Prior to this trip to Hokkaido I was told time and time again that the end of June was the best time to visit as there was no rainy season there. That may have been true but it certainly didn’t mean there was no rain. Far from it as it rained in part on most days of our five night stay in Japan’s most northern main island. Thankfully it wasn’t heavy enough to ruin the trip in any way and my number one American friend and I enjoyed a busy six days of mountain climbing, local delicacies, sightseeing, and drinking in a number of places dotted around the island. This is the (condensed) diary of our six day road trip to Hokkaido…

Day 1: Less than a month after visiting him in Seoul and I was again with Ethan having met up at New Chitose Airport early afternoon. We were soon in a rental car driving east with a boot full of bottled water supplies towards our destination of Obihiro. With no accommodation booked for the whole trip we were just thinking that we could roll up wherever we like and get some kind of room! Wrong! We tried about seven or eight hotels and all of them said there was no room at the inn! Subsequently we gave up on Obihiro and drove on towards our ultimate destination but not before we had sampled some of the local style miso ramen.

A photo of our sleeping HQ taken the morning after!

There were a few other vehicles in the car park when we arrived there late evening following a rather nervy drive in the dark (whereby five or six foxes crossed our path) through a gravelly road. More details here.

Day 2: As well as sleeping in the car, one of the highlight of this trip was climbing Mount Meakan which is 1,499 metres tall. 

It turned out to be a 5.5 hour climb (and descend!) of very contrasting terrain with forest in the lower parts whilst the upper reaches were very rocky. As its an active volcano there were also some emissions of sulphur fumes in the vicinity of the rim which are supposed to be fairly toxic.

There was to a be a real heart-in-the-mouth moment towards the end of our descent as the split-second that we saw our first bear sign we heard an animal coming our way on the boardwalk and froze thinking that it might actually be one of the bears we kind of wanted to see. It turned out to just be a fairly big dog but it didn’t half give us a brief shock. More details here.

Day 3: After a night in a hotel in Obihiro we drove on to Furano to visit Lavender Park. Whilst parts of the area didn’t look too bad it was a bit disappointing as not all the flowers were quite in bloom.

As we were leaving there we realised that this was not even the main place we had intended to see! Instead, that was a bit further down the road at Farm Tomita where the flowers were far more pleasing on the eye.

Farm Tomita was full of people and a real tourist trap with restaurants and souvenir shops galore including special lavender flavoured products such as milk, cheesecake, lemonade and ice-cream. The latter was really nice and we ate that as we walked on to our next destination a short distance away.

There is only one station in the whole of Japan starting with the letter ‘L’ and that is Lavender Farm which is a seasonal station and one that I’d wanted to visit for a long time since discovering such information. More details here.

Given that Hokkaido’s main city is nearly 50km away from New Chitose Airport we didn’t actually visit Sapporo on arrival like most people presumably do. It wasn’t till our third night that we arrived in the city for a night out.

We stumbled upon Aji no Karyu; a ramen restaurant which featured in one of the late  Anthony Bourdain’s TV shows.

I plumped for the butter miso ramen which in effect saw me pay ¥100 more than Ethan just for a nob of butter to be added!

Day 4: The rain was fairly relentless as we spent a few hours at Shikotsu-Toya National Park climbing Mount Tarumae. It didn’t take us too long at all to have some wonderful views looking back over the Lake Shikotsu with the mountains in the background.

This seven kilometre hike was quite a strain on our legs and a struggle at times battling against the aches and pains as well as the wind and rain. More details here.

Day 5: Our first port of call was a nearby walking trail weaving its way through a course on Mount Konpira and Mount Nishiyama. These active volcanoes erupted as recently as 2000 and the effects on the area were pretty devastating as the resulting mudflow washed away a bridge and severely damaged the ground floor of local buildings. There wasn’t a soul in sight as we freely wandered around the remnants of the disaster in the Konpira Crater. The town was evacuated in the wake of this most recent eruptions and it was fascinating to view this ghost town up close.

The trail eventually took us up a slippery volcanic ash path to Yu-kun crater which was formed by the eruption in 2000 and is a mysterious emerald green coloured pond. More details here.

Prior to our arrival in the area of Lake Toya neither Ethan or I were unaware of the volcanic lava-dome that is Shouwa-shinzan until we drove by it with a look of bewilderment on our faces. Intrigued by it, we set off to see it up close via the Usuzan Ropeway up to the crater rim walk. It’s hard to believe that this miracle mountain appeared out of the earth following the eruption of Mount Usu in 1943.

As we travelled 1,370 metres in the cable car we could look down on this relatively new mountain which is designated as a special national natural monument.

There were very few tourists or hikers on the crater and the views in all directions were pretty awesome. There was the lava dome and crater basin on one side, Mount Yotei in the distance ahead and the stunning Volcano Bay on the other side.  More details here.

Monday night football matches are incredibly rare in Japan but miraculously there was one taking place at Sapporo Dome which was somewhere I really wanted to visit.

As a non-sports fan Ethan was less enthused but still accompanied me for the beers and the atmosphere. Watching with an American was actually fun. In the past I’d have probably have hated to hear on-the-field action described in such a different way to how us Brits refer to the beautiful game. More details here.

Soup curry is another delicacy in Sapporo and we found a place to have that after the match before going for a few beers and cocktails.

Day 6: Our final morning in Hokkaido was spent walking around the streets of Sapporo with Ethan in charge of the itinerary. First up was the 19th century Clock Tower…

…followed by the 147 metre high Sapporo TV Tower.

Far more impressive was the former Hokkaido Government Office Building; a neo-baroque brick building constructed in 1888.

We met up for lunch at Nemuro Hanamaru sushi restaurant Rina; a former student of mine who was studying in Sapporo at that time.

We had to get to the airport after lunch but there was just enough time for a dessert at a nearby place where Rina had a very elaborate and extravagant Yubari melon parfait.

There were more sweet treats on offer at the airport mid-afternoon where we visited Royce Chocolate World. Royce is one of those chocolate brands which is a popular souvenir for anyone visiting Hokkaido but rarely ever seen anywhere else in Japan. More details here.

My number one American friend and I parted ways after that but were reunited in Hokkaido less than a year later for a snowboarding trip in Niseko which was very different to my first encounter with Japan’s most northern main island. It really did feel quite different to the rest of the country, and doing a road trip there with Ethan remains one of my most memorable trips in Japan.

Click here to read ‘Just One Day In Sapporo But It Was A Busy 24 Hours’

Click here to read ‘Life-Size Moai Statues In Japan! Who Knew!!’

Click here to read ‘Modern Architecture Outside of Tokyo #1 – Hokkaido & Tōhoku’

Click here to read ‘Snowboarding Trip To Hokkaido’