My Adventures in Japan Part 5: Hokkaido

I went to Hokkaido. I took a bus tour so I saw many places in Hokkaido. Hokkaido is big.

It is the second biggest island in Japan. As you can see from the map, it is also the northern most island in Japan. I went to Hokkaido in March. It was still winter. It was usually about -10 degrees celsius but I didn't feel cold. Actually, I felt very energetic.

The original people of Hokkaido are the Ainu. I visited a "mock" Ainu village. That is to say, it wasn't really an Ainu Village. It was built for tourists.

I met some Ainu in Hokkaido. One Ainu man could speak English. He spoke English very well.
He could also speak the Ainu language. Very few people speak the Ainu language now.

I saw an Ainu ceremony. It was very interesting.

I also visited an ice village. It was very beautiful. Hokkaido is famous for ice sculpture.


I went on an icebreaker. Unfortunately we didn't see any icebergs. Even still, it was exciting.

Many seagulls followed the ice breaker. Some people fed the seagulls.

There are many birds in Hokkaido.

Hokkaido also has some interesting marine creatures. One of the most interesting are Clionidae (クリオネ). Clionidae are also known as the "angels of the sea". They are very popular in Japan because they are cute.

In this picture you can see Clionidae in a jar.

Here's a close-up of a Clionidae.

Another great thing about Hokkaido is the food, especially the seafood.

In this picture I'm eating rice with salmon roe (いくら) and crab. It was very delicious.