insights from frontier Japan

Autumn foliage at ‘Shiretoko Goko’ (five lakes), a popular tourist spot in the Shiretoko World Natural Heritage site in the town of Shari in eastern Hokkaido, reached its peak on October 1. Leaves on the Manchurian ash and mizunara (Mongolian oak) trees in the vicinity of the lakes have turned various shades of red, yellow and orange. Many visitors could be seen taking photographs with Smartphones and cameras on an elevated boardwalk that commands panoramic views directly in front of the Shiretoko Mountain Range and one of the lakes. According to the Shiretoko Goko Field House, the colors of the leaves began to turn in late September, one week earlier than usual.

As autumn approaches, Japan's largest natural glasswort area in Ubaranai, Abashiri City is beginning to change colors. The annual September "Lake Notoro Coral Grass Festival" has been cancelled for the second year running in response to the State of Emergency Declaration for Hokkaido as a COVID-19 countermeasure, but tourists are still enjoying the colorful vermillion scenery with the lake as a backdrop.

The beautiful sea, known as “Shakotan blue” sparkles in the strong, summer sunlight. A drone flown above the sea reveals a green heart approximately 300 meters off the coast of the Ogon Peninsula in Bikuni in the town of Shakotan in the central Hokkaido region of Shiribeshi.

The full bloom season has arrived for flowers all along the Taisetsu Mountain Range. The path from the Ginsendai trailhead in the Northern Hokkaido Kamikawa region town of Kamikawa to Mt. Hakuundake (2,230 meters high) is an alpine plant trail ascending through the heavens, and is lavishly populated by the indigenous and rare plants that grow wild in the area. Amidst the beautiful weather of July 17, many mountain hikers visited the trail.

Potato plants are in full bloom at the foot of Mt. Yotei in the town of Kutchan in the Shiribeshi prefecture, which is known as one of Hokkaido’s leading potato producing regions. The sight of fields full of flowers swaying in the breeze is a sign that summer has arrived.

Visitors to the rugged cliffs of the Otamoi coast in the city of Otaru are often overwhelmed by the beauty of the clear sea below, before summer begins in earnest.

Orange Siberian lilies (Lilium pensylvanicum) and other colorful wild flowers have begun to bloom at the Koshimizu Genseikaen Wild Flower Park, a popular tourist spot in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido. According to the Information Center Hana, the peak of the viewing season for Siberian lilies is from the end of June to early July.

The shibazakura (moss phlox) cared for by former farmer Mishima Kazuo in the town of Kutchan within Central Hokkaido's Niseko region are popularly known as "Mishima's Shibazakura Garden". And the shibazakura flower viewing season has arrived again this year, with a virtual carpet of vivid flowers spreading out across the field and delighting the gaze of area residents.

In the town of Takinoue in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido, moss phlox is in full bloom at Shibazakura Taninoue Park, which is open for the first time in two years. On May 20, hillsides in the park were a vivid pink color and a sweet aroma drifted beneath the clear blue sky.