HAKODATE

 I've been ignoring Donald Trump and world events, so will start with the latest poll showing Americans venting disappointment with The Donald on today, his 100th day in office.  Also showing no progress on those wars in the Ukraine and Gaza Strip.  About tariffs and China, here is a graphic from the New York Times.

This is Day 14 of our trip.  Some background about Hakodate.

• Was originally populated by the Ainu.
• Founded in 1454 by Kono Masamichi, but the family was driven out of Hakodate during the Ainu rebellion in 1512.
• There was another uprising around 1670, led by Ainu warrior Shakushain.  Note that the Ainu look Eurasian.

• 
  It was on 8July1853 that American Commodore Matthew Perry led his four warships into Tokyo Bay, seeking re-establish for the first time in 200 years, regular trade between Japan and the western world.  The first two ports to open were Hakodate and Shimoda (67 miles south of Tokyo).  Yokohama Port did not open until 1859.

• 
  Was the biggest city on Hokkaido until 1934 when it suffered the Great Fire of Hakodate, making 145,500 homeless.
• Today, with 239,813 people, it is third largest on Hokkaido, to Sapporo's 1,965,823 and Asahikawa's 356,612.
• The Hokkaido Shinkansen line to Shin-Hakodate opened in 2016, for the first time linking Honshu to Hokkaido.  This station is 12 miles from Hakodate.

• Note that tomorrow, the Oceania Riviera will be in the Port of Otaru, where we will tour that city and Sapporo.  Unlike Hakodate, where we saw rain and a lot of clouds, the Otaru/Sapporo region should be relatively sunny.
• The city's ramen is shio (salt), with a pale, clear broth made of chicken, pork Bone, vegetables, fish and seaweed.  The seafood of note is squid.  Also famous for Japanese snow crab.

Our tour was leaving at 1PM, so we had a quick hot dog and hamburger pre-lunch.

The tour was a bus ride with two stops.  Note that this is a Takahashi bus, although ours was orange.  Note the rain,

Our first stop was a look at three churches.  This would have been totally a lost, except that we finally saw Cherry Blossoms in Japan.

After some walking, we reboarded our bus to the top of Mount Hakodate, 1100 feet tall.

When we got to the top, it looked awfully foggy.

However, the view wasn't bad at all.

More photos on our way down and back to the ship.  Maybe some these blossoms could have been plum trees, not sakura.

The theme of the dinner in the Terrace Cafe was Japanese.  Here were the buffet stations.

My first course.  I had two more.

Walked 6309 steps.

Tomorrow a long day in Otaru and Sapporo,

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