Hokkaido Hidden Gems

Hokkaido was not incorporated into the Japanese state until 1869, and almost everything about travelling here follows from that. Sapporo is laid out on a numbered grid rather than around a castle, the farms were planned with American advisers and still use silos and windbreaks you will not see further south, and Ainu place names survive on most of the rivers and mountains. The scale is the other thing to plan around: the island holds about a fifth of Japan's land and a twentieth of its people, and Sapporo to the Shiretoko peninsula is a full day's drive. National parks take up much of the interior, with Daisetsuzan alone larger than several prefectures, so the gaps between towns are genuinely empty and fuel stops are worth noting in advance. There is no rainy season here, which is why June and July feel unlike the rest of Japan: dry and bright at around 22°C while Honshu sits under cloud. Winter is the opposite extreme, and the snow is the reason a great many people come.