We are flying from Kyushu, Japan to northernmost Hokkaido island on a mission: devour as much fish, ramen and chocolate as possible during the day, and retire each night to a comfortable onsen resort to sweat off the pounds in soothing hot-spring baths.

We are lucky. Our tickets for the five-day tour package, won in a supermarket raffle, cost us only $350 apiece, everything included -- airfare, bus tour, hotels and meals.

There is a drawback: The tour is conducted completely in Japanese, so I have little clue where I am or what the guides are saying most of the time.

My son, who is fluent in Japanese, is not always helpful. He dozes through most of the bus tour. When he is awake and I ask him to translate the guide's running commentary, which has had the Japanese tourists oohing and aahing for 20 minutes, he gives me the short version: "They have cows around here."

Many Japanese have never set foot on Hokkaido, a long and expensive train ride from populous regions to the south, via a rail tunnel across Tsugaru Strait. A flight from Tokyo's Narita airport to Sapporo's Shin-Chitose airport takes about 90 minutes.

For a Canadian tourist, Hokkaido feels close to home.

The spectacular mountain ranges, rugged seacoast, wildlife (owls, foxes, bears), forests, dairy and crop farms, including vast fields of potatoes, are reminiscent of British Columbia. Even the climate -- mild summers and cold, snowy winters -- feels familiar.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/travel/story.html?id=9d8c4083-c575-4871-b362-f26a9599bb5f