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Kyoto · Japan
A vermillion hall and arched bridge reflected in a still pond among autumn maples at Daigo-ji, Kyoto
Kyoto · Japan
Autumn at Daigo-ji, the vermillion hall among the maples.

the japan edition · field notes

Hokkaido

Hokkaido runs on its own calendar: a later, longer cherry blossom, a lavender and flower field summer, an early and vivid autumn colour, and a winter of cranes, ice and hot volcanic ground. It is a full day's travel from Honshu, and it rewards a visitor who plans around its own seasons rather than assuming Kyoto's. This is the writing on that island: where and when its blossom lands, what its summer fields and its eastern wildlife hold, and how its food differs from the rest of the country. Three of our six fixed tours run in Hokkaido: the Cherry Blossom Tour of Hokkaido, the Summer Tour of Hokkaido, and the Wild North Tour of Hokkaido, each timed to a different part of its year.

13 articles
Steam from a hot spring drifting past a gorge of yellow, orange and red autumn maplesseasonsAutumn in the North: Tōhoku and HokkaidōTōhoku and Hokkaidō hold Japan's earliest great autumn, colour arriving broad and cold across mountains and open land weeks before the old capitals have begun.the full articleDiagonal stripes of purple, white, yellow and pink flowers on a hillside above Biei, framed by conifers and distant hillsregionsBiei and Furano: the Flower Fields of SummerBiei's patchwork hills and Furano's flower slopes sit twenty minutes apart in central Hokkaidō, joined by farm roads, named trees, and a mountain range that watches over both.the full articleMature cherry trees in full bloom scattered across an open grass lawn under a bright blue skyseasonsThe Late Bloom: Cherry Blossom in HokkaidōWhile Honshū has already turned to green leaves, Hokkaidō's cherry blossom is only beginning: a second spring, weeks behind the rest of Japan, with its own timing, its own light, and its own reasons for arriving when it does.the full articleA dense grove of bare trees standing in a wide, untouched snowfield under a pale winter skyregionsEastern Hokkaidō in WinterDrift ice presses against the Okhotsk coast, marsh and caldera lake hold winter's stillness, and the far side of Hokkaidō becomes the emptiest, most elemental version of Japan.the full articleKiyomizu-dera in Kyoto with weeping cherry blossoms in early springplanningWhat Eighteen Months Ahead Actually MeansEvery Japan specialist says the same thing: book eighteen months out. The number is the interval at which Japan's smallest ryokan and most sought after tables allocate their calendars.the full articleSnow-covered Mount Yōtei glowing orange under a clearing winter sky above a snow-laden forest in HokkaidōseasonsHokkaidō by SeasonWinter, spring, summer and autumn each arrive in Hokkaidō as a distinct, complete version of the island rather than shades of one mild climate. Which one to choose depends on what a traveller actually wants from the north.the full articleSea urchin still in its spiny shell, grilling over open charcoal flameexperiencesThe Northern Table: Hokkaidō's FoodCold water, open pasture and a short hard summer built a northern kitchen with a character all its own. Crab, urchin, roe, milk and a bowl invented in Sapporo explain how.the full articleRows of lavender in full bloom across a farmed field in central Hokkaidō, the flower spikes dense with colourseasonsHokkaidō's Lavender SeasonEvery July, central Hokkaidō turns a working agricultural landscape into the clearest colour of the Japanese summer. When the bloom peaks, and why a Mediterranean flower took root eight decades ago on an island that was never meant to grow it.the full articleA traditional Japanese castle tower glimpsed through a dense canopy of pale pink cherry blossomregionsMatsumae and the Castles of the Northern BloomHokkaidō's late cherry blossom season has its clearest architecture in three places: Matsumae's park of ten thousand trees in relay, Goryōkaku's star-shaped fort seen from above, and the port city of Hakodate that opened Japan to the world before most of the country had agreed to it.the full articleTwo blue and white shinkansen bullet trains with gold trim standing side by side at a station platform beneath an overhead canopyplanningHow to Plan a Japan ItineraryA Japan itinerary succeeds on rhythm rather than coverage, and the country rewards the traveller who builds one rather than a list of famous names.the full articleSnow-capped Mount Rishiri rising from the sea and reflected in a still highland pond in HokkaidōseasonsSummer in HokkaidōJapan's northern island runs a full climate class cooler than Honshū each summer, and spends that season across mountain, lake, marsh and coast rather than in any single view. What makes Hokkaidō's summer different, region by region.the full articleA pair of red-crowned cranes calling together with visible breath in the cold air over a snowy fieldexperiencesThe Cranes of KushiroThe red-crowned crane spends its winter in the marsh and farmland around Kushiro, dancing in pairs on snow-covered ground in a courtship recovered from the edge of extinction.the full articleRed maple leaves over a mountain stream in central Japan at autumn peakseasonsThe Foliage Front: How Japan's Autumn MovesAutumn in Japan is not a season so much as a line that migrates from the mountains of Hokkaidō to the temples of Kyoto over roughly twelve weeks. Understanding the geography of its passage puts a traveller in the right place in the right week.the full article

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