Kushiro, Muroran, Sakata,

Kushiro is located in Hokkaido, Japan. The Kushiro area is volcanically active and small tremors from off-shore earthquakes occur regularly. Kushiro is a rural area and home to Japan's largest marshland. The city is very popular to bird lovers because it offers them the chance to watch the endangered Japanese cranes all year-round. It is worth visiting the Kushiro City Museum with the unique architecture, where many excellent exhibits representing the natural history of the area can be found.

Muroran is a historical city that today numbers around 100,000 residents. The main harbor with a lot of cement factories, steel mills, oil refineries and shipyards, contrasts the picturesque hills that surround the city.

Explore the port area and take advantage of the dolphin and the whale watching opportunities. The city also serves as a gateway to the mountainous northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts thanks to skiing and snowboarding in the winter and hiking and cycling routes during summer, along with its popular hot springs.

Hokkaido's capital, Sapporo, is both Japan's fifth-largest city (almost 2 million inhabitants) and one of its newest. It's a cosmopolitan place to visit, with many lively restaurants and bars. Sapporo was also the host of the 1972 Winter Olympics, so there are many excellent ski slopes and facilities (in summer, take a ski lift to the observatory top of the ski jump for thrilling views).

The area of present-day Sakata was the location of the provincial capital of ancient Dewa Province, although the precise location has yet to be discovered by archeologists. A port at the mouth of the Mogami River is known to have existed since the Kamakura period. Although silting rendered it less important in the Muromachi period, the area developed as a major center for the kitamaebune coastal trade during the Edo period. By the early Meiji period, the Honma clan, a local merchant clan, dominated trade and emerged as the largest landholder in Japan.