Sorry meant to say "less crowded" for private tours.

"Our next port was Hakodate and this was our most favorite stop. Prior to this someone I met on the roll call board on "that other forum" :D informed me about an outfit called The Hakodate Goodwill Assn. which is a group that conducts tours. I arranged for a guide, Atsuko, to meet us there. Now bear in mind a private guide in Japan can be very costly. I was able to get quote from a few of them but the fee would include their transportation from a big city like Tokyo and all in all some were around $1000.00 USD for one day! Yikes. However this assn. was incredible charging us 3000.00 yen or about $30.00 and let me tell you what was done. Atsuko met us at the train station where the shuttle drops you off. She was with her hubby who is a veterinarian there and they gave us a ride to lake Onuma which is like a park with a few ponds, bridges and walking paths. Its ver beautiful. We then went to a coffee shop which wasn't ala Starbucks. It was in an enclosed back porch of someones home who opened a small coffee shop in her spare space. It was lovely. We had a nice cup of coffee and some snacks. Then instead of driving back we took the local train, a one car train which was incredibly quaint. We her her hubby at the stop as he drove ahead and then went for lunch at a special place she picked out. wow! It had a view of lake Onuma and we had a 9 course Japanese lunch while sitting in a room covered by tatami mats, very traditional which is the feel we wanted to get.

Afterwards we took a tram to the center of town and Atsuko gave us a walking tours. We saw some typical japanese style homes and went into a temple and saw and old lady just waving to us from the 2nd floor window like we were old friends. Again this is the type of hospitality we encountered throughout our trip.

We found out that Atsuko is a baseball fan and in fact as we learned later her fav team won the Japanese league championship later that fall. Her son collects baseball caps and her hubby likes to go ice fishing so after we got back home we sent her a Chicago Cubs baseball cap, a Cubs fleece for her hubby that he can wear under his coat when he goes ice fishing and some warm socks in Cub colors. To me this is the best part of traveling. Its seeing how others live and getting a chance to experience that and to met and make friends with those who live so far away. "

OV this is a snippet of my TR about or stop in Hakodate and our experience with the HGA.

Thank you for that lead, Jacketwatch. I have sent a message to the Hokodate Goodwill Association, and hope for a positive reply.

FYI we were told before our Japan cruise that it would be an Asian immersion cruise which meant that most passengers would be Japanese. In fact the majority were from Australia and I think 2nd most were from the US.

Good luck with the HGA.

The HGA looks like a no-brainer!

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

I think they need about 2-3 weeks advance notice but as they give a great deal I would keep trying to get a hold of them. I recall having to email them I think twice.

Good luck OV. I hope it works out. If you do arrange with them would you mind telling me who will escort you. I still keep in touch with the gal we met there.

Cheers, Larry. :).