Attractions
Sapporo Snow Festival さっぽろ雪まつり: The Snow festival is one of Japan's largest winter events. It is held in Sapporo at Odori Park. The festival is held for seven days in February. This past year's festival was held on February 5th through the 11th. The festival started in 1935 when some students built snowmen in the park. This festival attracts millions of people from around the world.
Asahiyama zoo 旭山動物園: Asahiyama zoo is the northern most zoo. it is home to 800 animals and over 150 different species. This zoo was designed to showcase animals in their natural habitat. The zoo was built in 1967 but then undertook a huge redevelopment in 1995. The zoo gets around 3 million visitors every year.
Six Meanings Garden (Rokuyi En): This garden was built in 1695 and is considered a cultural treasure. The Garden is 87,809.41 square meters filled with lakes, ponds, streams and, greenery. The garden had over 6,000 trees and during Autumn the leaves all turn red.
Furano Town富良野: Furano is a town located in the center of Hokkaido. It is known for its lavender fields in the month of July. It is also known for the Furano Ski Resort, which held the Snowboarding World Cup in recent years.
Kushiro Shitsugen National Park釧路湿原国立公園 :This park was established in 1987 and was created in order to preserve the country's largest wetland and marsh habitat. The park holds the only known population of endangered Japanese Cranes. The park offers bird watching, nature viewing, and walking trails. The cranes were thought to be extinct until 1926 when a group of 20 birds were discovered in the park. Since then the have made a dramatic recovery and now there are more than 1,000 birds.