We visited the morning
market. It was full of fish – huge crabs, clams, sea urchins, squid, giant
octopus, flounder, mackerel, sea snails large enough to give up a piece of meat
as big as your fist - all alive and in tanks. I felt so sorry for them. I
couldn’t bear the thought of catching something, then having it cooked for
lunch, as you can! And here too, a packet of vacuum packed Minky whale meat!! There were all kinds of dried seafood as well. I sampled a
dried scallop – quite sweet. Imagine giving that to the kids for a treat.
Although I didn’t get a taste of dried kina I did sample some fish eggs. I
hated the pop and burst of liquid into my mouth – yuk. Just the sensation was
quite repulsive. Maybe smaller eggs wouldn’t be so bad. Food is mostly
interesting though and it was good to have a guide to tell us what was what and
how they used it. There was also our equivalent to a farmers market. One of the
men there spotted NZ on Hoppy’s hat – he LOVES NZ. There were daikon the size
of your forearm, potatoes, asparagus – green and white, rock melons for $30. each
(!) and all kinds of delicious fruit – just like home. Everywhere in the
country side are these huge leaves – like giant lily pads – the stalks of these
were there too, to be cut up into your meal as a vegetable.
We went on to another ropeway to Mt. Hakodate. We glimpsed
bits of the city as the fog came and went. The view is famous at night when the
lights of the peninsula contrast to the black night sea on either side. Would
look good. But then so would it today if we could see it all! The souvenir shop
at the top had a wonderful array of “hello Kitty” stuff and nick knacks – all very
reasonably priced too. Shouldn’t be surprised really – this is Japan. One of
our group found a four-leafed clover there – very happy chappy. Down the ropeway and walkabout time through
the Motomachi District where foreigners settled after the city was opened to
the West in 1854. It’s quite fascinating that Japan kept itself isolated from
the rest of the world for about 300 years. Finally a fleet of ships arrived
which they knew they couldn’t repel so decided maybe they could absorb and make
use of the western technology – guns at the time!! The hillside revealed a huge
Buddhist Monastery, a Catholic Church and school, a Russian Orthodox Church,
the old British consulate which had the most glorious rose garden, and a
Chinese Meeting Hall, not to mention snow freeze shops vying for your yen and
numerous artists along the walkway come road. Cars are few and far between in most
areas.
The roads on the way out had
Tsunami warning such as - this area is 2.2m high. Since the tidal wave they are
striving to be nuclear free but they don’t have many natural resources of their
own so import coal and oil etc. The Japanese are also proud of their drug free
and safe cities although there was recently a drug bust in Tokyo making the
headlines. They put the safety aspect down to the fact that they have police
boxes scattered through the entire area, not that we noticed any police
presence. You do feel very safe here I must say. I can imagine for some reason,
you would like it here Rodney – especially the snow aspect. It seems everywhere
there is likely to be 5 or 6 metres of snow dumped every winter between November and March , and the ski
runs are clearly visible if you get a mountain view.
Once again my photos are taking too long to transfer..........but I got one for you...The Big Daikon!
No comments:
Post a Comment