Hokkaido Treasure Island Travel have done a superb job with our trip even with going to the “less popular” Hidaka region. Although the area itself does not see a lot of tourism, Fumika-san, Masa-san, and Ono-san did a fantastic job in planning, guiding, and driving us around the region. My brother and I got an in-depth exploration of the Hidaka region and really felt connected to the Japanese horse-racing homeland and learned so much more about both the region and Japanese horse-racing!

The best part of the private tour was split between either Hokudai-sai or Cape Erimo. First, going to Hokkaido University for the cultural festival, Hokudai-sai, was a great experience as being university students ourselves, we felt really connected with the festive atmosphere and it was really interesting to see the different food stalls by all the different clubs and international student groups. It was also fun to try some of the traditional Japanese festival games such as catching the fish with the paper scoop one. Trying some of the Hokkaido milk ice cream from the university’s cafe was also tasty. Cape Erimo was also a great part of the trip. It was intriguing to see the confluence of the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk at the cape on the south eastern edge of the island of Hokkaido. Doing the Konbu kelp cruise was also great as we actually got to go out to the cape and also see some local wildlife like harbor seals. The food at the cape as well as the Konbu kelp ice cream and Wind museum were also great additions to the cape itself. It was also very fun to travel around the region and go to a bunch of unique spots and places that someone wouldn’t normally go to when we visited the Uma Musume panels. It was a unique way to see the region as a whole.

The trip itself was outstanding! We loved starting in Sapporo and visiting the William S. Clark statue on the hillside overlooking the city. It gave us a good view of the city overall, especially since it was such a nice day (we tried a view from the city at the Okurayama Ski Jump the previous day but weren’t able to see much due to it being foggy/cloudy that day). Doing Hokudai-sai as well with a graduate of the university was definitely a more unique and enjoyable experience too.The different food from the stalls run by the club were delicious too! Colin particularly liked the potato swirl too.

Going to see all the Uma Musume panels was a great way to see a lot of different parts of the Hidaka region. It was really fun to find the character panels in such unique and different places scattered about the region. It allowed us to see and experience places in the Hidaka region that would’ve been hard to find otherwise.

The accommodations used throughout the tour were also very good choices. Staying at the Yogibo Versailles Resort Farm was a relaxing and tranquil time; being out in the countryside of Hokkaido on a horse ranch just had a cozy feel to it. The Urakawa AERU Resort was also really good since it was more of an actual resort so breakfast and dinner was provided on the grounds (I did try a lot of different Japanese food as well here). It being tucked in between the valley out by the mountains was superb.

The itinerary itself also flowed very well. It was great to see all the different parts of the Hidaka region when trying to find the Uma Musume character panels, but it was also fun to do things such as the Kombu Kelp boat cruise and seeing the Mt. Apoi geopark area. Horseback riding was also very fun!

Overall, the trip was fantastic and we wouldn’t not have been able to really explore and get a good in-depth feel for the region without your help. We are truly thankful for the planning and guidance during the trip, it’s one we’ll never forget.