We will be doing part of our summer tour in southern Hokkaido. Second time to go there. I am not a big fan of Hokkaido because landscape reminds me more of Canada (lived there 20 year) than Japan. The main reason we will go there is the cooler temperature. It will be hotter than before but recently our Tohoku summer experience has been too hot. I'm starting to think the summer Tohoku bike tours should be replaced by late September trips.