Heart of Hokkaido 5 Day
Snowshoeing & Culture Tour

1. Day 1 Meet your group in Asahikawa

   We meet at 5:00 pm at our hotel near the Asahikawa JR Station. We will go over the tour details and introduce you to our upcoming 5 days of adventure. For dinner, we will walk over to a nearby restaurant. This will be a good chance to get used to walking on snow and ice if this is your first time visiting Hokkaido in winter.

   Included meals
   – Dinner
   Accommodation
   – Hotel in Asahikawa
   Activity
   – None

2. Day 2 Visit Ainu Museum & Toma Limestone Cave

   We have breakfast at our hotel before a quick drive to the Kawamura Kaneto Ainu Museum. Established in 1916, the museum is the oldest Ainu museum in Japan, as well as the only privately owned one. Our hosts, Ainu descendants of the Kawamura family who have been running the museum for three generations. They will welcome us in the cise, a traditional Ainu house.

   We will learn about the culture and traditions of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido. The Ainu have been living in harmony with nature in Hokkaido from long before Japanese people started to colonise the island. We will share lunch with our Ainu hosts before moving to our next destination Toma.

   In Toma, we will be joined by a special local guide who has the key to the cave and he will lead us into the darkness of the ancient limestone cave. With no one else around, we have the silent cave all to ourselves! While walking through in the cave, light by just our head torches, we will hear about the stories of how they discovered this cave and how a limestone cave came to form far from the sea.

   After coming out of the warm cave, we will hop back in the van and drive up to Asahidake Onsen at 1,100m/3,609ft above sea level. Situated in Japan’s largest national park, the Daisetsuzan National Park, Asahidake Onsen is a popular hot-spring resort, as well as a base for adventures into the park. Relax overnight here enjoying the hot springs sourced directly from the Daisetsuzan Mountains.

   Included meals
   – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
   Accommodation
   – Ryokan at Asahidake Onsen
   Activities
   – Snowshoeing (1hr) & Caving (1.5hr)

3. Day 3 Snowshoeing on the foothills of Mt Asahidake

   After enjoying a hearty breakfast at our lodging, we start the day with a scenic cable car ride that takes us to Sugatami Station at 1,600m (5,249ft). There, we strap on our snowshoes and start hiking towards the fumaroles. There are more than 20 vents, energetically discharging the steam into the cold air. The cold winter temperature making the scene look even more spectacular. During the regular hiking season, we are not allowed to leave the trail and approach the fumaroles. In winter, however, the trail is wherever our snowshoes take us!

   From the fumaroles, we head back to Sugatami Station. Depending on the snow condition, we may have some fun sledding on the slopes by the snow-filled ponds before taking the cable car back to the village. We will have a late lunch at a cozy cafe/restaurant in Higashikawa before travelling onto the neighbouring town of Biei.

   Biei is famed for its beautiful rolling hills and patchworks of farming fields. In winter the snow cover highlights the shape of the terrain, making it even more picturesque. We will briefly call by a local museum to learn about the secrets of Biei’s pretty landscapes. In the late afternoon we arrive at Shirogane Onsen, a small hot spring village at the foot of the Tokachi mountains in the south of the Daisetsuzan National Park. If you don’t mind the cold, we recommend you stroll down to Shirahige Waterfall when it’s illuminated at night.

   Included meals
   – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
   Accommodation
   – Ryokan at Shirogane Onsen
   Activity
   – Snowshoeing (2.5hr)

4. Day 4 Snowshoe to the Biei Blue River

   We will have breakfast at our hotel and get ourselves ready for a snowshoeing adventure from the hotel’s doorstep. Shirogane Onsen (600m / 1,968ft) is surrounded by forests of birch and spruce. With our snowshoes on we venture into the forest to approach the Biei River. The Biei River is not easily accessible in summer due to thick bush, however in winter, the snow gives us complete freedom to wander around at our own will!

   As we proceed deeper into the forest, we will start hearing the sound of water, the Biei River. The Biei River is also known as the Blue River and it is the source of the water that gives the famous Blue Pond their colour. The water, containing aluminium particles, emerges from the cliff face at Shirahige Waterfall, pouring into the Biei River at Shirogane Onsen before flowing into the pond.

   We return following the route of the river, eventually joining the track we made on our way in. We will have lunch at local diner in Biei, and see some of the iconic trees and the rolling hills on our journey back to Asahikawa.

   In the late afternoon, we pay a visit to a local sake brewery Takasago. This central Hokkaido region, with abundant spring water and the rice production, is home to two prime rice wine breweries. At Takasago, we take a guided tour around the historic brewery and do some sake tasting before checking into our accommodation near the Asahikawa JR Station. We celebrate the completion of our tour at a local bar/restaurant in downtown Asahikawa.

   Included meals
   – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
   Accommodation
   – Hotel in Asahikawa
   Activity
   – Snowshoeing (2.5hr)

5. Day 5 Finish in Asahikawa

   The tour will wrap up after breakfast. Our hotel is conveniently located near Asahikawa JR Station, from where you can take a train to Sapporo, as well as the airport shuttle to Asahikawa Airport.

   Included meals
   – Breakfast
   Activity
   – None

Travel to the Meeting Point

We will meet at 5:00 pm at our hotel in Central Asahikawa. The closest airport is Asahikawa Airport (AKJ), where you can fly directly from Tokyo Haneda (HND). From the airport there are seven buses a day departing for Central Asahikawa, which takes 30 to 40 minutes, and costs 630 yen per person.

An alternative to flight is a train (Japan Railway, abbr. JR), which travels every 30-60 mins between Sapporo and Asahikawa. Upon booking, please let us know your travel plans to Asahikawa, so we can assist you with more concrete transportation plans to get yourself to our first night hotel. You can check in after 3:00 pm if you are arriving earlier than our meeting time.

You can search train timetable in English on Japan Transit Planner website.

Heart of Hokkaido Winter Tour Accommodation

DAY 1	Hotel in Asahikawa	Ensuite	Onsen spa
DAY 2	Ryokan at Asahidake Onsen	Ensuite	Onsen spa
DAY 3	Ryokan at Shirogane Onsen	Ensuite	Onsen spa
DAY 4	Hotel in Asahikawa	Ensuite	Onsen spa