Hakodate was, samen met Yokohama, Kobe en Nagasaki, één van de eerste havens in 1854 die werden opengesteld voor buitenlandse handel na de ‘sakoku’, de anderhalve eeuw durende periode van isolement.
Wat de Dutch slopes in Nagasaki zijn, is de hooggelegen oude wijk Motomachi in Hakodate met verschillende negentiende eeuwse gebouwen in westerse stijl, zoals de Russische Orthodoxe Kerk en het oude Britse consulaat.  |
| Hakodate putdeksel met afbeelding van de Russische kerk |
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| Hakodate putdeksel met westere gebouwen |
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| Hakodate : Motomachi |
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| Hakodate : Motomachi |
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| Hakodate : Motomachi |
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| Hakodate : Motomachi, herinnering aan de shojutsushirabesho |
REMAlNS OF SHOJUTSUSHIRABESHO
"In 1856 in order to properily train and being up capable men for the protection and sound quarding of Ezochi (Hokkaido), an educational institution called shojutsushirabesho was built in the Hakodate magistrate The famous designer of Goryokaku is Ayasaburo Takeda, an instructor from the shojutsushirabesho. They taught the Western sciences by means of the Dutch language. Some other, rather difficult classes taught at his famous institution were : measuring, navigation, shipbuilding gunnery, fortification and chemistry. To show his love for the great value of practice, he set out with his magnificent crew of people on the boat Kameda-maru toward to Russia. Until 1864 when Ayasaburo became a professor in Edo Kaiseijo(the predeccessor of the present Tokyo (University), he brought up many followers. Hisoka Maejima (a founder of the postal service) and Masaru Inoue (a founder of the railway service) are both spectacular products of the well-known shojutsushirabesho.When the founding father of the Doshisha University, Jo Niijima came to shojutsushirabesho to learn from Ayasaburo had already gone to Tokyo. Therefore Niijima went to America from Hakodate as a stowaway to learn great knowledge"
