Mark Does Japan: Day 14

31 October 2025 Filed in: Photography | Travel

Thursday, 30 October 2025

Today was going to be a random day, a day where I just wandered around, but it got out of control and turned into a hiking day. I don’t measure steps or anything like that, which is probably a good thing. I walked around and then towards Cape Tachimachi which Google claims is 3.9km from my hotel but I didn’t follow Google’s path as I wasn’t aiming to visit Cape Tachimachi, I just ended up there.

Once there and after admiring the scenery I discovered that there is trail to Mount Hakodate (actually the ropeway station at Mt Gotem). The ropeway is closed for annual maintenance so hiking up seemed like an interesting thing to do. The first part was up some narrow, rock and root strewn path for 1.3km and then the rest of the way was on what I might consider fire trails for 2.3km.

I had booked a night time visit on the hotel’s coach, which only spends 30 minutes on the summit in the dark, so a daytime visit was very handy as it turns out that it’s a zoo up there at night.

Tonight’s dinner was Basque Pintxos because why the hell not. It was delicious.

So first some photos from the wandering that eventually resulted in me arriving at Cape Tachimachi.

A line of shrubs have been pruned so that the bottom half of their trunks are visible and the top half is carefully pruned into a box shape.

gardeners are serious

A house that has seen better days with windows taped up and someof the exterior cladding missing.

not everything is picture perfect

A concrete barrier protects the road and there are triangular concrete blocks acting as a sea wall closer to the sea.

walking along the coast

A temporary barrier alongside the road has supports in the shape of green frogs

just too cute

An apartment block beside the road. If only there was a beach, but it does have a sea view

beachside living

A sign with a message to keep it clean, and a cartoon squid.

keep it clean

The sign says don’t throw trash or cans on the beach and then you look over the wall.

Looking over the side of the concrete barrier and there is a bit of beach and the triangular concrete erosion blocks but there is also a debris, like fishing floats.

not so pretty

The family plot, and headstone, in a cemetery for a famous Japanese poet

a famous poet

The family grave of a famous poet.

The squid is the symbol of the city and so they are used everywhere and in this case it is ornamentation on a metal fence

squid everywhere

The squid is a city symbol so it appears all over the place.

A sign at Cape Tachimachi explaining that the name is derived from an Ainu name for a place to stand and wait to catch fish.

I’ve arrived

A jagged rock off the cape is home to a number of shags but they have to share it with an even larger number of gulls

shags have to share

The rugged coastline around the cape.

the view at the cape

Another information board and this one has a map of the trails available around the cape and up the mountain

the trail map

So the beginning of the hike. Also did I remember to say that my camera backpack weighs something like 15kg and section “I” is all uphill over uneven ground.

The start of the trail begins with a temporary metal stair. Probably a good sign as it means they are maintaining it.

and we start with a temporary stair

The trail through the forest is covered in leaves, hiding roots and rocks.

into the forest

A small rectangular block next to the trail. It has some markings on it but it is unclear what it is trying to indicate.

a marker

I don’t know what the marker was indicating but maybe it was best not to know.

Section "I" climbs up the mountain via a number of switchbacks so the path never seems to end. All the way you need to look down to make sure you don't trip over roots or rocks.

another switchback

Looking down at the rocks and roots provides an opportunity to also appreciate the leaf litter. All sorts of leaves, colours and shapes.

leaf litter

At the top is a communications tower, painted in bold, wide stripes, white and orange.

telecommunications tower

I do like how the Japanese paint their towers. Up until this point I had been using my phone as getting the big camera out was a pain but from here on the Nikon gets a run so expect foliage but first the view (on the far left is where I’m heading).

Looking down towards the city. On the left is the final destination, the ropeway station

Nice view

Plenty of autumnal foliage on the hills

more foliage

Timing is everything and some plants have already gone into winter mode. Still a little colour in the leaves attached to the plant but they are not looking happy.

I think it’s dead Jim

A circular mirror on a corner of the road has seen better days. Its surface is pockmarked, possibly due to hail over the years, but it still seems to be doing its job.

not much of a mirror

In a break from the foliage these seed heads caught my attention. Fairly small but masses of them.

no idea what this is

More seed heads atop a grass

another unknown plant

You could hear this bird tossing the leaf litter around in search of "tasty" bugs but it was well camouflaged in the leaf litter

a birdy

There were a number of birders on the trail, and a few birds like this one.

A collection of orange leaves and a rogue green one

more pretty colours

And finally I make it to the ropeway station, well under it at first.

The road passes under the ropeway and this is the view down to the city that you might expect to see had the gondola been working.

possibly the view from the ropeway cars

And then at the upper station of the ropeway. It was relatively deserted during the afternoon.

Looking down at Hakodate from the observation deck

Hakodate

A sign on the observation area railing that asks people to be considerate to others when it is crowded

for future reference

For future reference, as it was a zoo later.

Looking back towards the orange and white communications tower that I had passed earlier in the day

back the way I came

See that red and white tower in the distance, go up in this message for a closer view. Also Cape Tachimachi is over the hill at the left.

Looking behind the ropeway station the sun is getting closer to setting

sunset is coming

The sun is going down at the back so probably not really worth a sunset visit which might be why the first hotel tour is an hour after sunset.

Back up the mountain later in the evening to collect the night time view of Hakodate

Hakodate at night

Earlier in the day I had departed using the city bus so it was interesting to see the huge queue waiting for it at night

the queue for the city bus

When I took the city bus back to the railway station a few hours earlier the queue was about 6 people and everyone had a seat when we left. Taking the hotel tour coach was certainly a win over this line.

Finally the pintxos, with a glass of fino.

Standing at the bar with a glass of fino and a selection of tasty Basque food

dinner time

and a utility cover with the squid in colour.

Finally found a coloured utility cover and as the squid is Hakodate's animal naturally the cover has a couple of them

utility cover

Tomorrow I leave Hokkaido and catch the Hokkaido Shinkansen into Aomori prefecture before taking a Limited Express train to Hirosaki.

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