Much of Hakodate occupies a narrow peninsula. At the peninsula's south end, Mt. Hakodate - an extinct volcano - rises some 1099 feet above the town. Board your coach for the short transfer to the Mt. Hakodate Ropeway - actually an aerial tram, perhaps the busiest tram in all Japan. Your tram ride travels nearly half a mile to the summit for sweeping night views of the harbor and the city - a wide ribbon of vividly colored light. In a nation that prizes esthetic views, the night view from Mt. Hakodate is considered one of the three finest in Japan. The summit of the volcano is crowned with observation platforms, a cafeteria and two monuments, one commemorating the English zoologist and explorer Thomas Blakiston, who discovered the Blakiston Line, dividing the fauna of Siberia from Japan, and Tadataka Inoh, who produced the first survey map of Japan.