Hokkaido - Transport and Food

Hokkaido is a lovely island with fresh air, lots of greeneries, cheap seafood, nice dairy products and desserts etc. There are simply too many good things about this island up north in Japan. The only few minus points would be the expensive transportation cost and long travel time between difference places in Hokkaido.

Transportation in Hokkaido is fairly straightforward, of which most of the transports are operated by JR. So you don’t need to do detail research on which route to take and the cheapest fare. However do take note that Suica (JR version of Touch ‘N’ Go) can only be used at very limited stations in Hokkaido. This is because many train stations in Hokkaido do not have the machines to “check in” and “check out”. Therefore it is strongly recommended that you get tickets from the machines instead to avoid unnecessary hassle. If you are using the JR Pass, then just simply produce your card. Note: The intercity trains in Hokkaido can easily take more than one hour and very costly. For those who plan to spend a week around Hokkaido it is strongly recommended to get a JR pass.

For those who do not speak and read Japanese, travelling around Hokkaido can be quite a hassle. Generally people in Hokkaido speak poorer English compared to Tokyo (many times they only speak in Japanese). They are very friendly but communications can be a problem. For instance rather than telling you that you can get off at the next station, they would just tell you “get off”. Sounds rude isn’t it? It was rather comedy in a sense but they’re just to trying to convey the message :)

Before going to Hokkaido I have always thought that they are famous for seafood. However there’s more than that. In terms of food Hokkaido’s dairy products, desserts and beers are of top class. There’s a lot of focus on the freshness of its raw ingredients in Hokkaido. Milk in glass bottles cost only 100-200 yen, which is very cheap for Japan’s standard. In addition, the milk is really fresh, delicious and without the strong “milk smell”. However the coffee doesn’t taste that good, it’s rather mild. Note: Back then 100 yen = RM3.90. Now is much lower.

Hokkaido is simply a dessert heaven. There are so many types of desserts to choose from. They look great and also delicious! They are so smooth and melt in your mouth. The shops would normally give you some dry ice when you take away. However it needs to maintain certain level of temperature to ensure its quality. So bringing it back to Malaysia while maintaining its goodness is rather mission impossible. I miss the winter melon chocolates and cheese tarts! For those going to Otaru, I would strongly recommend Le Tao Confectionary for desserts.

Generally Hokkaido’s seafood is very fresh. However to get cheap seafood, you would have to visit the local markets. More than 10 pieces of sashimi for only 300 yen, it’s simply too cheap! If you can speak Japanese, you can request for e.g. 500 yen salmon sashimi and they will prepare it for you accordingly. Other than the price, in the market you can see all sorts of fish, shells, crabs etc. It is a real eye-opener. They are also many restaurants in Hokkaido selling seafood rice. What’s in the seafood rice? Well a bowl of rice, on top there will be seafood. There are many variations for the topping, depending on what you order. You can have only fish eggs, a mixture of sashimi etc. A seafood rice cost around 1,000 yen – you won’t be able to get it at this price in Tokyo and Kyoto.