British merchant, naturalist and spy Thomas Blakiston took up residence in Hakodate in the summer of 1861 to establish a saw-milling business. He stayed in Hakodate until 1884, during which time he documented the local natural environment, equipped the local meteorological station and ran guns to the Boshin War rebels.

As one of few points of Japanese contact with the outside world, Hakodate was soon host to several overseas consulates. The Russian consulate