This week in Hakodate, the Hakodate Minato Matsuri (“Port festival”) is held. It includes an hourlong fireworks show held in the Bay Area on Wednesday, attended by throngs of people wearing summer yukata. I watched these fireworks from my host mom’s workplace, a kindergarten with a nice view of the port. On Thursday, there is a large parade through the Bay Area and stalls for food are set up for the parade-goers. Today, Friday, there is a second parade in a different part of the city, where I will do the Ika Odori (“Squid Dance”) along with many other groups and companies.
In order to find out more about this week’s festival and holidays, I went to the local Motomachi tourism office to ask what the festival is about. At the tourism office, I received a map and information about the different parade routes through the city. The festival is a yearly one according to the office. They also informed me there would be different special events held, but did not give me very much background information on the origins of the festival or why it is held yearly. Due to the fact that it is a tourism office, their approach was primarily focused on tourism rather than history.
Later the same day, I repeated my questions to my host mother in an effort to see how someone in a non-official capacity would explain the festival. She gave me a surprisingly lengthy rundown of the history and told me almost nothing about the actual events that take place. She informed me that the festival is held due to Hakodate being one of the first places in Japan to open its port to non-Japanese ships, and so the port festival commemorates that opening and the coming of Matthew Perry, an American who contributed to its opening to other countries.
The festival has extreme cultural significance to Hakodate, as embedded in this city’s identity is the port and the goods provided by it. The largest difference between the accounts I received regarding the festival was the focus of each one. The tourism office clearly prioritized informing me about the special events that bring visitors, while my host mom wanted to tell me about the history of Hakodate, something she is proud of as someone who grew up here.