The northern most island in the Japanese island chain, Hokkaido is also the largest island and is largely undeveloped compared to the other islands. More well known for its beautiful scenery and ski resorts, as well as, the source of Sapporo beer, Hokkaido is still not as popular a destination as the rest of Japan for tourists. Well, I think that first of all it is not easily accessible. You can travel there by car, plane or train, but flying is the easiest and fastest. Secondly, the cost of travelling to Hokkaido itself is pretty expensive.

Update: As of March 2016, the Shinkansen or bullet train now goes to Hakodate from Tokyo in around 4 hours, making it more convenient to travel there. More information on the Shinkansen service can be found here. And for visitors to Japan, we can use the Japan Rail Pass for this ride, making it even more economical to travel. Continue reading “Hokkaido in Winter”