insights from frontier Japan

The Mt. Kurodake ski slopes in Sounkyo in the town of Kamikawa in northern Hokkaido opened on November 19, making them the first to open in Hokkaido this season.

At a height of around 1,000 meters in the Daisetsuzan National Park in central Hokkaido, a bird-like high-pitched cry echoes around the rugged rocks. It’s that of a small mammal – approximately 15 cm in length – known as the pika (rock rabbit).

Rebuilding work was completed for the mountain refuge hut that was previously under rebuilding construction by the Ministry of the Environment on Mount Hakuundake (2,230 meters tall) within Daisetsuzan National Park in northern Hokkaido's Kamikawa Town.

On September 26, the Asahikawa Local Meteorological Observatory announced that it observed the first snow cap on Hokkaido's tallest peak, Mount Asahidake (2,291 meters tall), in Daisetsuzan National Park.

Alpine bearberry shrubs started turning red around Daisetsuzan National Park's Mount Hokuchin (2,244 meters), Hokkaido's second tallest peak. The "earliest autumn colors in Japan" have begun.