Japan in Winter

About this book

Winter Japan is a different country — and this is its guidebook. Two hundred winter-only experiences in one uniform, practical format: 60 snow and ice festivals, 50 winter illuminations, 50 snow landscapes and drift-ice viewpoints, and 40 winter onsen, food and seasonal experiences. Every entry gives the typical window, the place, what makes it possible only in winter, and how to handle the cold, the crowds and the early darkness.

Sapporo's snow sculptures and Otaru's candle canals. Zao's snow monsters and Abashiri's drift ice. Shirakawa-go under a metre of snow, Ginzan Onsen in lamplight, cranes dancing on the Kushiro marsh, and the hotpot, crab and new-sake season that feeds it all. Every window is given honestly as the typical year, and every entry carries its check date — because winter is weather, and a good guide says so.

Companion to Matsuri (festivals across the year), Japan Through the Year (annual customs) and Hanami & Momiji (blossom and autumn colour): those books cover what Japan celebrates and watches. This one covers what only its winter can do.

Written and created in Japan by Japanese author Aki Wakamatsu. Published by Takikawa TOKOTOKO Kids LLC, a Japanese publisher in Hokkaido, Japan. Authentic Japanese content, carefully made in Japan — not mass-produced.