Summertime in Hokkaido
Our friend organized a summertime trip to Hokkaido. We flew into Asahikawa airport which seemed to see quite a bit of international traffic. We stayed at the Asahidake Youth Hostel which had its own onsen. The next day we hiked around Asahidake Mountain in Daizetsusan National Park. The weather mostly cooperated, no big downpours and fairly clear so we could see Asahidake Mountain while we hiked. We hiked through the blooming flowers of the mountain, over snow, saw foxes and the fumes from the mountain.
After our hike we sopped by the onsen and a waterfall before heading to Furano.
We had fresh corn for breakfast in Furano before heading to the Cheese Factory and then the flower fields.
We passed rolling hills of farmland as we traveled to the flower fields.
So much of the yummy food in Japan comes from Hokkaido. Lavender scented the air as we walked through the flower fields. Lots of colorful flowers and butterflies and bees.
We even saw them harvesting lavender.
Before we headed back to Tokyo we had some ramen at the airport. All in all, a great summertime trip.
Dang, there’s still snow in July? Didn’t know Japan had places like this. Looks nice.
The weather in Hokkaido was quite nice (unlike the rest of hot and humid Asia) – it reminded us of California a little! The mountain is pretty high about 7,500 ft at the peak. We were still surprised there was so much snow though. Of course, after this trip we went to Hong Kong (pics to come soon) and it was blazing hot and humid!