insights from frontier Japan

Wintertime in Eastern Hokkaido is packed with amazing scenery and experiences not available elsewhere in Japan, like drift ice, art made from snow and ice, and the ice horizon expanse. The "East Hokkaido Express Bus" is a seasonal bus that travels to all sorts of tourist spots in wintertime Eastern Hokkaido. It gives you easy access to famous spots difficult to reach by car. Visit Eastern Hokkaido aboard buses in search of amazing experiences only available there!

Flying squirrels are approximately 15 cm long and nocturnal; during the daytime, they sleep in the old nests of great spotted woodpeckers, and tree hollows. As darkness begins to fall, they begin to emerge from their nesting holes, wary of their natural enemies such as Ezo-ural owls and the like.

The Abashiri Local Meteorological Office announced the observation of the ‘first day of drift ice on the coast’ of the northeastern Hokkaido city of Abashiri on January 31. The sighting was 2 days earlier than average and 11 days earlier than last year.

A succession of charming glass products associated with this year’s sign of the zodiac – the ox – are being produced at the Ryuhyo Glass Museum, a glass studio in the city of Abashiri in northeastern Hokkaido.

Amidst the ever advancing harvest season, wheat is being loaded up for shipping from a wheat collection and shipment facility in northeast Hokkaido's Abashiri City.

We captured aerial drone footage of fishermen hauling in autumn salmon from fixed netting in an offing about one kilometer from Cape Notoro in northeastern Hokkaido's Abashiri City.

The first test run for touring the Sea of Okhotsk by kayak was carried out on September 13 at the Abashiri coast. A first-time kayak rider, I joined the tour as a reporter and felt the magnificence of the Sea of Okhotsk anew. The organizer is planning to commoditize the tour from next year onward.