Biei Patchwork Road

Each winter the Sea of Okhotsk freezes in Siberia and vast sheets of drift ice — up to 1 metre thick — flow south to Abashiri, turning the sea into a grinding white plain. The Aurora icebreaker smashes through these floes on 1-hour cruises, and on calm days visitors can step onto the ice itself. This is the southernmost naturally occurring drift ice on the planet.

Japan's most innovative zoo, which rescued itself from near-closure in the 1990s by pioneering "behaviour exhibits" — glass tunnels through penguin tanks, polar bear pools with underwater viewing, and orangutan sky-walks overhead. The winter penguin parade, when keepers walk the birds through snow for exercise, has become one of Hokkaido's most beloved daily spectacles.

The dramatic tip of the Shakotan Peninsula — sheer volcanic rock cliffs plunging into cobalt blue "Shakotan Blue" sea. A 20–30 minute coastal walk leads to the cape where you stand surrounded on three sides by open ocean.