Asahikawa

Asahikawa is a city located in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaidō, Japan. The city is the capital of the subprefecture and the second-largest city in Hokkaidō, next to Sapporo. It has been a Core city since April 1, 2000. The city is currently well-known for the Asahiyama Zoo and Asahikawa Ramen.

Asahikawa is the terminus of the JR Hakodate Main Line to Sapporo, Otaru and Hakodate. The Super Kamui limited express service departs from Sapporo to Asahikawa every 30 minutes. The journey takes 80 minutes and costs ¥4480. This is the best way to travel between these two cities by train, as local train service is sparse and can take anywhere from three to five hours of traveling time. As the local train fare is ¥2420, you might want to take the bus unless you are on a Seishun 18 Ticket.

Hourly rapid trains from Sapporo's New Chitose Airport continue as Super Kamui trains to Asahikawa, with no transfer necessary in Sapporo; the journey takes two hours. Many of JR's Hokkaido lines branch out from Asahikawa: the Soya Line connects to Wakkanai, while the Sekihoku Line connects to Abashiri and the Furano Line goes to skiing hotspot Furano.

Asahikawa is the coldest city in Japan, holding Japan's temperature record of -41°C (in 1902). It's not that bad most of the time though, and the good side to cold and snow is that there's some great skiing nearby. Kamui Ski Links is a local favorite just west of town, and Biei and Furano are each about one hour away. Back-country options include Asahidake and Kurodake.

Asahikawa is known as one of Japan's gourmet towns, and despite its small size, contains many restaurants of nearly every description. Many restaurants are clustered in the Kaimono Koen (Shopping District Park) area, in front of the JR station. This makes touring a number of restaurants on foot a viable option for a day trip. Asahikawa's ramen noodles are nationally famous, with shoyu (soy sauce) being the flavor of choice.