Hokkaido, worth knowing.

Fun facts about Hokkaido

1. 1The Sapporo Snow Festival began in 1950 with just six snow statues built by local students in Odori Park. Now hundreds of snow and ice sculptures fill the city every February.Source: Sapporo Snow Festival; Wikipedia
2. 2Hokkaido's Okhotsk coast is the southernmost place in the northern hemisphere where you can see drifting sea ice. In winter, icebreaker boats crunch out of Abashiri right through it.Source: Japan National Tourism Organization; japan-guide.com
3. 3Biei's Blue Pond was made by accident. A dam built to hold back volcanic mudflows flooded a forest, and aluminium in the water turns it a startling blue.Source: Biei Tourism Association; Japan Travel
4. 4Lake Akan grows marimo, rare algae that form fuzzy green balls and are protected as a Special Natural Monument. See the giant ones up close on a little island in the lake.Source: Japan National Tourism Organization; japan-guide.com
5. 5Every February, Otaru's canal fills with floating glass candles that look like old fishermen's floats, and volunteers handmake snow lanterns that glow all over town.Source: Hokkaido Official Tourism Site; Japan National Tourism Organization

Things to do in Hokkaido

• ◦Goryokaku in Hakodate is a fort shaped like a giant five-pointed star. Ride up Goryokaku Tower to see the whole star from above.Source: Hakodate City official tourism guide; Japan National Tourism Organization
• ◦Ride the ropeway up Mount Hakodate after dark. In about three minutes you're looking down on a glittering city wrapped by the sea.Source: Hakodate City official tourism guide; japan-guide.com
• ◦Outside Otaru's Music Box Museum, a steam clock whistles a little tune every 15 minutes. Inside, tens of thousands of music boxes chime away.Source: Hokkaido Official Tourism Site; All Japan Tours
• ◦Noboribetsu's Hell Valley is a steaming volcanic crater that smells of sulfur and pours out about 10,000 tonnes of hot spring water a day. Walk the boardwalks through the steam.Source: Hokkaido Official Tourism Site; Japan National Tourism Organization
• ◦At Hakodate Morning Market you can catch a live squid from a fishing pond yourself, then watch a chef turn it into sashimi on the spot.Source: Hakodate City official tourism guide; Hokkaido Official Tourism Site
• ◦Winter at Asahiyama Zoo means the penguin walk. Watch the zoo's penguins waddle out across the snow.Source: Hokkaido Official Tourism Site; japan-guide.com

Questions to bring to Hokkaido

From Sojourn's journeys. Ask one over a long dinner or on a slow walk, and let the place do some of the work.

Going together

• When do you feel most like yourself?
• What does rest actually look like for you?
• What is one thing you wish we did more of?

Going solo

• What is the first thing this place is showing you that you didn't expect?
• What does this version of you know that the home version tends to forget?

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