“Where did you last go skiing and snowboarding?” was the question that Jotaro Horiuchi posed to a group of people sitting in the Pinaroo Rooms of Sydney’s Grace Hotel. It was an important question to ask because, last night, these people were gathered to experience a little slice of Hokkaido, and a significant drawcard that the area has is its snow fields.
According to Japan National Tourist Organisation (JNTO) Executive Director Horiuchi, “Hokkaido has been gaining more popularity than ever as a place to ski and experience the snow.” In fact, Japan’s reputation as a exciting winter destination has grown dramatically.

Visitors to the northern regions of Japan experiences an excellence range of skiing conditions, enjoy a traditional Japanese meal at an izakaya, and then head off to see the Aurora Fantasy light show that recreates the northern wonders of the aurora borealis. Visitors can also go to see the Sapporo Snow Festival which displays a wonderful range of snow sculptures in a winter wonderful, or go walk on the drift ice in Shiretoko. And these are just the fantastic wonders in the winter season.

The excellence of facilities and activities to do in the Hokkaido winter months tend to sell itself, so Hokkaido Tourism had the aim of not so much promoting its winter wonderland, but rather spreading the word of the natural beauty that can be seen in the other months of the year. As Hokkaido Government international exchange officer Misae Nobuta said: “Hokkaido’s best season is 365 days a year”, and it is not hard to see why they say that.

Activities like canoeing, hot air ballooning, potato harvesting, soba noodle making, smoked cheese making, glass making, strolling along the Otal Canal, visiting the Sushiya Street, seeing the wonders of Cape Kemui, enjoying a Sapporo Beer in the beer garden, relaxing in a hot spring, visiting the fish market and eating fresh fish from the ocean are just some exciting things that can be done in this northern region of the country.

But there are two highlight events outside the winter months that must be experienced by the Hokkaido visitor – the Furano lavender farms and the YOSAKOI Soran Festival.

Summer in the Furano lavender fields is an amazing explosion of colour that never ceases to awe those who visit Farm Tomita. In these fields, lavender is not just the normal shade of purple that we are accustomed to – colours range from pink, white, green, yellow and more. Visitors can take the lavender experience to a new level by having a taste of the lavender delicacies that are around the area. Lavender ice cream and lavender soft drinks are available for tasting and are worth even just try to expand on the wonders of nature in this area.

Another prominent part of the Hokkaido summer months is the YOSAKOI Soran Festival. So important is this festival that YOSAKOI dancers were invited to the Grace Hotel last night to perform to guests of the event. YOSAKOI dancers are usually university students who dance folk dances to educate children of the next generation of their own culture. It is an exciting festival that encourages visitors and locals alike to join in the dancing fun, something that is akin to Brazil’s Carnivale.

Hokkaido Tourism put on a show that showcased all that was beautiful and exciting about their area. They are trying to show tourists from around the world that there is more to Japan than just the major cities, and they are slowly but surely learning that.