Japan
Rebun Island
Alpine wildflowers blooming at sea level on a wind-battered island at Japan's edge.
The wildflowers should not be here. Some three hundred alpine species that elsewhere grow only high in the mountains bloom at sea level on Rebun, a wind-lashed sliver of land beyond Hokkaidō's northern cape. The island sits closer to Russian Sakhalin than to Sapporo, and the cold currents keep it cool enough for botanical impossibilities.
Rebun calls itself the floating island of flowers, and one of those flowers, the Rebun lady's slipper orchid, grows wild only here. The whole island is national park. Its 8-Hour Course runs the length of the island from north to south along the western cliffs, which fall sheer into the Sea of Japan, with the volcanic cone of Rishiri floating across the strait. The fishing villages live on sea urchin, kelp and Atka mackerel, and the uni split open on the quay is counted among the finest in Hokkaidō. Fewer than 3,000 people live on Rebun, and the island has no traffic light.
Solo
Eight hours on the cliff-top course with nothing but wind, wildflowers and ocean. Rebun is remote enough that the path is the whole day, start to finish.
Couple
Minshuku guesthouses serve crab and uni at communal tables where you eat alongside the fishing families. The shared simplicity is the luxury.
- Around three hundred alpine wildflower species bloom at sea level, including an orchid that grows wild only here.
- The 8-Hour Course runs the island's western cliffs from end to end, with Rishiri's volcano across the strait.
- Fishing villages serve uni and crab straight off the boats, eaten at the harbour.
- No chain hotels and no convenience stores — just minshuku guesthouses, fishing boats and wind.
Sea urchin in its season, so fresh it tastes of the ocean floor, split open on the quay.
Hokke, Atka mackerel, split and grilled whole with salt — the island's staple and its richest fish.
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