Michi-no-Eki Mashu Onsen
A hot-spring footbath and trip planning between Lake Mashu and Lake Akan
Teshikaga's roadside station sits close to where Routes 241, 243 and 391 meet, which makes it the...
Michi-no-Eki Niseko View Plaza
Farm stalls under Mount Yotei
Where Route 5 meets the Iwanai–Toya road in Niseko, local farmers sell their own vegetables besid...
Goryokaku Fort
Hakodate’s star-shaped fortress marks Japan’s encounter with Western military design at the end o...
Noboribetsu Date Jidaimura
An Edo-period town with ninja and oiran shows near Noboribetsu Onsen
A recreated Edo-period town on the road up to Noboribetsu Onsen. No rides; the point is the shows...
Upopoy National Ainu Museum and Park
Japan's National Ainu Museum, With Ainu Language on Every Label First
The national centre for Ainu culture, opened in 2020 on the shore of Lake Poroto in Shiraoi: the ...
Jozankei Onsen
Sapporo's Own Hot Spring Town, an Hour by Bus, With Kappa Statues and a Red Bridge Over the Gorge
Jozankei is inside Sapporo's city limits, in the mountains of Minami-ku, about an hour from Sappo...
Michi-no-Eki Utoro Shirietoku
Salmon lunch at the gateway to Shiretoko
The roadside station in Utoro, on Route 334 next to the Shiretoko World Heritage Center. Eat salm...
Okushiri Island
A Sea Urchin Island Rebuilt After the 1993 Tsunami
An island 84 km around, 61 km off Esashi in the Sea of Japan, known for sea urchin, clear water a...
Rebun Island
Rebun Island: Flower Trails at the Far End of the Wakkanai Ferry
A long, low island west of Wakkanai, reached only by a ferry of about two hours. From late May to...
Kushiro Shitsugen National Park
Japan's Largest Wetland, Seen from the Hosooka Lookout at Sunset
About 22,000 hectares of reed and sedge marsh north of Kushiro, Japan's largest wetland and a nat...
Moerenuma Park
Isamu Noguchi's Last Design, a Whole Park Built on a Landfill
A 188.8-hectare park in northeast Sapporo built to Isamu Noguchi's master plan on top of a former...
Mount Tarumae
Fifty Minutes From the Car Park to the Rim of a Steaming Lava Dome
An active volcano south of Lake Shikotsu whose 1909 lava dome sits in the summit crater like a gi...
Mount Usu and Showa-shinzan
A Volcano That Grew From a Wheat Field, and One That Erupted in 2000
Mount Usu, the active volcano on the south shore of Lake Toya, and Showa-shinzan, the lava dome a...
Matsumae Castle
Hokkaido’s northern frontier history comes into focus at Matsumae Castle, where an original gate ...
Lake Mashu
A 212 m Deep Caldera You Can Only See From the Rim, Fog Permitting
A caldera lake 212 m deep, walled in by cliffs up to 350 m high, that you look down on from obser...