So... following Kenshin’s footsteps, I recently visited Hakodate. ^_^ Surprisingly enough after my very angry rant earlier this year about the lacklustre storyline of the Hokkaido Arc - the plot took a more exciting turn in the last few months and focused back on Saitou, interactions between Kenshin and Saitou, as well as the comical addition of Shinpachi which I thought was a really positive spin.
So, hope is re-instilled and I am pleased that I saw it with my own eyes now rather than later. Photos of Goryokaku and Hekketetsu-hi Monument and the memories that I was physically there myself will probably bring back some positive emotions for years to come. Moreover who knows when Watsuki will do some unforgivable deeds again and Hokkaido arc will die prematurely...or more likely when my own moralistic attitude will take over and my love for kenshin will be no more.
Goryokaku was very touristy - mainland groups taking photos in throngs up on Goryokaku Tower-- I bet they didn't know a thing about the history and cared even less. Hekketetsu Monument on the other hand was deserted - it was away from pretty much everything else though and was up in a mountain. I went there early in the morning by myself (didn't think hubby would appreciate it and also underestimated the distance -_- lol). It was a chilly long hike (maybe only 15 mins but felt like an hr due to my physical unfitness) and there was this eerie buddhist temple leading up to it...@.@|||| think I got a bit freaked out even with the images of my favourite superheros cheering me on:
There was a certain degree of sadness as I looked at Hakodate city (maybe its just me with my chronic dysthymia). it was desolate, ran down, almost a haunted version of its old self - about 150 years earlier when it became a port to the outside world - foreign influences and trade flooding in as well as migrants from the rest of japan - and that strong and glaringly bright sense of hope-- that with willpower and hardwork alone, great things can be made out of this harsh cold no man’s land...
Such was the hope of Kenshin's times--this heroic inevitability perhaps bound to fail, but something I so lack and so desperately want to hold onto..
I also bought the Kenshin merchandise - cross scarred apple pies. Just for the boxes really. -_-||| the apple pies themselves taste a bit like 老婆饼…… Not the most impressive Hokkaido pastries...
anyways this is getting a bit long for a jet lagged brain, I have wanted to talk about Kenshin, and Saitou, and Kenshin+Saitou for the last couple of years but kept procrastinating. maybe another time... lol
