2013年7月5日金曜日

2013年7月5日金曜日 -

Alan - First Trip to Hakodate

I recently spent a month teaching at the new Nova branches in Hokkaido. This gave me a chance to visit the city of Hakodate for the first time. It reminded me of some of the seacoast communities in my home country. 


The Morning Market is one of the most famous attractions in the city. The indoor area, which is called the "real Morning Market," is a place where you can see fresh produce from the nearby farms and seafood in all states of preservation for sale. There were a few things there to hold the interest of a passing tourist for awhile.

The streets outside, surrounding the market were quite a different story. I caught a squid, myself – one of many that were swimming around a very small tank – and watched as it was cut into sashimi for an appetizer. Then I moved on to another of the dozens of little shops for a breakfast of crab and salmon roe domburi that still tasted of the sea.



In the afternoon I wandered comfortably along the wide, stone-paved streets dotted with museums: some small with exhibitions like the History of Photography in Hakodate, others large enough to introduce the cultures of the world's Northern Peoples. I explored the glittering shopping venues that occupy the Brick Warehouse District and sampled the local soup curry and limited brew Sapporo beers available only in Hokkaido.
When the sun had set over Hakodate Bay, I took the ropeway to the peak of the mountain with the same name. It is said that the city, viewed from above, looks like a folding fan. To me it seemed more like an hourglass filled with glittering sand


seacoast = 海沿いの
communities = 地域社会
attractions = 娯楽
nearby = 近くの
states of preservation = 保存状態
hold the interest = 心をつかむ
passing tourist = 通りがかりの旅行客
quite a different story = 全然様子が違う
appetizer = 前菜
moved on = 進んだ
wandered comfortably = 気分よくぶらぶらした
dotted with = ～が点在する
glittering = きらびやかな
venues = 地区
sampled = 味見をした
ropeway = ロープウェイ
peak = 山頂
folding fan = 扇子
hourglass = 砂時計