Blogs from Hokkaido, Japan, Asia

2023_Blog 33_Japan April 22 Port of Call: Hakodate, Japan – Weather: 50°F/10°C – Scattered clouds – Winds: 50+ mph. Overnight we had expected the heavy winds to continue but thankfully they didn’t materialize. However today they found us and churned up whitecaps in the harbor. At one point the captain expressed some concern about how the wind could possibly impede our departure. As Hakodate is situated in the northern region of Japan spring has just started and the cherry blossoms were at their glory. Luck was with us as today was the second day of viewing the blossoms at their fullest. Most of Hakodate population seemed to be out enjoying the spectacle as well. Our excursion today took us to the Kanazawa Castle Park & Kenrokuen Garden. The first castle was built on this site in ... read more

Asahikawa was on our radar as a near destination for the final rail pass day, and a civilised early afternoon departure time. I used the Furatto complex again once it opened at 10, feeling quite reassured with attentive pool attendants, patrons being temperature tested on entry, and people staying masked up to the poolside. So different. Kaguraoka park is one stop short of the Asahikawa terminal. As well as spotting birds in winter when the trees are bare, because it’s snowed over it becomes a cross country ski trail, where mostly older citizens of Asahikawa were practicing. The snow melt made harder work of some sections up to the bridge without snow shoes, and with a brief trip after to Chikabumi (where we simply ran out of train connection time to get to the park), the ... read more

I’d always wanted to see a bear in the wild. I’ve been very fortunate in seeing many other big wild beasts around the world, a tiger in India, gorillas in Uganda, lions, elephants, leopards, hippos, giraffes, rhinos etc around Africa, and some big underwater stuff like whales, whalesharks and manta rays, but I hadn’t seen a bear. Until Hokkaido where we saw three! Our contracts at Kyushu University restricted how many days per year we could spend outside of Japan. Therefore, Magdalena bought me for my birthday in February a trip to Hokkaido in July. This was fortunate because with the coronavirus situation we couldn’t go abroad anyway. It was even more fortunate because Hokkaido is fantastic. The northern island of Hokkaido comprises 22% of Japan (it’s about the size of Ireland) but contains less than ... read more

Keeping an eye on our recoveries, Furano became a point of relative convalescence interspersed with light snow hiking. P2 felt underdone energy wise, so there would be unfinished snow business after the trip. The last time we were here the temperatures were in the mid thirties, the sun rising at 3:30am. Contrasting it to January, it was crusty snow underfoot and minus 13 to 15 Celsius in the morning. Our bodies were certainly under different stressors. The landscape transforms completely and it’s very relaxing to simply look at in the wintery state. We thought our colds had improved enough to meet 2018’s trip feature, Shingo-san, a café owner, cycle guide, and jack of all trades, as is common in the Hokkaido community. Luckily, the dress code of the cool days had been a covered nose and ... read more

Sapporo (札幌市) is the fifth largest city in Japan,It is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture and the largest city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Sapporo is considered the cultural, economical, and political center of Hokkaido. As with most of Hokkaido, the Sapporo area was settled by the indigenous Ainu people, beginning over 15,000 years ago. Starting in the late 19th century, Sapporo saw increasing settlement by Japanese migrants. Sapporo hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympics ever held in Asia, and the second Olympic games... read more