Point of reference, Hokkaido is 20% of Japan but is home to less than 5% of of the population. It is bigger than Switzerland and the Netherlands put together.

 This trip took 6 days and covered over 600KM. It was my first big trip on my folding bike and it did very well. Hokkaido is prime biking country in the summer. Wide (mostly flat) roads, beautiful big blue skies, the temperature and humidity never get too high, and the landscapes are world-class. i highly recommend a bike trip here. i rode to Wakkanai twice and hope to ride the whole circumference of Hokkaido before i leave it.

Highlights

sleeping in an old Ainu (Hokkaido's indigenous people) hut.

Meeting lots of people in the middle of biking the circumference of Japan.

Helping a young man from tokyo on a motorcycle tour who had no food and didn't know how to set up his tent.

Finding a paved bike path through the forest that lasted for 2 days. There was a lot of bear activity so they took down the signs and stopped putting it on maps. But it is in good condition still.

Finding a Park golf club on an old train in a part of hokkaido that didn't have trains for the last 50 years.

low points

My tarp not keeping out the mosquitoes while camped on two lakes.