One bitter December day in 1868, 3,000 Japanese warriors sailed into Hakodate Bay, on the tip of the northern island of Ezo (now Hokkaido), close to the Japanese mainland. Their ambition was to defeat the imperial forces and set up a republic loyal to the deposed shogun. But when spring came, the imperial government sent an army of 10,000 men with a ship far more modern and formidable than those the rebels had. Huge battles were fought on sea and land but the rebels were defeated. Even among Japanese their story is largely forgotten.

One hundred and forty years later, I arrive in Hakodate to see if anything remains of their last desperate attempt to stem the tide of history. Hakodate is famous for its wild weather but I am taken aback by the blizzard that coats me in snow in the few minutes it takes to walk from the tram stop to my hotel.