Hokkaido is seen as a prefecture apart, where the vastnesses are vaster, the wilds wilder and the splendor more splendid than anywhere else in Japan. The Group of Eight summit attendees and other summer visitors will have a chance to see for themselves at the 11 national or quasi-national parks in Hokkaido, including the summit venue, Shikotsu-Toya National Park.
Shikotsu-Toya National Park is the most accessible of Hokkaido's parks, making it the ideal starting point for forays into the wilds. It extends south from Sapporo, the prefectural capital, beyond Lake Shikotsu, an hour's drive away, and includes the noncontiguous Mount Yotei, Noboribetsu hot-spring resort and Lake Toya, the caldera that is serving as the stunning backdrop to the summit.
Only three decades ago, Toya was a dead lake, a victim of acid runoff from sulfur mining. A volcanic eruption in 1977 expelled alkaline ash that restored the pH balance and paved the way for phytoplankton, then zooplankton, then larger organisms to repopulate the ecosystem. Today, cherry salmon and pond smelt breed here, bears roam the nearby wilds, waterfowl rest during their annual migrations, and deer graze at the lakeside and on islands in the middle of the lake.