Hakodate Orthodox Church

Hakodate is where Orthodox Christianity in Japan began. Josif Goshkevich, the first Russian consul, secured this plot in 1859, and a chapel attached to the consulate went up the following year. A young priest named Nikolai arrived in 1861 and later moved to Tokyo to build Nikolai-do. The Hakodate Great Fire of 1907 destroyed the original wooden chapel, and the present Church of the Resurrection, brick under white plaster with a green copper roof and bell tower, was finished in 1916. It was named an Important Cultural Property in 1983. Locals once called it Gan-gan-dera, the clanging temple, after its bells, which were chosen as one of Japan's 100 Soundscapes in 1996 and still ring before the Saturday evening and Sunday morning services. A few steps away on the same slope are the Catholic Motomachi Church and the Anglican St. John's Church, so all three take under an hour. The interior closes to sightseers from December 25 to the end of February.