insights from frontier Japan

At the Daisetsuzan Nature School, we provide environmental education for local children. As I covered in my last article, we are putting together a list of 100 things that all kids in Hokkaido should experience. In this article, I’d like to explain two natural experiences that – during summer – draw people to Daisetsuzan National Park, located in the middle of Hokkaido: snowball fights and discovering Daisetsuzan “at the intersection of alpine flora.”

The Hidaka mountain range, which has been unofficially nominated as national park, is dotted with ‘knife ridges,’ that are cut off at both sides. Since the opening of the Nozuka Tunnel on National Highway Route 236 (from the town of Hiroo in the Tokachi region to the town of Urakawa in the Hidaka region), the number of climbers on Mt. Toyoni-dake (1,493 m) has rapidly increased, and this knife ridge is the most difficult traverse.

Mt. Soranuma-dake (1,251 m), a popular mountain with summer hiking courses that take in Bankei-numa Swamp and Mamisu-numa Swamp, boasts a winter-only course that takes in another swamp. On the Kara-numa Swamp Course, hikers walk on the frozen surface of the water.

An ‘Ice Fall Shrine’ ice sculpture has been established again this year at the site of the ‘47th Sounkyo Onsen Ice Fall Festival’ held at the Sounkyo hot-spring resort in the town of Kamikawa in northern Hokkaido, where visitors attached coins to a ‘sacred ball’ made of ice in the hope of bringing good luck.

Mt. Horohoro (1,322 m), located in the city of Date in the Iburi region of central Hokkaido, is a place where snow monsters (rime-covered trees) appear during this season, to the delight of climbers.

Towering over the northern side of Rusutsu Resort (Rusutsu Village, Shiribeshi region), Mt. Shiribetsu (1,107 meters) is a prime destination for many mountain skiers and snowboarders for its powder snow. It is popular for viewing the nearby Mt. Yotei (1,898 meters) and skiing the steep slopes that are largely free of trees, but snowslide remnants and snow cornice cracks have dotted the area.

As the winter mountain season commences, mountain hiking and skiing enthusiasts are pouring into the Mt. Mokoto (1,000 m) area in Akan Mashu National Park and soaking up the breathtaking scenery woven from Lake Kussharo below and the mountains of Eastern Hokkaido.

Housed in a renovated agricultural storehouse, the restaurant "le mantaro" opened on January 5 in the Koshin area in Kyogoku along National Route 276 under the management of proprietor Christopher Kim (36), the Korean-American president of architectural design company "Christopher's" (Tokyo). President Kim lives in the town of Kyogoku in Central Hokkaido's Shiribeshi region. The restaurant features a glass wall dining area with a panoramic view of Mount Yotei. Kim commented, "My hope is that many town residents will come here."

Despite the pandemic, real estate prices in the Niseko area have been soaring, and a raft of investors from busy cities, such as Sapporo and Tokyo, have visited to check out the area for themselves. But seeing a number of aged buildings in front of Kutchan Station, the visitors seemed surprised, asking: “Is this really the place expected to become a premier location after the shinkansen line is extended?”