This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of a reader in our WeChat group, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. Original link.

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Unlike major tourist destinations such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, Hokkaido has very limited options when it comes to international chain hotels. The few that do exist are concentrated in ski resort areas like Niseko, which are not especially suitable for summer trips. So on this Hokkaido journey, we spent the entire time looking for local hotels, which really took quite a bit of effort, and we also ended up trying a few disappointing ones along the way. I’ll go into more detail on those later.

About a 20-minute taxi ride from Hakodate Airport brought us to the hotel where we stayed in Hakodate: Hakodate Kokusai Hotel.

This hotel opened in 2019, so it still feels very new. The decor is also quite modern, with a distinctive design. It’s located on a small side street near the busy downtown area, but the surroundings are very quiet.

The hotel is only about a two- or three-minute walk from the Hakodate Morning Market, and from there it’s another three to five minutes on foot to the JR station, so the location is pretty convenient. There is also a bus stop right in front of the hotel, but that route only goes one way toward the JR station. If you want to sightsee elsewhere in the city, you need to transfer to another line at the JR station. Also, the bus only comes about once every 40 to 50 minutes and stops running fairly early in the evening, so we never actually had a chance to use it during our stay.

We arrived at the hotel a little after 1 p.m. There were a few luggage carts by the entrance, but I’m not sure whether the hotel simply doesn’t offer bell service; in any case, no one came out to help with our bags. Later I realized that bell service apparently is not standard at this type of non-chain hotel, and guests just use the luggage carts themselves.

Check-in went unexpectedly smoothly. I had assumed the room wouldn’t be ready until later in the afternoon, but they handed us our room keys right away. Along with the keys, they gave us a card introducing the hotel facilities: a laundry room, a public bath, and complimentary sleep-aid pillows and aromatherapy diffusers available to borrow during the stay on a first-come, first-served basis.

Our room was on the 9th floor, though I didn’t take any photos. The hotel had already set up all three beds for us, which was a nice touch. The room was quite small, and this was probably the first time we really experienced just how compact Japanese hotel rooms can be; on prior trips we had mostly stayed at chain hotels or onsen hotels.

After dropping our things off, we headed out to find lunch. Since we were keeping lunch casual, we hadn’t done much research. We went to Uni Murakami Hakodate Honten, located near the Hakodate Morning Market, only to discover that it was closed that Wednesday. I thought that wouldn’t be a problem—after all, with so many restaurants in the market, getting a bowl of uni rice should be easy. But when we turned into the market, we were stunned to find the whole place looking rather deserted. It turned out we had gone out after 2:30 p.m., and most restaurants were already on their afternoon break. Luckily, inside the Yokochō Market area, we spotted one place still open called “史実.” By then we were starving, so seeing an open restaurant felt like a godsend, and we went in just hoping to fill our stomachs.

After checking in with the restaurant, we saw it had a bar, a few tables, and tatami seating. We ordered one uni rice bowl, one seafood bowl, and a grilled fish set meal for our kid.

When it comes to seafood in Japan, people think of Hokkaido; and when it comes to seafood in Hokkaido, they think of Hakodate. If you come to Hakodate, seafood is a must, and since it was uni season, how could we not order a bowl of uni rice and dig in?

The seafood at this restaurant was fresh, and the portions were perfectly fine, but the seasoning was a little lacking and didn’t really bring out the natural sweetness of the seafood. Sure enough, when I checked Tabelog, the rating was only 3.27: https://tabelog.com/cn/hokkaido/A0105/A010501/1000206/

Our kid was more interested in the scrap collection truck outside during the lunch break, and pulled me along to see where the long hose used for suctioning the waste actually led.

After eating and drinking our fill, we took a bus from the JR station bus terminal to the first sightseeing stop of the trip, Goryokaku Park. After getting off, it was about a 10-minute walk. We passed Goryokaku Tower on the way and decided to explore the park first, then go up the tower later if we had time.

