It has been over six months since the last time I travelled to Japan. The last time we visited Hida Takayama, we enjoyed it a lot, especially the snow scenery in Shinhotaka, the heritage in Shirakawa-go, and the onsen in Gero. After weeks of discussion, we have decided to visit Hokkaido next month.
To travellers like us, Hokkaido appears different from other areas of Japan. Apart from the Japanese, it consists of Ainu people as well. They are the indigenous people of Hokkaido, with a distinct culture from the Japanese. I am interested in their history, culture, and how they coexisted with the Japanese in the past and present.
Hokkaido is the coldest region in Japan. As residents of a snowless region, we often long to experience snowy weather. However, we hesitate to travel to Hokkaido in winter due to potential dangers, not to mention the fact that we don’t have driving licences. Instead, we have decided to travel there in autumn, hoping to witness the incredible scenery full of red leaves.
A colleague of mine warned me that there aren’t many places worth visiting in Hokkaido if you can’t drive. He also added that in Sapporo, there is only one street worth walking. I have no idea what he expected to see during his journey a few years ago. However, we have discovered that there are numerous worthwhile places to visit, even in Sapporo. Moreover, we can reach most of these sites by public transport. Consider this – the area of Hokkaido is 2.3 times that of Taiwan. We wouldn’t be able to visit every corner of Taiwan within a week. How can we visit every place on our wish list in Hokkaido in a single trip?
While we are still in the process of selecting the possible places to visit for our upcoming journey, it reminds me that I haven’t finished editing all the photos I took during my last trip to Hida Takayama. Let’s see if I can complete this work in progress before I depart Hong Kong.
Taken at Shin Osaka Station