青森港桟橋

About this photo

The photo shows a long wooden pier stretching out to sea and a steamship offshore. Black smoke rises from the steamship's funnel, and on the beach in the foreground are horses carrying bale-like loads on their backs and people at work. It is from Nihon Meisho Kyuseki Sangyo Shashinshu (Photographs of Japan's Famous Places, Historic Sites and Industries), in the volume on the Ou (Tohoku) and Chubu regions, published in 1918 (Taisho 7).

The Seikan ferries linking Aomori and Hakodate began in 1908 (Meiji 41). At first there was no quay where the ferries could dock, so the ships anchored offshore, and passengers and cargo were carried by small steamboats and hashike (lighters, small boats for carrying cargo). From 1925 (Taisho 14), train ferry service, loading freight cars straight onto the ships, began in earnest.

The ferries ended their 80 years of service in 1988 (Showa 63), when the Seikan Tunnel opened. At the ferries' former quay near Aomori Station, the Hakkoda Maru, which made the last sailing from the Aomori side, is moored and kept as a memorial ship.

Glossary