2 Best Sights in Hokkaido, Japan

Daisetsuzan, which means "great snow mountain," refers to the park's five major peaks, whose altitudes approach 7,560 feet. They are climbable even by moderately experienced hikers, with a ring trail that is best done in summer. But you can also catch a bus or train or even drive just south of Asahikawa and simply enjoy the picturesque region.

On the park's east side is Soun-kyo, but on its unconnected west side, two spa towns serve as summer hiking centers and winter ski resorts. Shirogane Onsen, at 2,461 feet, has had especially good skiing since its mountain, Tokachi-dake, erupted in 1962 and 1988, creating a superb ski bowl. At Asahidake Onsen you can take a cable car (¥2,000 one way, ¥3,200 round trip) up Asahi-dake to an altitude of 5,250 feet and hike for two hours to the 7,513-foot summit. In late spring and early summer the slopes are carpeted with alpine flowers. Serious skiers come for Japan's longest ski season.

Volcanoes rise from primeval forests and lakeside beaches bubble with hot springs in this national park, unfairly overshadowed by neighboring Daisetsu and Shiretoko. In Akan's northern forests, strange, cylindrical algae called marimo bob to the surface of the namesake lake. Elsewhere Ainu men pluck and blow eerie music from traditional instruments, while women dancers duck and weave in honor of the red-crested tancho white cranes that fly in every winter, breeding on the wetland on the park's southern border. In summer it's a hiker's heaven of trails and hot springs; in winter the lakes freeze over and ice festivals spill out onto the frozen expanses.