Ever thought about visiting a university campus for autumn foliage? The Hokkaido University is a great place to see gingko trees and the color in the city of Sapporo, Hokkaido Japan. Locating just 10 minutes on foot from Sapporo JR station North Exit, this 140 years old campus offers leisure walk, historic buildings, gingko avenue and beautiful landscape. It’s particularly beautiful in autumn.
If you have limited time visiting Hokkaido for the autumn foliage, the Shikotsu-Toya National Park is a nice place to visit because of its proximity to Sapporo. Locating west of Chitose, Lake Shikotsu was formed by volcanic activity more than 40,000 years ago. It’s the northernmost non-freezing lake in Japan with visibility to the depth of 25 meters. The lake area is a popular outing destination with walking trail, lodging, onsen and boating activities. Be it a day-trip or a weekend getaway, it’s nice.
One of my favorite things to do when I travel is to try the local coffee. In Hokkaido, there are a couple of popular coffee shops that you should try. Sapporo Coffee Kan is one. Similar to other coffee shop, Coffee Kan brew their selected coffee beans from dedicated farms. Locating right next to the Sapporo Clock Tower (Tokeidai) in the city center, Sapporo Coffee Kan is not hard to find. It’s in the B1 of the building next door. There are quite a few outlets in Hokkaido and one branch in Tokyo. It is a very established coffee shop with membership and eShop.
Jozankei is more than a nice onsen (hot spring) area. If you are visiting Hokkaido for the autumn foliage, Jozankei is a not-to-be-missed destination where you can enjoy beautiful scenery, hot spring, foot bath and fresh soba.
Hokkaido is famous for noodles. Almost everywhere has its unique and famous noodle types and soup base. Koyo-tei is one of the oldest restaurants established in 1927. Koyo-tei means “Autumn leaves pavilion” in Chinese character which sound right in the autumn season. The restaurant is located along the river where there are maple leaves around the neighborhood. What’s special about this restaurant is that the soba noodles are freshly hand-made by the owner every morning. All vegetables served are pesticide-free and the soba sauce ingredients varied depending on the season to ensure healthy and good taste.
The largest Snow Festival in Japan: the Sapporo Snow Festival attracts millions of visitors every year and this number is on the rise every year. There were definitely a lot more visitors this year than the previous two times I visited before. The walking paths are wider but there was only one direction of traffic flow. I also noticed that there were fewer snow sculptures and more food and drink kiosks. And there were more laser shows on the snow statues.
Held from February 6 to 11, the opening of 2016 Asahikawa Winter Festival is an excellent event with remarkable fireworks and laser shows that last around 20 minutes in the opening and finale. On February 6, I travelled over 5 hours from Hakodate to Asahikawa on train. The train was on time and it was sunny when I arrived. That was a good start. Asahikawa can get very cold and windy but it was not. Not on that day. I was lucky. The park was beautiful in the winter with picturesque snow scenery just like the last time I visited. Just follow the sign and the snowmen along the path will lead you to the snow festival. You may also take a shuttle bus from the JR station but it goes every 20 minutes and there may be a long line. The gigantic stage was a pair of snow bears, the mascots. It was much more crowded than the last time I visited but not nearly as crowded as other winter festivals which are more popular among tourists. It was still easy to…
Looking like a gorgeous Chinese landscape painting, Jozankei is a beautiful hot spring area in Hokkaido. The history of Jozankei onsen (hot spring) dates back to 1866 when a monk discovered this beautiful place and built a healing onsen. One of the main reasons why it is so popular is because of its proximity to Sapporo. It takes less than an hour by car and there are a few buses that run frequently between Sapporo and Jozankei. Hot spring gushing out in the Jyozankei spa resort areas contains sodium chloride featuring transparency and mild amount of salt. It is one of the most common spring types in Japan. There are 56 sources of hot spring in the Jyozankei onsen district. Most of them are in the vicinity of Tsukimibashi bridge and Takayamabasi bridge of the Toyohira river running the hot sprint area. Hot spring is abundantly gushing out from crannies of bedrocks in the riverbank and in the bottom of the river.
If you want to go for a day-trip Onsen (hot spring) from Sapporo, Noboribetsu is one of the possible location with a variety of hot springs with healing effects. You may drive, take a bus or train from Sapporo to Noboribetsu. In the winter, I would prefer the JR train which will be less likely to be interrupted by bad weather condition such as snow storms. It is comfortable and safe. It takes about 100 minutes from Sapporo to Noboribetsu JR station. Then a 15 minute bus to the onsen street. The Jigokudani (Hell Valley) is a not-to-be-missed attraction which is only 20 minutes away from the onsen street. On the way up to the Hell Valley, two giant onsen demons in red and blue color holding spiked bats will be waiting for you by the roadside. These hot spring demons are built for driving the evil spirit away, bringing health and happiness to people. Just follow the main road, you will arrive at the Noboribetsu Jigokudani scenery forest. There are wooden paths that leads you to different view points. And you can get closed to the hottest…
Wanna see king penguins without having to travel all the way to Antarctica? The Asahiyama Zoo is a great alternative. From end of December to middle of March each year, the zoo will arrange a penguin parade twice a day. You may watch them walk in front of you, up close. It’s very cute! Besides, there is a good variety of animals in the zoo, particularly those living in cold weather, including Amur tigers, the Hokkaido bears, snow leopards, cranes, seals, polar bears and penguins. The penguin parade is held at 11am and 2:30pm every day during the snowy period. The walk lasts 20 to 30 minutes. During the Winter Festival, the zoo will extend the opening hours from 10:30am to 8:30pm (last entrance at 8:00pm). A light up will be arranged in the evening.
