The Long Bloom: Hakodate, Matsumae & Esashi

Experience the grace of Hokkaido's extended cherry blossom season.

Hokkaido's cherry blossoms arrive weeks after Tokyo's and Kyoto's, which works in this trip's favor — by the time Matsumae is blooming, most of Japan's hanami crowds have already gone home. Matsumae itself is the reason this loop exists: it was the only feudal castle town Hokkaido ever had, seat of the Matsumae clan under the Edo shogunate while the rest of the island remained Ainu territory, and its park now holds more than ten thousand cherry trees across over 250 varieties. Because they bloom in sequence rather than all at once, the display runs for 3+ weeks instead of the usual week or two.

The loop starts in Hakodate, where Goryokaku's star-shaped fort turns into one of the better hanami spots in the country once its moat-lined ramparts fill in with blossom, viewable properly from the tower built right beside it. From Matsumae, the trip continues up the coast to Esashi, a town that was established by its herring trade in the 19th century and still has the merchant mansions to prove it, plus a folk song — Esashi Oiwake — with a real claim to being one of Japan's best-known regional tunes.

This is a history-and-scenery trip more than an activity-heavy one, built for people who'd rather walk through three distinct towns at an easy pace than pack in a long list of things to do.