A winter playground in Asia? You betcha. Here are 11 reasons to stick Hokkaido on your winter must visit list.
From the first snowflake that falls on
the central mountaintops in September until the official last day of the
ski season in May, rather than quivering under the six-month-long
Siberian cold, Hokkaido flourishes through the ice.
Tourism booms as people flock to see the
impressive ice sculptures at the Sapporo Winter Festival, welcome the
salmon back to spawn at the ‘Come Back Salmon’ festival, watch the
lively Japan national dogsled races, glance out over eerie frozen lakes,
and of course, ski.
Yet it is thanks to the skiing that Hokkaido’s fixture on the winter travel calendar has truly been established. Skiing in Japan
started in the nineties when word got out on what has been described as
‘the world’s best powder snow.’ Ski enthusiasts came from all over the
world to discover the driest, lightest, and freshest snow to be skied
on. Coupled with the attractive, high-tech ski resorts that shot up
during Japan’s hedonistic, late-eighties’ ‘ski-boom’ and Hokkaido ski resorts quickly became the ski destination to be seen at.
Yet that’s all old hat these days. Step a
little, or a lot, further away from the slopes and Japan’s second
largest island has an astounding line-up of winter activities and attractions,
buzzing cities, natural beauty and unique wildlife to discover. Be
warned though, with so much to do you won’t want to compromise on the
time you spend in Hokkaido—and that counts for non-skiers too.
- Lively Sapporo
Say to any Japanese you’re heading to
Hokkaido and they’ll ask if you are going to Sapporo. Being the main hub
of transport to and throughout Hokkaido, this laid back metropolis
makes a great place to start any trip to the island.
The transient influx of skiers and
snowboarders who stop in the city before moving onto the slopes make
Sapporo a refreshing change to exploring Japan’s more historic cities
and a great place to enjoy nightlife, local beer, and specialty foods.
Be sure to try some steamed snow crab or
the more oddly named hairy crab, while on really cold days go for the
famously warming curry soup.
- Sapporo beer
For many ‘Sapporo’ means beer. Sapporo
Breweries, the oldest beer company in Japan, was set up in 1879 after
Seibei Nakagawa returned; obviously impressed by the beer he had learnt
to brew in Germany.
Today, the current brewing and bottling
factory has been moved out of town and the original red brick brewery
turned into the popular Sapporo Beer Museum.
Whether you make a trip to the brewery or
not, it would be rude not to enjoy a night eating and drinking you way
through the local delicacies.
The highlight of Sapporo’s (and even
Japan’s) winter calendar is the Sapporo Winter Festival that springs the
city in life in February.
A fantastic display of ice sculptures
that take months to plan and weeks to make, line the parks and
boulevards while ski jumping, concerts, snow golf, karaoke, and dancing
takes place throughout the city and in bars and clubs.
Previous super-sized sculptures have
included a replica of Trafalgar Square, the Taj Mahal, Cinderella’s
crystal carriage, and even Harry Potter.
- Powder Appeal
From Sapporo it’s an easy route out to
the ski slopes thanks to the comprehensive network of buses and trains
to the various resorts.
- Onsen
A day of skiing (or in fact any form of sightseeing in Japan) is not complete with the obligatory soak in an onsen (hot spring).
Seated upon three volcanic mountain
ranges, Hokkaido’s hot springs have been bubbling away for centuries and
offer more than two hundred onsen to choose from.
Each with it’s own claim to healing properties and often with a beautiful snow mountain backdrop, sitting outside in a steamy hot onsen while the snow falls around you is like being sat in the centre of a children’s’ snow dome that has just been shaken.
Just one hour from Sapporo, Noboribetsu
Onsen is one of the most popular onsen in Hokkaido attracting more than
three million visitors a year. You will however find onsen throughout
the island, some hotels even have onsen attached, and often it can be
the smaller more remote baths that provide the more authentic experience.
- Snow monkeys
Of course when temperatures can drop as low as -10°C, it’s not just humans that take to the hot waters.
Images of red-faced snow monkeys bathing
neck high in Japan’s onsen are a regular fixture on tourist campaigns,
yet surprisingly in Hokkaido these monkeys are hard to spot. While the snow monkey, or Japanese
macaque, is not native to the northern island, a troupe of 70 can be
found at an onsen in Hakodate on the southern tip of Hokkaido.
Twenty were brought over about 30 years
ago to make a snow monkey onsen attraction although the experiment
almost failed when the original monkeys couldn’t be persuaded to take
the plunge. Park owners eventually enticed them in with food, and now
they can’t get them out.
- Japanese cranes – a symbol of Japan
If it is more wildlife than action sports
that takes your interest, Hokkaido is increasingly drawing animal
lovers and photographers to view some of the most breathtaking winter wildlife and landscapes in the world.
As with most animal centers in Japan, you
are best advised to skip the Ashiyama Zoo and the Noboribetsu Bear Park
and head out to see wild and rarely spotted breeds.
TIP: Take up a backcountry Japan tour to keep up with your schedule.
- Winter wildlife
Other wildlife attractions include
spotting Whooper Swans at Kussharo Lake as they warm themselves in the
hot spring water that flows into the lake; Steller’s Sea Eagles at the
port town of Rausu which at over one-meter tall are some of the largest
raptures in the world; 600 brown bears that roam Shiretoko National
Park; the whales, dolphins, porpoises and seals that can be spotted on
tours from Muroran, as well as the wild foxes and deer to be found all
over Hokkaido.
- Eerie ongoings
Over in Abashiri, white-tailed sea eagles
and seals can be spotted on board of the Aurora Drift Icebreaker Cruise
that takes tourists out three times daily. Crushing through the drift ice that has drifted in from the Sea of Okhotsk, the icy, silent seas and pale cool skies make a breathtaking voyage.
- Fear of Abashiri prison
Yet for many Japanese, the word ‘Abashiri” lures the same fearful fascination as ‘Alcatraz’ does to westerners.
The prison here, which is still in use
today, was set up at the end of the nineteenth century for some of the
country’s most hardened criminals.
Getting sent to Abashiri was equivalent
to getting sent to Siberia from Russia: the weather harsh and
unrelenting. Trapped between the Sea of Okhotsk to the north, Lake
Abashiri on the south and Lake Notori to the west, escaping and
surviving was unlikely.
Today the original prison is a museum
allowing tourists experience what it is like to be trapped in the
deepest winter terrain with nothing but the cracking and crunching sound
of the slow moving icebergs as they float past to break the silence.
- The Mysterious Lake
Other effects of the harsh Hokkaido
winters can be found at Lake Mashu, the ‘Mysterious Lake,’ so called as
it is so rarely seen through the thick mist and the cascading yet
completely frozen waterfalls at Sounkyo Gorge, which look as if a new ice age has just begun.
And still there is more. Few places in
the world are able to offer such a fascinating and fruitful insight into
the beauty and fun of a winter world. It’s almost surprising that it
would be found here in Asia, and yet being in Japan you’re glad that it
is. Where else would display such respect and appreciation of the
harshest of what nature has to offer?
Now, if you can only drag yourself away from the ski slopes, you may be coming back to explore this island for years to come.
Source: Photos and written by Marie Teather
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