Goryokaku is a star-shaped fortress built during the Edo period. The park itself is not very large, but it’s pleasant for a walk on a sunny day. The Hakodate Magistrate’s Office inside the grounds is also well worth a visit—that’s the building shown below.

The Hakodate Magistrate’s Office was relocated and destroyed multiple times before eventually being rebuilt, so it has had a rather turbulent history. Shoes must be removed before entering, and admission is 500 yen cash.

At that point our kid had fallen asleep in the stroller, so my partner and I took turns going inside to look around.

My travel companion and I both felt this place had a style quite similar to Kennin-ji in Kyoto, yet there were almost no tourists. If you want to shoot Japanese-style aesthetic portraits, this is a great location.

After leaving the Magistrate's Office, we walked a loop around the park. It was quiet there too, with just a few locals out walking, walking their dogs, or spending time with their kids.

We went back up the tower to look down over Goryokaku. You really can’t make out the star-shaped outline from inside the park at all; you only get the full view from the tower, so don’t miss this angle.

Look at that light—it felt as mysterious as an alien landing.

There’s also a small glass-floor section where you can look straight down. The kid wasn’t afraid of heights at all, but my legs felt a little weak just looking at it.

In hindsight, it probably makes more sense to do the tower before the park, because by the time we finished the view and came back down, the nearby shops had all closed. The kid wanted ice cream but couldn’t get any, and I wasn’t even allowed back into the souvenir shop to find my travel companion.

As soon as we came out, we saw Hakodate’s famous “Lucky Pierrot.” There are tons of branches in Hakodate, and you can spot one at almost every major sightseeing area. But we came to Japan to eat Japanese food! Who wants a burger?

In Hokkaido, I also learned a new name for ice cream—SoFi cream.

We caught a photo of Hakodate’s streetcar, which runs right down the middle of the road. The Red Brick shopping area in the background looked like it had some pretty good brands.

We had dinner at すし蔵, rated 3.55 on tabelog. It’s just a short walk from Goryokaku.

https://tabelog.com/hokkaido/A0105/A010501/1001798/

Hokkaido already has far fewer restaurants than the big cities, and in many places the higher-rated spots seemed to be French or Italian. Even though they’ve been adapted in a Japanese style, we still hadn’t had enough Japanese food yet and weren’t ready for French or Italian. Among Japanese restaurants, highly rated ones that were also kid-friendly were even harder to find. So we ended up booking this 3.55 place.

Because we had a child with us, we were seated in a private room. At a counter-style Japanese restaurant, being put in a private room usually means the food quality takes a bit of a hit, and I suspect this place was no exception. Overall, it was just average and not very memorable.

As expected of Hokkaido, the seafood itself was excellent. But the combinations really weren’t very creative, and a bit more finesse in the seasoning would have helped bring everything together.

I honestly don’t even remember what this dish was anymore.

We waited a long time for this final plate, only for everything to come out all at once, which was pretty surprising. Other than the high quality of the seafood, everything else felt flat—the sushi rice, the temperature, the seasoning, the pairings, all of it.

So yes, we finished this thoroughly unremarkable sushi meal and started wondering whether booking French food would actually have been better.

Fortunately, because the last round of sushi came out in one big batch, the whole meal took less than two hours, so our flexible item for the evening—the Million-Dollar Night View—was back on the table.

Most major attractions in Hakodate are reachable by streetcar, so we took one to go see the Million-Dollar Night View. The streetcars look fancy from the outside, but inside they’re not all that different from a regular small city bus, and the kid lost interest pretty quickly.

The guides all say to get off at “Jujigai” and walk 10 minutes, but what they don’t mention is that those 10 minutes are all uphill... absolutely exhausting.

After hiking uphill, we reached the ropeway station and took the cable car up. It’s a large cable car that runs every 15 minutes. There were plenty of people, but no really long line, and most people could squeeze on without much trouble.

Oh, and remember to bring a jacket. We went on July 19, and short sleeves, long pants, plus a regular-weight jacket was about right. The wind on the terrace was intense—the kind where loose hair won’t stay styled for even a second.

