About Hokkaido

At Japan’s northernmost extreme, lies Hokkaido. It is a place of natural beauty and its unique natural environment is its greatest attraction. Forests alive with wild animals, wetlands with vast numbers of nesting birds, grasslands and steep mountains punctuate this land.

Measuring 8.34 million ha Hokkaido is roughly the same size as Austria and is Japan’s largest prefecture, accounting for 22% of the nation’s land area and comprises 509 islands. Five of these are far-flung but inhabited islands: Okushiri, Teuri, Yagishiri, Rebun and Rishiri. These are unique in natural environment and culture. The sea urchin are exceptional.

A wide range of activities are on offer including skiing and snow boarding at the numerous mountain resorts, white water rafting in mountain rivers, mountain biking, hiking and relaxing in therapeutic hot springs.

Being surrounded by bountiful seas means that Hokkaido offers fresh seafood amongst other local produces.

Hokkaido is broken into 6 tourist regions:

• Southern Hokkaido
• Central Hokkaido
• Northern Hokkaido
• Okhostk
• Tokachi
• Kushiro/Nemuro

Places to visit

Hokkaido's varied landscape provides many unique places to visit. The romantic atmosphere of Hokkaido can be found in many of its port towns. Developed as important trading and fishery towns the waterfronts are dotted with fashionable shops, markets and museums.

Niseko Area -is renown for its mountain resorts including Grand Hirafu. A popular powder skiing and snow boarding area. It is also the home of Mt Yotei, Mt Fuji's twin. Read more

Otaru - is an exotic port town featuring stone warehouses, gas lamps and canals. Otaru developed during the Meiji and early Showa eras. It is a major tourist destination with exquisite glassware shops and a large shopping complex.

Hakodate - prospered as an international trading port during the Tokugawa shogunate. The city is rich in Western flavour. Meiji-era redbrick warehouses have been converted to restaurants and fashionable shops. Fresh local produce is available at the famous Jiyu Market.

Muroran- is famous for its large natural harbour. It prospered in the Meiji era. Muroran is an ideal and popular place for whale watching.

Tomakomai - is an inland artificial port. The world's first!

Mombetsu - this port town is located on the Okhotsk Sea. Because of its northern position it is an ideal place to watch drift ice and the wildlife including seals that inhabit the ice drifts.

Okushiri Island - is 84 km in circumference and is located at the western extreme of Hokkaido. It is dotted with strangely shaped rocks, including Nabetsuru-iwa, Hoya-iwa. Okushiri is known for sea urchin and abalone and is a gourmets delight.

Teuri Island - a million seabirds live on this small 12 km island located in the Sea of Japan on the north western side of Hokkaido. The seabirds nest along the west coast cliffs. It is a true paradise for bird watching and has been declared as a natural monument.

Yagishiri Island - houses a colony of giant yews.

Rebun Island - located at the northern extreme of Japan, it is known for its alpine flowers that bloom even at sea level. Best visited between May and August.

Rishiri Island - home to Mt. Rishiri, this mountain was created created by a submarine eruption and is considered one of the most beautiful mountains in Japan.

Events and Festivals

Like the rest of Japan Hokkaido has numerous local festivals each year. A few of these include:

Spring Festivals
Akabira Orchid Festival(Early April)
Lake Kutcharo Swan Festival(Late April – Early May)
Lake Toya Firework Display(Late April – Early October)
Matsumae Cherry Blossom Festival(Early – Middle of May)

Summer Festivals
Kami-Yubetsu Tulip Fair(Early May – Early June)
Hokkaido Music Parade (Early June)
Kutchan JAZ Festival (Late July)
Sea Urchin Festival (Early July – Early August)
Hakodate Port Festival (Early August)
Yako Lantern Festival(Late August)
The Sea of Japan Ororon Line Triathlon International Competition (Late August)
Gold-Panning World Contest at Hamatonbetsu (Late August)
Apoi Fire Festival (Early August)
Hokkaido Balloon Festival(Early August)

Autumn Festivals
Tokachidake Hot Spring Autumn Festival (Late September)
Nemuro Crab Festival (Early September)
Lake Ohnuma Autumn Festival (Mid October)
Kitami Chrysanthemum Festival(Mid October – Early November)

Winter Festivals
Hakodate Christmas Fantasy(Early December – Christmas day)
Reindeer White Festival (Late December)
First Sunrise Worship at Cape Noshappu(1st of January)
Sapporo Snow Festival(Early – Mid February)
Otaru Snow Lantern Festival(Early – Mid February)
Yubari International Fantastic Movie Festival(Mid February)
Japan Cup Dogsled Competition in Wakkanai( Late February)
Showa Shinzan International Snowball Fight Competition(Late February)

Things to do

Winter activities include:

