With travel to Japan heating up, and those numbers set to increase even more in the coming months with the arrival of the always-popular cherry blossom season, Kyoto-based tour operator Oku Japan is setting its sights on summer travel, highlighting the more temperate climate found on the island of Hokkaido.
Japan’s second largest island and northernmost prefecture, Hokkaido – formerly known as Ezo – is known for its volcanoes, natural hot springs (Onsen), beautiful wilderness, delicious seafood, and fascinating indigenous culture. In the winter, it is a popular destination for skiing and snowboarding thanks to abundant powder snow at top resorts like Niseko, Rusutsu, and Furano. While in the summer, Hokkaido offers respite from the high humidity that is common in other areas of Japan, and the perfect conditions for hiking and exploring the island’s many national parks.
“Hokkaido is a wonderful, largely unexplored place, and offers so much in terms of adventure, with different landscapes and even a different history from the rest of the country,” said Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Oku’s general manager. “From the culture and traditions of the indigenous Ainu people at Lake Akan, to the free-roaming brown bears, foxes, and deer found in the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokkaido is incredibly unique and offers visitors experiences they simply cannot get anywhere else.”
Oku’s summer offerings on the island include a nine-day, small-group guided trip through Eastern Hokkaido.
The Wild Lands of Eastern Hokkaido tour takes guests on a wonderful journey from Kushiro on Hokkaido’s eastern Pacific coast, where they will enjoy some of the best seafood in the country, followed by a visit to Hokkaido’s largest marshland area, and then on to Lake Akan, where guests will visit Ainu Kotan village, home to the largest remaining Ainu community on the island. The trip also visits Mount Meakandake, an active volcano in Akan Mashu National Park, which offers some of the most spectacular volcanic landscapes in Hokkaido; Lake Mashu, one of the clearest lakes in the world; and finally, the Onsen town of Utoro on the Sea of Okhotsk. The tour end with a visit to Lake Rausu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the largest lake on the Shiretoko Peninsula.
Priced from US$4,045 per person, currently there are various summer and early fall departures available:
- July 28 to August 5
- August 31 to September 8
- September 7 to 15
- September 17 to 25
Oku’s itineraries go beyond the classic tourism haunts, with carefully crafted itineraries and interactions that encourage guests to get up close and personal with the places they visit and people they meet along the way, putting tourist dollars to good use in remote, local communities.
