⚠️ Timetables, opening hours, prices and access conditions may change without notice, for reasons beyond our control (season, weather, decisions by operators, venues or local authorities). Before every trip, check the information with the relevant authorities and service providers.
🪶 Ainu culture
Upopoy, National Ainu Museum
📍 Shiraoi
Opened in 2020 on the shores of Lake Poroto, Japan's first national museum devoted to the Ainu, the Indigenous people of northern Japan: reconstructed village, craft workshops and traditional dance performances.
Ainu culture · National museum
🔗 Official site →Akanko Ainu Kotan
📍 Lake Akan
Hokkaido's largest Ainu village, home to about 120 people: some thirty woodcarving and embroidery shops, and the Ikor theatre for dances listed as UNESCO intangible heritage.
Ainu village · Crafts · Dance
🔗 Official site →🏯 History & heritage
Goryokaku
📍 Hakodate
Five-pointed star fort completed in 1864, Japan's first Western-style fortification and scene of the last battle of the Boshin War (1869). The magistrate's office was rebuilt in 2010; the nearby tower gives the full view.
Star fort · History
🔗 Official site →Historical Village of Hokkaido (Kaitaku no Mura)
📍 Sapporo
Open-air museum opened in 1983: 52 pioneer-era buildings (late 1860s to 1920s) spread across a town, a fishing village, a farming village and a mountain village. A horse-drawn tram runs through it, becoming a sleigh in winter.
Open-air museum · Meiji era
🔗 Official site →