There are several viewing decks at different levels where you can enjoy the night view, and the highest one is definitely the windiest.

It’s called the Million-Dollar Night View because it was once named one of the “World’s Top Three Night Views,” with wikipedia as proof:

https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E4%B8%89%E5%A4%A7%E5%A4%9C%E6%99%AF

What makes it special is that it’s surrounded by water on three sides, and the shape is unusual too—almost like a spaceship.

Because the wind was so strong, we were ready to head back down after about half an hour. The observation deck has announcements for the next cable car departure time, which was a thoughtful touch.

We planned to take the bus back, with the stop right across from the ropeway station. While waiting for the bus, I took the kid to buy drinks. There were so many Hokkaido-limited drinks. Japanese companies really do love making all kinds of limited editions, and they’re not faking it either—limited really means limited.

There was a bus, but Google Maps didn’t show this route, and the nighttime stops were different from the daytime ones, so we basically had to guess where to get off. I kept watching Google Maps, and once we got close to the hotel, I got off at a stop about 200 meters away.

Back at the hotel, it was time for one of my kid’s favorite parts of the trip again: soaking in the onsen. This hotel only has a public bath, which is located on the top floor.

We changed into the yukata provided by the hotel, though they didn’t have one in my kid’s size, so it ended up being worn like a dress. The hotel also provided a mesh bag, which was a thoughtful touch. One thing to note: the bath area does not provide bath towels or hand towels, so you have to bring your own.

Phones aren’t allowed in the bath area, so there are no more photos after this. Since the hotel is quite new, all the facilities also felt very new and clean. The women’s bath requires a key card to enter. Inside, there’s a large indoor pool, a private open-air bath, and another open-air bath upstairs on the rooftop. There’s also a more unique section where you can lie down while soaking, which was incredibly relaxing. The public bath wasn’t too crowded, and there were only a few people in the outdoor bath.

After soaking, I took a shower in the bath area. I absolutely loved the showerhead at this hotel. It breaks strong water pressure into extremely fine streams, so it feels amazing without the water hitting your skin painfully hard. The bath amenities were also fully stocked, so you only need to bring your own nighttime skincare products.

At the vanity, there were two hair dryer options: Dyson and Refa. This was where I became a fan of the Refa hair dryer. It can automatically sense how far the dryer is from your scalp and adjust the temperature accordingly, so you can dry your hair casually without getting burned. It also has a moisturizing function. The only downside is that compared with Dyson, it dries much more slowly.

After my bath, I realized that right outside the public bath was the spa check-in counter and a small restaurant. I had to admire how good they are at business—after getting out of the onsen, you really do want something to eat and a spa treatment.

Of course, eating by myself would have been frowned upon, so I went back to the room to ask my kid whether they wanted to come. (A quick complaint here: my husband apparently never noticed there was a restaurant outside the bath.) My kid had only eaten two or three pieces of sushi for dinner and was hungry by then too, so they happily followed me upstairs.

Unfortunately, it was already pretty late by then, and most of the food was sold out. This specialty dango was one of the only things left, and I’ve already forgotten what it was called...

There was also ice cream, and it was really good—light milky flavor and very smooth texture. Even I, someone who usually doesn’t like desserts much, took a few extra bites.

After eating, I booked a foot massage at the spa. I sent my kid back to the room with my teammate, and then went off for my massage. The foot massage lasted a full 50 minutes and was incredibly relaxing—I actually fell asleep in the middle of it...

When I got back to the room, I noticed the showerhead there was the same as the one in the public bath, so I quickly took a photo for future reference.

Other than not being especially happy with the two meals we had that day, it was still a very enjoyable day overall. I went to sleep happily, looking forward to the hope that tomorrow’s food would be better.

2023 Japan Trip Series

This series documents the author’s trip to Japan while revisiting China before returning to the U.S.

About the Author

This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account “懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐,” run by one of our reader groups. It features original articles, and if you’re interested, feel free to follow it.