Hokkaido’s nine famous mountains Jon Solmundson (Hokkaido) Look at the roads on either side of Mount Poroshiri, Hokkaido, and you will notice something strange. There are two stretches of asphalt, completely unconnected, both labeled Route 111. This has been the case since 1994; the start of a grand highway tunneling through the Hidaka Mountains. But it was never finished, deemed too expensive and unpopular. A couple hours north, Route 661 also ends in a sudden terminus rather than carving its planned route through the Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group. Local environmentalists fought for 36 years before the proposed tunnel there was scrapped. The people of Hokkaido have shown a determination to keep the unique beauty of Japan’s northern edge untouched by development. Dave Dilling, an avid hiker who has been exploring Hokkaido’s peaks since he came to Japan a decade ago, describes them as some of Japan’s “most wild.” “In Honshu, people will plan hikes from hut to hut. . . whereas you have to be more self-reliant in Hokkaido, and there’s just less people here, a lot less people.” “I like the solitude of these places. I like the idea that a lot of people don’t want to make the effort to go out there. I like being engulfed in nature.” This year, Dave completed a long-running personal goal to summit all nine of the Hokkaido peaks listed in Kyuya Fukuda’s 100 Famous Japanese Mountains. He’s far from the only one to take the book’s advice, which ascended to the top of Japan’s mountain climbing canon thanks to a prized place on Emperor Naruhito’s bookshelf. Public awareness of this royal interest in mountain climbing added to the increasing appeal of hiking, as Japan’s economic growth fuelled surging participation in leisure activities through the 1980s. According to a 2021 report from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, today 8.6 million Japanese people enjoy hiking in the nation’s mountains—roughly one in every fifteen.
82