Regional Voices: Hokkaido

The refreshed locomotive will run on the Tobu Kinugawa Line that connects Tokyo and the hot spring resort of Kinugawa.

A nationwide shortage of face masks amid the growing COVID-19 outbreak has sparked a rise in the number of people who make homemade masks using cloth as a substitution for medical gauze as protection against the novel coronavirus. In the Sorachi District of Hokkaido, demand ...

Following two cases of backcountry skiers being killed by avalanches in Hokkaido since the beginning of this year, safety experts in the prefecture are working to fully enforce the so-called Niseko Rules to keep skiers safe. The recent accidents — one in the village of ...

English-language media outlets are stepping up their presence in Hokkaido's renowned ski resort of Niseko, benefiting from growing global interest from skiers and snowboarders lured by the region's fine powder snow. In an attempt to reach out to the influx of foreign visitors, local publishers ...

"Isekai Rebuilding Project," a fantasy novel by a Hokkaido-based writer who publishes under the pseudonym Yukika Minamino, has become available to English-reading audiences through a website run by an American digital publisher of Japanese novels aimed at teenagers and young adults. The addition of Minamino's ...

Three municipalities, including Higashikawa in Hokkaido's Kamikawa subprefecture, and nursing care providers in the prefecture's north introduced in April a scholarship program for non-Japanese attending welfare services schools to encourage them to take up jobs at local nursing homes. The move has raised hopes that ...

A community space in Muroran, Hokkaido, is connecting residents with others on the island who hail from countries as diverse as Thailand, Canada, South Korea and the United States. Once a month, they gather to take part in a so-called English Night where they can ...

A Sapporo-based association providing support to people with rare and intractable diseases is planning to establish its own shelter early next year allowing people with special needs to find a safe place in the event of an emergency. The group came up with the idea ...

When 38-year-old Naomichi Suzuki was elected governor of Hokkaido in April, he simultaneously achieved another feat: becoming the youngest serving prefectural leader in the nation. Although some initially counted on the young Suzuki to be communicative, or even outspoken, he has so far trodden carefully, ...