The cover image is not Daisetsuzan in Hokkaido, but Aso-san in Kyushu - another active volcano a good 2000km away by road. Pia and I went there in 2024, the scenery was incredible.

I am slightly torn about suggesting a side trip to Daisetsuzan, Japan's largest mountain park. On the one hand I really want to go there and explore one of the wildest areas of Japan, home to brown bears and endemic deer, stoats, squirrels, rare birds and alpine vegetation.

On the other hand, Hokkaido is a destination in its own right and maybe taking 5 days on the end of a northern alps hike would feel rushed and not do it justice.

Getting there and back

As a side trip, the best way to get up and back would be to fly from Tokyo to Asahikawa, Hokkaido's second largest city. Both All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airways have started offering flights to Tokyo with an additional domestic link included, as a way of encouraging tourists to visit lesser-travelled areas in Japan. So this could be an option.

Asahikawa

We could spend a day in the city of Asahikawa checking out the Kawamura Kaneto Ainu Museum, which is apparently the only dedicated Ainu museum in Japan.

The Ainu are Indigenous people from northern Japan and southeastern Russia. Japanese colonisation of Hokkaido was reasonably recent, with the Tokugawa shogunate gaining control of southern Hokkaido in 1806. There has been near-total assimilation of Ainu into Japanese 'Yamato' society, and a loss of almost all Indigenous rights. Ainu people were forced off their land, forced to give up their hunting and fishing practices, and forbidden from speaking the Ainu language (which is now basically extinct). Familiar story.

There probably won't be a lot of information in English at the museum, and it is likely to be quite small, so we'd then have time for lunch at the Asahidake ramen village and then make our way to Asahidake Onsen within Daisetsuzan National Park.

Hiking in Daisetsuzan National Park

The park is pretty huge and there are loads of hiking options, from day trips to multi-day epics. I've scratched around a few options and while this is one of the most popular/busy, the Asahidake to Kurodake Traverse might also be the best for this trip given our lack of knowledge of the area, my lack of enthusiasm for carrying portable toilets, bear activity in autumn, my laziness etc.

This would be a through-walk to Sounkyo Onsen, which we could tackle in one day (~8 hours) or as an overnight hike staying at Kurodake Ishimuro Hut.

From the notes on hokkaidowilds.org, the traverse is 13km with expansive views of Ohachidaira crater and beautiful alpine flowers. There are lots of beautiful photos here.

We could do the walk in either direction, starting at Sounkyo Onsen and finishing at Asahidake Onsen instead if that was a better option. Both Sounkyo Onsen and Asahidake Onsen are connected to Asahidake via bus.

The hokkaidowilds.org is a rich resource of hiking routes, and I'm not wedded to this option if you find something you'd rather do instead. To use the filter to search for options in Daisetsuzan, select 'Furano/Central'.

Asahidake is usually the first place in Japan to see snow each year. I'm writing this on 26 October, and it is already blanketed.

More onsen time at Sounkyo onsen

Sounkyo Onsen is described as a 'touristy' hot spring, but could be a good base for some day hikes if people were into a bit of kitsch. There are 2 waterfalls and Obako Gorge nearby. However, I'm kind of thinking they're the 'hop out of the car for a 5 minute squiz' type of attractions.

I would definitely head up to Daisetsuzan if everyone was super motivated to go. But I'm starting to wonder if there would be better options to tack onto a northern alps trip.