Historical Buildings in Hokkaido

Hokkaido has a long history. But you may know it only a little. So today, we will introduce historical buildings in Hokkaido. How many buildings do you know?

Let’s start!!

Abashiri Prison Museum 

I will introduce the Abashiri Prison Museum.

This was actually used until the Meiji era, now you can visit and walk around.

This was designated as Important Cultural Property.

This time, I will introduce a jail.

This building has 5 parts. So from the center, prison guards can monitor prisoners easily.

When you enter this jail, you can feel the Meiji era atmosphere.

In the museum, there are a lot of buildings that were actually used.

You can walk around and learn about prison life.

There are prisoner and prison guard mannequins.

In the cafeteria, you can eat meals that reenact what the prisoners ate.

Let’s go and see the important buildings!

This is the website!

Tokeidai

Tokeidai is in Sapporo.

It was built by Kaitakushi, who were Meiji people that pioneered Hokkaido in 1878.

It was based on the idea of Dr Clark, the first principal of Sapporo Agricultural College, the predecessor of the present Hokkaido University.

It is the oldest clock tower in Japan and the bell has been ringing accurately for over 130 years.

It is famous tourist attraction and a historical building.

The Bank of Japan Otaru Museum 

Next, I will introduce The Bank of Otaru Museum.

It is called Nihon ginkou kyuu otaru shiten in Japanese.

It was designed by Kingo Tatsuno and his pupil, Uheiji Nagano. And its construction work was completed as a branch of nihonginnkou in 1912.

And it finished working as a bank on September 13th 2002.

This museum has three spots you can see, the History Zone, the Business Operations Zone, and the Video Room.

In the History Zone, you can learn about the history of this bank as the name shows.

In the Business Operations Zone, you can learn about the bank’s business operations and see the original vault used in the Otaru Branch.

And in the Video Room, you can watch videos explaining the work in The Bank of Japan.

Surprisingly, you can feel the weight of a hundred million yen here.

I recommend you to visit this museum because I think this experience is so rare.

Here is the website. The Bank of Japan Otaru Museum

(Yuna, Kanna, Riyu)