Hakodate – Samurai, castles and cheesecake

So, after we left our big mouthed (in many senses of that word) friend in a comatose state with the grannies in the park, we went off to see the castle.

The star shape wasn’t just for aesthetics.  It was actually designed so that any attacker would be caught in a withering cross fire.

Although things have somewhat gentrified now.  This used to be the castle wall.

Anyway, an interesting T-shirt walked by during this portion of the trip.  Now Hokkaido is supposed to be COOL.  But it was HOT.  I mean the reason many Japanese go to Hokkaido during the summer is to avoid the horrendous heat.  You know its hot when you step outside and you feel this sizzling feeling on your skin.  I’ve always wondered what its like to me the meat on a BBQ…

So today, I really don’t love sunny days.

And this is the castle residence.  Nice eh?  Too bad its a reconstruction.  The original burnt down.  But, unlike China, at least when you get closer you don’t find out that the whole thing is just painted onto a concrete wall….

Now we could have gone up the tower to check out the view, but (a) I didn’t feel like wasting my money and (b) I was afraid that my tonkatsu eating friend (see previous post) had put on so much weight that we might plunge to our doom while we were halfway up.

Instead we went for a ground level shot.  See left to right, photographer’s significant other, photographer and annoying tourist.  For those of you that don’t understand this picture let me explain.

Annoying tourist on the left is sitting how many Chinese people from mainland China sit.  Annoying tourist was dared by even more annoying tourist (me) to do something extremely annoying.  My other travelling companions then tried to disown us.

Anyway, I digress.

What you have a bit of free time, why not try some cosplay!  Please ignore hiking boots, shorts and jeans…

Getting ready for action.

Obligatory pose.  This is the time (as in all good manga) for each hero to have a riveting discussion on their opposing philosophies.

Before walking off in agreement.  Well it happens sometimes.

After so much excitement I need a bit of a recharge.  So…  Ramen time!  This is tonkatsu (pork) base and was really quite good.  Yum yum.

But nothing compared to the next item.

This is not a cake.  This is not a cheese cake.  This is a cheese cake souffle.  Just think of an airy sponge base with a delicate melt in your mouth cheese cake topping.

Ok, I think that was the best cake I’ve ever eaten.

Score – 9/10

Until next time.