A Guide to Japan: Hokkaido and Honshu

In my opinion, Japan is one of the most interesting places in the world to explore. Japan has a wide array of land. There are small parts of Japan with beautiful scenery and open land, like Utsukushima (literally meaning beautiful island), and there are parts of Japan with busy cities and millions of people, like Tokyo, Japan's capital, which is commonly known as one of the three command capitals of the world, along with New York City and London. One of the amazing things about Japan is that no matter where you go, you will always see something new and unusual.

Japan is made up of four major islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyuushu, all of them completely different than each other, but in total, consists of 6,852 islands. Hokkaido, which was first colonized by the still-existing Ainu Natives in 638 A.D., is the northernmost island. It is also known as the fishing capital of the world. Some of the best seafood comes from Hokkaido's coast and is distributed all over the world. Hokkaido's constantly snowy weather and impeccable scenery makes it one of Japan's most scenic and beautiful places to travel to. If you do go to Hokkaido, I strongly suggest that you visit Hokkaido's most biggest and well-known hot spring resort called Noboribetsu Onsen, along with Daisetsudan, Hokkaido's largest natural park.

Honshu, being the largest island of Japan, is the best way to experience what every part of Japan is like. Not only does Honshu have scenery that's equally as beautiful as Hokkaido, but it also is home to nearly all of Japan's major cities, along with countless temples, shrines, monuments, and historic areas. As I said before, Honshu is home to Japan's capital, Tokyo. While Tokyo is definitely known throughout the world as industrial, busy, and densely populated, it is also home to historical and cultural places such as Koishikawa Korakuen, Japan's largest rock garden. When you go to Honshu, be sure to visit its well-known sights like Tokyo Tower or the Tokyo Sky Tree, which recently finished construction last May. After sightseeing the city part of Honshu, you need to see what the countryside of Honshu has to offer. Possibly Japan's most famous landmark, Mt. Fuji is located about sixty miles southwest of Tokyo. This active volcano, which last erupted in 1707, has been seen as the cultural symbol of Japan all around the world. It is also written about in literature more than any other object in the entire world. It is by far the most iconic land-form in Japan and possibly the entire world. 

So next time you travel to Japan, you might want to do a little bit of research and see everything Japan has to offer. You might be surprised at how different it is from anywhere else in the world.