As we go up to Hokkaido quite regularly to see my wife's family, we thought that this time we would take in a new place for both of us: Wakkanai, which is famous for precisely one reason: it is considered the northernmost city in Hokkaido, and therefore also in Japan. As you can imagine, the tourist industry there has a very "northern" emphasis.

While it seemed underwhelming at first, a bit of exploration turned up some quite interesting areas, so overall it was worthwhile making the trip.

This is the first set of pictures from Wakkanai, and I hope you enjoy them!

The following shot is of Cape Soya, officially (there is said to be a deserted island slightly further north) the northernmost point in Japan. Despite being the end of April, it was freezing cold and the wind was absolutely howling, so it was a case of "get out of rental car, fight way through wind, get picture, and get back in car as fast as possible".

More from Wakkanai in the next post.

Thanks for looking!