Asahikawa is in Hokkaido, Japan. Hokkaido is the northernmost island of Japan. It is beautiful, mesmerizing, and definitely worth visiting! I spent more than a month in Hokkaido, and Asahikawa is one of the cities I visited.
Many people automatically think about Kyoto, Tokyo, and Osaka when it comes to Japan, but Japan has so much more to offer! Hokkaido is one. I am also one of those people. In fact, I spent two weeks in those areas last year.
It is definitely worth the trip up if you’re able to head to Hokkaido.
HOW TO GET TO ASAHIKAWA
I took the Super Kamui Express train from Sapporo Station to Asahikawa Station. It costs around ¥2300 (est. $23) one-way (if I recall correctly). The JR Pass and the Hokkaido Rail Pass cover this trip so if you have that, you are good to go. For my trip, I did not have any of those passes so I just purchased the ticket at the ticket office and asked for roundtrip, so I paid roughly around ¥4600 (est. $46).
Tip: I was taught to just use ¥100 = $1 so I just move the decimal point twice to the left to convert yen to dollars… it could actually be less than that. The exchange for money while I was there was a little over ¥100 per $1.
The express train was a direct roughly 2-hour train ride. If you get to the waiting area at least 10-15 minutes of departure time, the unreserved seats would suffice… otherwise, reserving a seat would be feasible. There are trains to Asahikawa every 30 minutes, so if you miss your ride… just wait for another 30 minutes.
Asahikawa is also one of those stations you stop by to switch trains to head to Biei and/or Furano, but that’s for another blog.
There are also other options such as the bus (this would take longer) and to drive a car. I would actually recommend driving to and around Asahikawa instead as you would be able to visit and see more. You’ll know why… just keep reading.
WHERE DID I GO FOR THE DAY?
ASAHIYAMA ZOO
As stated above, I used public transportation. Unfortunately, Google Maps or Maps will tell you to WALK to Asahiyama Zoo… Don’t follow that! Well that was the case when I searched for it at the time – so if they’ve updated the information by the time you’ve read this, great!
Anyway, here’s how I got there. I arrived at Asahikawa Station and as soon as I got off the platform, I saw signs that literally lead me where to go for the zoo. There is a bus waiting area right outside the entrance/exit of the station. The bus will stop at the zoo. I know I should probably tell you which bus number or bus stop number it is, but it’s been a month since I’ve visited… just know that you should be paying attention to the signs and it will lead you where to go. It took about forty minutes by bus and I walked some from the bus stop to the ticket entrance.
Of all the zoos I visited in Hokkaido, Asahiyama Zoo is a must! The highlight (and what the zoo is known for) are the many way you can observe the animals. You can see the animals at different angles. Imagine a “normal” zoo… you enter, you look at the animal or animals, and that’s it… all you do is look. At Asahiyama Zoo, you enter and there are various vantage points where you can view the animal or it will allow you to loop around the exhibit to observe the animal at different angles.
PENGUINS
MY personal favorite: the penguin exhibit. (Penguins are my spirit animal by the way).
I have never ever seen penguins swim… in any zoo. Why? Because literally all they do is stand around right? Well, not at Asahiyama Zoo. You will walk through an underwater glass tunnel that lets you observe the penguins swim through the water! Seriously, I have never ever seen anything like it before. There is also an area where they are behind the glass standing around and/or walk around, AND they can get as close to you as possible.
WOLVES
There are two ways to view the wolves: 1) hare view or 2) the normal view. The hare view will have you walk through a short tunnel (watch out for your head – I literally hit mine) and you will look out of a glass dome that puts you at an eye level with the wolves. Unfortunately, there was a line for this one so it was just a quick look and I didn’t see the wolves (they blended in with their home) until I got out of it and went through the normal view.
RED PANDAS
The red pandas were enclosed in a cage… but what’s unique about this is the suspension bridge. The red pandas hang around it. Well, when I was there one was taking a nap at the suspension bridge. Proof:
LEOPARDS
This was a huge cage. You’d first walk up a “hill” and see them at a high point, and at the end, you may get to see these big cats up close and personal… seriously… There was a leopard sleeping on a part of the cage where you can get underneath it. I’d prefer not to as it may all of a sudden decide to take the number 2.
There are so much more that I can’t remember so make sure you visit.
UENO FARM
When I said I recommend going to and around Asahiyama by car, I meant it. Because I only had a day there, I was only able to visit two places due to the long commute between places. I had to choose two spots that I REALLY wanted to go to. Asahiyama Zoo was one (for the penguins) and Ueno Farm (for the garden, of course).
Getting to Ueno Farm was VERY sweaty. No clouds shielded the sun. I was using the zoo map as my umbrella! It was at the end of July and I walked for at least 30 minutes from Asahiyama Zoo to the “train station.” Literally, this “station” was in the middle of the farm lands so it looking nothing like an actual station. I can’t exactly tell you which station it was because I literally just followed Maps/Google Maps, which brought me in the middle of nowhere. I waited at the platform and was very confused as to how it worked. I didn’t even know how and where to enter the train. A local eventually helped me. Apparently, it was like taking the bus – you pull a ticket, then look at the monitor to see how much you have to pay based on the number on your ticket.
When I got out of the train (again in the middle of nowhere), I walked another 15 minutes to the Farm. This walk was a bit refreshing being surrounded by the farm land (which reminded me so much of the provinces in the Philippines) and green. That side of Asahikawa was a bit windy so the heat didn’t bother me as much.
Ueno Farm was beautiful! Please don’t mistake it for Ueno Park (in Tokyo) as I have originally. It also isn’t like any flower farms you see in Biei or Furano. It’s a garden where you see various areas of different types of flowers. They also have a cafe with AC to rest. I went on a weekday so it was not crowded… I remember only seeing a few people.
My favorite part of Ueno Farm are these colored chairs where you can sit and watch over this amazing and relaxing view.
You kind of have to sit because you’ll need to hike up a hill to get there. I spent about two hours at the farm exploring the different areas and taking photos of the flowers.
P.S. I traveled majority of Hokkaido during my month-long stay ALONE, but in this specific day, I had an amazing companion who was so patient with me as we walked through the heat and took photos of me.
As a final note, Asahikawa has more to offer! I honestly did not look much into Asahikawa because I only wanted to visit the zoo and Ueno Farm. Again, I’d prefer to drive around Asahikawa as point A to point B are much farther from each other than they seem. Prior to Asahikawa, I spent so much time in the city and busy streets that I needed to get away from it.
Thanks for reading my journey and I hope you find your way to Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan.
Gutless Travel 