VOLUME 1
HOKKAIDO
Snow Country, Yubari Melons & Goryokaku Star Fort
Snow has just begun in Susukino. A grilled-mutton pan glows red through a basement window, and someone outside is brushing flakes off the shoulder of a wool coat. Up the hill, the brick gable of the Former Government Office holds its corner of the avenue. Trams clack toward Tanukikoji. Further out, the dairy plains around Biei lie under a thin first crust, and at Kushiro a pair of red-crowned cranes settle into the marsh. Some other things, gathered here. The netted rind of a Yubari melon. The carved spiral of an Ainu ikupasuy. A bowl of miso ramen with the steam still climbing. The brass lamp on the Otaru canal. The five points of Goryokaku traced into Hakodate snow. A Steller’s sea eagle on a floe in the Sea of Okhotsk. The painted clappers of a Naruko dance. A wedge of Hokkaido cheese tart cooling on a baker’s tray. Forty pages here, drawn at the speed of falling snow. The book moves north to south and back again, from drift ice to lavender at Furano, from the Daisetsuzan ridge to a wooden chise at an Ainu kotan. The kettle is on somewhere. A single light stays on above Cape Erimo.
“A single light stays on above Cape Erimo.”
- 40 original Hokkaido Prefecture illustrations
- Single-sided pages to prevent bleed-through
- 8.5 x 8.5 inch square format
- A mix of detailed and breathable compositions
- Brief editorial introduction to Hokkaido
- Anyone with an interest in Japan, its culture, and its northern landscapes
- Adults who use coloring for relaxation and quiet focus
- A considered gift for friends and family with a love of Japan
The Hokkaido coloring book is Volume 1 of Sora Mikami's Prefectures of Japan series, a 47-volume collection that explores Japan one prefecture at a time. It gathers 40 original black-line illustrations of Hokkaido. It draws on Snow Country, Yubari Melons, and Goryokaku Star Fort, alongside the everyday scenes Hokkaido considers its own.
You will find Snow Country, Yubari Melons, and Goryokaku Star Fort, together with the landmarks, food, and quiet corners that give Hokkaido its character. The compositions move between detailed, intricate pages and calmer, more breathable ones, so there is something for every mood.
Yes. The book mixes detailed illustrations with more open, breathable designs, so beginners and experienced colorists alike can settle in. The large 8.5 x 8.5 inch square pages give you plenty of room to work, and every page is printed single-sided.
Colored pencils, markers, and gel pens all work beautifully. Because every illustration is printed single-sided on white paper, you can use heavier media without bleed-through onto another design. Slip a sheet of card behind the page if you want to be sure.
It is Volume 1 of a planned 47, one book for every Japanese prefecture. The volumes can be coloured in any order, and together they sketch the whole country one place at a time. Hokkaido is Japan's northernmost prefecture and forms a region of its own.
