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The "Mashu Maru" is a floating museum near Hakodate station. Called the Hakodate Seikan-Renrakusen memorial hall it is an interesting museum if you can read Japanese with at least JLPT Level 3, or have an interest in transport history, or if you are killing time near Hakodate station and it is raining or snowing (or some combination of all of the above). The facility also includes a second museum containing Classic cars (from horse buggies to Ford Mustangs). You need about an hour and a half to do both comfortably.

Although a ship, the Mashu Maru presents what is essentially a history of rail. Railroad construction was a key priority of the Meiji government and the railroad linking Aomori with Ueno station in Tokyo was completed in 1891. The Kaitakushi also invested heavily in rail, with railroad lines from the main coal mining areas in central Hokkaido built to the ports of Otaru and Muroran. These were primarily to facilitate coal shipments to Honshu.

As through freight from Honshu to Sapporo grew, a railroad connecting Hakodate to Muroran was completed in 1904, and this led to a massive increase in the freight tonnage and passenger numbers on the ferries crossing the Tsugaru strait. Immigration was the main spur to this growth, from 1886 to 1922 just over 2 million Japanese moved to Hokkaido. Even though new ferries were imported from shipyards in England, the economics of shipping goods remained expensive, as trains needed to be unloaded, a ferry loaded, then unloaded, and then another train loaded again.

The 2nd generation ferries were built from 1925 and solved the problem. A new wharf was constructed behind the goods yards of the stations in Hakodate and Aomori, and freight carriages could now be shunted across a steel gangway onto rails inside the new ships. On the other side of the strait, the carriages were again shunted ashore, and a goods train would then continue the journey, there was no unloading/reloading required, and the time and costs saved were a considerable boost both to producers and consumers.

In terms of organizational and engineering management, this sounds less impressive than it was at a time when containerization was still a concept of the future. The Tsugaru strait is rougher than the English channel or Irish Sea for example, and the transport infrastructure of an advanced country such as Australia was so disorganised that due to a lack of standardization in rail gauges it was not possible to directly ship goods from Sydney to Melbourne, despite that route being a shorter distance than Sapporo to Tokyo and not having to cross open seas. Business and traffic boomed. The new ferries were based in Hakodate along with the dockyards and other specialised infrastructure, leading to the most prosperous time in Hakodate's history.

1945 Air Raid

In the period from 1941 to 1945, largely through its coal mines but also some limited oil production, Hokkaido became a major energy supplier of the remaining war industries on Honshu, and the island was also one of the few areas of the Japanese home islands producing food surpluses. The naval blockade was strangling Japan's industries and submarines and air dropped anti-ship mines were taking a steady toll on available tonnage. The waters around Hokkaido were further from US bases than any other part of Japan, and although submarine attacks continued, escort vessels, mine fields and maritime patrol aircraft ensured that losses were fewer than in other strategic areas such as the East China Sea. By 1945, energy and food shipments were given priority on all remaining vessels crossing the Tsugaru strait.

The situation could only hold while there was local air superiority. In July 1945, carrier based aircraft of the United States Navy were given the task of severing the connection between Hokkaido and Honshu. These targets were considered too far north for the B-29 bombers operating from the Mariana islands, and as the targets would include ships at sea the carriers provided a more suitable tactical option. On July 14th and 15th Dauntless dive bombers and other carriers aircraft struck the railheads and wharves of Hakodate and Aomori, along with the dockyards in Hakodate. 12 ships including all 4 rail ferries were attacked and sunk using rockets and bombs, with heavy loss of life. The attacks were successful, and Hokkaido and the northern territories were now cut off from the rest of the nation. The war was over just a month later.

In the post war period new ferries were constructed and the rail link re-opened. Despite better ships and technology including improved stabilizers, there were still dangers involved in crossing the Tsugaru strait. In 1954, the Toya Maru capsized and sank with the loss of 1,155 lives during a typhoon. It was the heaviest loss of civilian lives at sea since the Titanic.

In response to this disaster, a new fleet of larger ferries were constructed and it was these vessels including the "Mashu Maru" that served as the rail link until 1988. Car traffic was increasing. The opening of the Seikan tunnel meant that passenger and freight trains could move directly between Hokkaido and Honshu without stopping, shortening the time and cost. All ferries currently crossing the strait are designed for passenger cars, buses and trucks.

Tours - The Japan Discovery Tours visit Hakodate.
Click here for more information regarding when Discovery visits this destination.

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