Hokkaido Prefecture [北海道]
Outline of Hokkaido Prefecture
Hokkaido is the northernmost island of Japan.
And Hokkaido Prefecture is the whole area of this island.
Hokkaido is a big island.
The main part of the island is roughly a diamond shape, and is over 500 km both from north to south and from east to west.
And, Oshima Peninsula like a tail of fish is attatched at the southwestern part of the island.
To the south of the Oshima Peninsula lies Honshu, across the Tsugaru Strait.
Both of the islands are connected by Seikan Tunnel, which is an undersea tunnel for railway and is about 53.85 km long.
It is the longest undersea tunnel in the world.
To the north of Hokkaido, there is Sakhalin Island.
To the east, there are Kurile Islands.
Now, both of them are under Russian rule.
But main four islands in the south part of Kurile Islands were occupied by Russia in the confusion around the end of the World War II in 1945.
So Japan has demanded the return of the islands, but Russia is still refusing.
Originally, Ainu people had been lived in Hokkaido.
This island had been called "Ezo" (蝦夷).
Around the 15th century, Japanese people came to Oshima peninsula from Honshu Island and settled down.
And the territory became Matsumae Domain as a samurai government in the 1600s, and the only castle in Hokkaido was built.
After the end of feudal Edo Period (1603-1868), modern Japanese government started the developement of Hokkaido from the 1870s.
Many pioneers came into Hokkaido, and Hokkaido developed.
Hokkaido is one of the Japan's major prefectures of rice production, but the more characteristic agriculture is large-scale farming and dairy.
These farming methods were learned during the pioneering era from Europe and the United States, which have similar climates.
Wheat, potato, sugar beet are the main products, and Hokkaido produces about a half of national production volume of milk.
Such productions and the natural features evoke the image of European rural area.
So the exoticism of Hokkaido attracts many people in the other area of Japan.
Tourist spots in Hokkaido
Central Hokkaido
The central-western area of Hokkaido with the major city of Sapporo.
There is New Chitose Airport, the primary gateway to Hokkaido.
Southern Hokkaido
The area in Oshima Peninsula.
You can reach Hakodate City located at the southern tip from Honshu via Shinkansen or ferry.
Northern Hokkaido
The area extending northward from Asahikawa city in the center of Hokkaido.
It is extremely cold in winter and is also an area of heavy snowfall.
Eastern Hokkaido
A vast area covering roughly the eastern half of Hokkaido.
It is rich in nature with few cities and vast expanses of hills, wetlands, volcanoes and lakes.
Transportation in Hokkaido
Airport
Most major airport is Shin-Chitose Airport (New Chitose Airport in English).
It is located in Chitose city about 40 km southeast of Sapporo city.
It has some international flights and many domestic flights.
Especially, the flights between Shin-Chitose and Haneda Airport in Tokyo are very frequent.
To Sapporo, it takes about 40 minutes by JR rapid train.
And many buses to Sapporo and some other city are operated.
There are six local airports in wide Hokkaido.
They are Hakodate, Asahikawa, Wakkanai, Obihiro, Kushiro, and Memanbestu (near Abashiri city).
They have the flights from Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Sapporo.
Railway
Main railway lines of JR in Hokkaido.
The colored lines are the route of main limited express. Thin grey lines are local trains.
Hokkaido Shinkansen comes from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto near Hakodate city.
You can transfer to JR limited express there.
It takes about 4 to 4.5 hours from Tokyo.
Main limited expresses start at Sapporo.
Between Sapporo and Asahikawa, one or two limited express are operated every hour.
The other limited express are operated to Hakodate and Kushiro about 5-7 times a day, and to Abashiri and Wakkanai 2-3 times a day.
No night train is operated.
Railway passes for travel around Hokkaido
Local foods in Hokkaido Prefecture
Sapporo ramen
Sapporo ramen is regarded as one of Japanese 3 big ramen (Chinese noodle developed in Japan).
(Other 2 ramen are "Kitagata" and "Hakata")
The noodle is deep yellow and thick.
Commonly fried bean sprout are topped, and sometimes butter and corn are added.
Sapporo ramen was born and developed in Sapporo, but it is currently one of the main type of ramen in Japan, so we can find many restaurants of "Sapporo ramen" all over Japan.
Of course, there are a lot of restaurants in Sapporo.
Especially there are some famous restaurans along the Sapporo ramen yokocho.
Asahikawa ramen
Asahikawa is the city with many ramen shops along with Sapporo in Hokkaido.
The soup of Asahikawa ramen is made from pork bones and fish, but we feel little smell of fish.
Lard is added to the soup, then it slowly gets cold.
Usually the varieties of flavors for ramen are the "shoyu" (soy sauce), "salt" and "miso", and the basic taste of Asahikawa ramen is "shoyu".
Of course, we can taste the ramen of "salt" or "miso" flavor.
Soup curry
Soup-Curry is the curry-flavored soup, and is similar to the curry of southern India or Southerneast Asia.
Originally, it began to serve at a curry restaurant in Sapporo in the 1970s, then started a boom among young ladies in the 1990s, because some smart restaurants began to serve it.
Japanese people love curry, but we can find curry-soup almost at only Sapporo.
In 2008, "Soup curry yokocho" which has some soup-curry restaurans has opened near Nijo market.
Jingisukan
Jingisukan is a barbecue on hemispherical iron plate.
Commonly, mutton or lamb and vegetables are used.
You can eat not only in Sapporo but also in whole Hokkaido.
Jingisukan is the Japanese name of the medieval Mongolian hero "Genghis Khan", but there is no connection to the hero.
Meats are cooked on the hemispherical part.
And vegetables are cooked at the foot of the hemispherical part.
During the cooking, the tasty juice of the meat flows down and vegetables are seasoned automatically.
Butadon
Butadon is a specialty of Obihiro city.
"Buta" means "pig" in Japanese, but is often used as the meaning of "pork".
"Don" is short for "donburi", so it means rice bowl.
Grilled pork is combined with salty-sweet sauce of shoyu (soy sauce) and sugar, and they are topped on hot rice in a bowl.
Recently most gyudon chain stores across Japan serve the "butadon" in addition to "gyudon".
But, they only replace beef with pork.
Butadon in Obihiro is different from those.