The southern gateway of Hokkaido| Hakodate (1454)

| Hakodate (1454). Hakodate, an important port city in the southwestern part of Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the Hakodate Bay in the southern part of the Oshima Peninsula, facing the Tsugaru Strait. It is located on a flat sandbar and belongs to the Hakodate Plain. There is Mount Hakodate in the eastern part of the bay, and Hakodate Port is in front of the mountain. The port has deep water and is a natural good port, the gateway to Hokkaido. Originally named Hakodate, it was a place of exile for discarded nobles and criminals in Honshu in the 13th century. Immigrants began to settle in the Edo period and engaged in fishing and agriculture. It was opened as a foreign port in 1854, and its business has become increasingly prosperous, once known as the 'Nagasaki of the North'. It was renamed to its current name in 1869. Hakodate is the southern gateway of Hokkaido, and like Yokohama and Nagasaki, it is also a port city with a long history of trade. It is one of the first Japanese ports to open, and the other is Shimonoseki City. All port cities are always accompanied by the tradition of overseas Chinese from various countries coming and going for trade, and this is no exception. Many past events are like flowing in the Tsugaru Strait at the entrance of Hakodate, continuously drifting from the Sea of Japan to the Pacific. In summer, thousands of squid fishing lights decorate the strait, and in winter, thousands of bright lights outline Hakodate.