• Skiing, snowboarding, skating and other winter sports
• Snow playing such as sled riding
• Winter festivals
• Visits to hot spring resort areas
• Drifting ice watching along the Okhotsk coast where the ice fields extend to Russia and Alaska
• Ice fishing

Spring activities include:

• Gathering wild edible plants
• Visiting gardens to view the cheery blossoms
• Alpine wild flower viewing.
• Hiking / Trekking
• White water rafting
• Mountain biking
• Bird watching
• Farm / ranch visits
• Park golf - developed in Hokkaido. Players hit a large golf ball with a club which resembles a Number 1 Wood. The object of the game is to put the ball into a larger hole with the minimum number of strokes.
• Golf
• Fishing
• Visits to various hot springs
• Horseback riding

Summer activities include:

• Bathing in the Sea
• Various marine sports
• Hiking / Trekking
• White water rafting
• Canoeing and Kayaking
• Mountain biking
• Strawberry and cherry gathering
• Bird watching
• Hang gliding, paragliding, ballooning and other sky sports
• Summer festivals
• Fireworks festivals
• Park golf
• Golf
• Fishing
• Visits to various hot springs
• Horseback riding

Autumn activities include:

• Autumn festivals
• Fruit picking including pears, grapes, apples and plums
• Mushroom gathering
• Autumn leave tours
• Hiking / trekking
• Park golf
• Golf
• Horseback riding
• Fishing
• Bird watching - migratory birds begin flying over Hokkaido in November

Food and wine

Hokkaido has a rich variety of local produce. It is proud of its great variety of seafood including, salmon, trout, mackerel, sea urchins, crabs, scallops and squid plus much more.

Hokkaido's fertile soils produces potatoes, corn, asparagus and melons. Its dairy products are also delicious. Dairy products in Hokkaido are made with traditional skills and the cows are feed on a rich pasture. Hokkaido also produces high quality chocolate from its local dairy produce.

Environment

Thermal volcanic springs
Hokkaido abounds with hot springs. All the different springs have distinctive characteristics and are believed to have great healing powers. The mountain resorts of Central Hokkaido contain many hot springs and combined with the magnificent mountain scenery are well worth a visit.

Flora
Colourful flowers bloom through spring and summer emerging after the long snowy winter. Hokkaido is blessed with several wetlands including the Kushiro Marsh - one of Japan's largest marshes. There are several species of rare plants that are only found in Hokkaido.

Fauna
The diversity of natural landscapes located on Hokkaido provides a wealth of habitats. Hokkaido is known for its brown bear, hare, brown bear and a number of other animals that cannot be seen on Honshu.

The Brown bear is the largest land animal in Japan, and despite their sharp claws and teeth, they mainly eat grass and nuts. Their diet also includes fish and ants, making them omnivorous rather than carnivorous. Red foxes are often seen on roads near downtown Sapporo and at various tourist resorts.

Hokkaido's prefectural bird is the red-crowned crane. It can be found in the marshlands in eastern Hokkaido and it is the largest bird breeding in Japan. The crane was almost made extinct due to wetland reclamation but fortunately numbers are slowly increasing due to active environmental movements.

Ezo deer is the only wild deer found on Hokkaido. It is the most commonly seen large wild animal. The males have magnificent antlers. The Piping hare also known as the mouse hare is found in the mountains of the Taisetsu range. It actually looks more like a mouse with its small body - only 20 cm long and the squeaking noise it emits is more like that of a mouse than any other variety of hare.

Blakiston’s fish-owl is only found in Hokkaido. Its wingspan measures up to 170 cm. Found in limited areas in central and eastern Hokkaido this owl is protected nationally.

National parks
Hokkaido boasts 23 parks, six of them national, five of them quasi-national, and 12 of them prefectural. Together these measure 860,000 ha, or more than 10% of the total area of Hokkaido. These parks aid to preserve the native flora and fauna and can provide the visitors with unforgettable memories.

Climate

Due to its northerly position Hokkaido experiences long, cold icy winters and cool summers which attract many domestic tourists. The average summer temperature is around 22°C (72°F). In winter the average temperature ranges from -12°C to -4°C (10°F to 25°F) depending on elevation and latitude.

During the winter, passage through the Sea of Okhotsk is often complicated by large ice flows. Air travel and trains travel can become interrupted by large banks of snow and high winds.

Precipitation is not heavy.

The islands develop deep snowbanks in the winter which melt in mid spring. Spring has refreshing breezes. The summers are very comfortable avoiding the hot humidity that prevails in other parts of Japan. Autumn comes earlier to Hokkaido than elsewhere in Japan.

Average temperatures

More information

More info visit the Hokkaido prefectural tourism web site
http://kanko.pref.hokkaido.jp/kankodb/foreign/e/

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