Hokkaido: An Arctic Asian Experience, Sapporo, Japan

Is this really Asia!? In case you were wondering, Asia is not all white beaches, tropical drinks and bikinis. I myself didn’t realize this until just recently, when I landed in the airport in Sapporo, the capital of the northernmost island of Japan – Hokkaido. The island’s name sounds tropical, but it’s far from it. Hokkaido is a beautiful, cold, snow-covered island so close to Siberia that the climate is arctic! Before I left for Asia, I didn’t even realize that Japan had cold seasons. I guess I just thought of Asia as this extremely humid continent, where only Siberia stuck out as the extreme opposite. But I was so wrong – thankfully!

After a month of travelling through warm (and humid!) countries and big, crazy cities, I had been longing for the silent North. The Arctic regions are my favourite places to explore and I hadn’t expected to come across one in Asia. Compared to other Arctic regions, Hokkaido is very south, but because of the cold Siberian weather sweeping in over the island, the weather on Hokkaido is as extreme as any other arctic region. Hokkaido may not be officially classified as arctic, but the weather, the nature and the way of life reminded me in every way of what I love so much about the North: The serenity and being in touch with pure, unspoilt nature. The harsh, barren landscapes, the unforgivable weather and the cozy, warm home that I was invited into. I wish for nothing more than to be in an environment like that forever. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).