21 Hokkaido Facts You Will Absolutely Love About The Japanese City

Brace yourself as you are about to dive into some of the most interesting facts about this beautiful city that will make you want to visit Hokkaido as soon as possible!

Japan consists of 47 prefectures and Hokkaido prefecture is one of them. If you are looking for a snow-capped adventure through amazing mountains, you should definitely visit cities like Hokkaido in Asia.

Because of its latitude, Hokkaido can get cold even in the summer, making it an ideal location for unique attractions such as ice hotels. While Hokkaido Island is one of the most worthwhile destinations all year round, it is especially magical in the winter, from December to February, and also until early spring.

Facts About Hokkaido

After reading the above information about Hokkaido, one of the most beautiful cities in Japan, you must be excited to learn some interesting facts about Hokkaido!

Are you wondering what to do in Hokkaido? You can visit many places in Hokkaido. There are sharp and ever frozen ice stalactites inside cave-like ice structures that people could walk through and explore.

The ice slide and ice rink are popular places for children and there are cultural performances at certain hours of the day.

Hokkaido is bordered by the Sea of Japan to the west side, the Sea of Okhotsk to the north side, and the Pacific Ocean to the south and east side.

In a small town near Sapporo, visitors can experience even more of the cold at Sweden Hills Ice Hotel.

Hokkaido is known for its ice hotels, most of which can only accommodate a few guests at a time.

Around the area, guests can enjoy winter-related activities such as driving snowmobiles and skiing at ski resorts which is an exhilarating experience that many tourists go to Hokkaido for.

Also held at this time of the year is Sapporo Yuki Matsui, or the Sapporo Snow Festival. It's one of Japan's most popular winter events; it dates back to 1950, and the festivals attract millions of visitors from all over the world. The visitors can even make their own ice sculptures.

The Sapporo Snow Festival features many attractions like when it had the Shinkansen ice sculpture, which celebrates the new Tokyo-Sapporo route of the famous bullet train.

Another highlight of this festival is the international snow sculpture competition which showcases teams from around the world.

Another destination in Sapporo is Takino Suzuran Hillside National Park, which is one of the only national parks in Hokkaido.

Its 988.42 ac (400 ha) garden and forest are transformed into Takino Snow World, which features a 7 degrees ski slope for kids, 16 courses for beginners to advanced ski enthusiasts, and a family lift. Many snow sports are carried out in this area.

Hokkaido's History

After reading the above interesting facts, let's reflect back on the history of Hokkaido.

The name 'Hokkaido' itself is a modern creation firstly applied to the island during the Meiji Era; when it was incorporated into Japan.

For around 20,000 years, 'Ezo' is what the land was known as.

Yayoi people in past times referred to themselves as Wajin; they are the people who lived in the Japanese archipelago.

Wajin initially arrived on the island almost 800 years ago, and only in small numbers.

Their population was limited to the Oshima Peninsula's southern tip, which was closest to their native Honshu.

The remaining part of the vast interior of Ezo got recognized as a foreign land.

Hokkaido's Geographical Facts

Far from northern Tokyo, behind the shattered pate of Mt. Bandai, behind the scattered islands of Matsushima in the Miyagi prefecture, Iwate, and the Shikomita Peninsula in Aomori, and past the freezing Tsugaru, lies the Hokkaido island.

Bordered by giant mountains and blessed with widely-open plains ideal for pasturage with swiftly-flowing channels, vast washes, dark timbers, and deep downtime snows, this Island, the world's 21st largest, claims the most northerly part of modern Japan.

Its perfectly unique shape looks similar to the horned head of some dragon or ocean steed hovering on the top of the long body of one of Japan's largest islands, Honshu.

Alongside that island, as well as the two further south, Kyushu and Shikoku, Hokkaido is one of the four main islands of Japan.

These islands create the country's famous and easily identifiable geographical outline.

Hokkaido is honored as really and integrally Japanese, even though it has only truly been a piece of the Japanese landmass for the last 150 years.

Before the colonization of Hokkaido, the enigmatic island was a foreign frontier land inhabited by the Ainu.

Hokkaido, one of the four main islands that make Japan, is a place filled with many active volcanoes.

Hokkaido prefecture is one of the largest out of 47 prefectures in Japan and comprises a population of around 5.3 million people.

Hokkaido's Tourism

Hokkaido is a very interesting place to visit in both the winter and the summer, because of the culture and art that thrive there. Around 35 million visitors travel to Hokkaido, making it third on the list (2020) of tourism destinations in Japan.

Hokkaido is well known for the good quality fresh seafood as a result of the cold waters surrounding the northernmost prefecture of Japan, which makes it ideal for fish and sea vegetation.

What food is Hokkaido famous for? Some areas within the prefecture are typically famous for a certain product, such as the uni (sea urchin) of Rebun and Rishiri.

The government of Japan made tourism an important part of its goal of $5 trillion, that is, JPY 600 trillion in nominal GDP by 2020.

Japanese goods and services are more affordable to foreigners due to the depreciation of the Yen, which supports growth in spending in Yen terms.

This island, full of volcanoes and hot springs, has various famous attractions that await aspiring tourists. For example, the Asahiyama Zoo, Blue Pond, Farm Tomita, and many other places.