My one-day summer trip to Hakodate, full of joyful food and shopping

Morning Market 1: Let’s enjoy the fun of squid fishing

Our first stop today is to hunt for treasures at “Hakodate Asaichi” (Morning Market), situated just one street away from Hakodate Station.
Morning Market is the assembly center of the local region’s major agricultural produce and marine stock. It is also one of the region’s most popular tourist attractions. Our aim today is to fill our stomach with delicious food, so we have skipped breakfast and gathered our empty stomachs here at 9:00.
Let’s start by experiencing something fun! In the middle of “Ekini Ichiba Market in Morning Market” building is where we can find the squid fishing site. There is a huge squid mannequin on the display at the side and it has attracted a lot of people to come here to catch fresh squid.
I will now hand over to our lovely friend Ms Ye to make a catch! Ms Ye, try your best please!
“No worries, leave it to me! ♪”
The way to catch a squid is pretty simple. The on-site officer will hand you a fishing rod rigged with a fish hook. All you need to do is put the fishing rod into the water and use the hook to hook the triangular part of the squid’s head and you are done. It seems like a simple move, but it is giving me quite a workout! A single little squid does not seem very strong, but pulling him out of the water is still taking more work than I expected! After a brief struggle with the squid, I finally caught him with the fish hook!Thank you, Mr squid, for letting us make a meal of you!
The above is Ms Ye’s first experience with squid fishing ♪

Morning Market 2: Let’s pick a live crab from a water tank and eat it!

Next up is the most important object of today──eating crabs!
Whether inside or outside the buildings of the Morning Market, many shops have water tanks containing crabs. Listening to the various touts do their best to plug their wares: “Want to eat crabs?” “We can cook it right away!” …… listening to their cries makes it hard to decide where we should go to enjoy a meal of crabs!
After choosing carefully, we are drawn to a shop bearing a sign that says “Kani Ichiba”. There are many live horsehair crabs and king crabs in the water tank outside the shop. We choose a suitably priced horsehair crab as a sacrifice to our Temples of Gastronomy. By the time we come back to the shop about thirty minutes later, the crab has already been prepared into a delicious meal! It looks very tasty!
The horsehair crab we eat today (small sized; the internal is culinarily treated; crab soup is included) costs 4,000 yen /”Hakodate Romankan”

Morning Market 3: Corn, melons … etc, and all kinds of scrumptious delicacies

With our bellies full of crabs, we continue to roam the Morning Market and see what delicious food we have overlooked! Along the way, we hear the touts’ voices coming from different shops: “What are you looking for?” “Do you want a taste?” At every shop, we see a full display of fresh fish, fruits and vegetables. To tell the truth, I wish we could try everything in every shop. But our stomachs are limited and we must select only a few lucky shops to try out! Every morning there are quite a few Taiwanese tourists visiting here, so the Morning Market actually looks quite similar to a Taiwanese market. It also gives me an optical illusion──just like I have returned to Taiwan.
“The smell of grilled corn is wonderful~” “Just looking at the JuicyJuicy yubari melons whets my appetite~” I want to shove everything into my big belly!”

We take the shuttle bus to a popular tourist attraction “Trappistine Convent”

Next, we visit “Trappistine Syudouin (Trappistine Convent)” which is also quite well-known in Taiwan. Here you can enjoy delicacies such as petite madeleines (or shell cakes) and white chocolates and various handcrafts personally made by the nuns.
Take the shuttle bus at the number 4 bus stop before Hakodate Station (buses run between 9~14 o’clock; the trip takes about 40 minutes; the fare is 300 yen) to reach Trappistine Convent. Don’t forget to pick up the ice-cream discount coupon before you get off!
Although at Trappistine Convent you cannot see inside the convent or the pulpit, you can visit the beautiful and elegant European-style courtyard buildings and the beautifully manicured trees in the garden. It immerses you in the atmosphere of Europe. Taking a photograph here will make people think that the photograph is taken during your visit to Europe! But you must beware not to make any loud noise, because you don’t want to interfere with the nuns’ devout prayer schedule!

After leaving the convent, we use the spare time while waiting for the hourly shuttle bus to visit the store next to “Shimin-no-mori Park”. The ice-cream sold here is said to be the best ice-cream in Hokkaido! With its genuine premium ingredients, the flavor is especially rich! It is well liked by the locals and by tourists visiting here from afar! We, of course, are no exception to the rule, and we purchase a plain vanilla flavor ice-cream for a trial tasting. After using our 300 yen discount coupons, we only need to pay 250 yen to enjoy the rich creamy milk flavored ice-cream! Because the ice-cream is made with genuine premium ingredients, it melts easily and should be eaten immediately! While enjoying the rich creamy taste of the ice-cream, be sure to check out the area opposite “Shimin-no-mori Park” shop! There are many species of gorgeous hydrangeas in full bloom here and they also a special feature of Hakodate!

Buy lovely goods at the huge shopping center “Fresupo Tokra”

Lastly, I want to introduce everyone to Fresupo Tokura──the shopping center where Hakodate residents often go to do their shopping. There are shops that sell local souvenirs oriented towards tourists, and there are shops that sell famous Hakodate delicacies and goods. Recently, the number of people shopping at drug stores and 100 yen shops has increased. In this place, you can buy many products cheaply, including trendy items that are not sold in Taiwan, cute novelty items, and goods that are too expensive to buy in Taiwan.
Take the shuttle bus from Trappistine Convent and travel to the first station in the direction of Hakodate Station──”Yukura Jinjya Mae” (costs 220 yen), then go back on foot for about 10 minutes and you should reach Fresupo Tokura. Before getting off the shuttle bus, pay attention to the left-hand side, where you should see a large shopping business district as you pass by.

Hakodate is a beautiful city. It has many wonderful features and many beautiful sceneries. From morning to evening today, we have eaten and played. We have filled our stomachs with food and visited many wonderful places. From the gourmet trip in the early Morning Market, to the physical refreshment of “Trappistine Convent” in the afternoon, to the final shop-till-we-drop mission at the Tokura Shopping District …… we have felt enormous contentment and happiness! It is not a bad idea at all to leave behind the hustle and bustle of Taipei city and spend a day to relax and unwind in the tranquil harbor village of Hakodate! Do you wish to do as we did and experience a joyous day? Just follow your heart and act now!

(Visited and noted by Jenna Liu & Ye Yixua July 2014)

*This travel guide was originally written for people of Taiwan.