Here I am, taking a holiday in minus-20 Hokkaido instead of plus-20 Okinawa. I'm either losing my marbles or just a normal Canadian pining for a winter wonderland.
At this season, for sure, Hokkaido can be Japan's Siberia, a world of white where everything — from roofs to roads to parked cars and bicycles — is caked in snow. And in case anything had escaped, snow fell almost nonstop during my visit in January.
The snow is so deep, and the powder so fresh, that many skiers from Australia, Europe and even Canada insist that the island's central Furano area offers the best skiing in the world — often at rates a third of the cost where they come from.