Huts

Huts are just simple shelters. Sleeping on a wooden floor. 

First comes, first serves. Can't be booked.

Huts can be busy during season; unlikely to get a place if you arrive after 2 pm. Especially Hisago-numa.

All huts (except for ) are free. 

Only Kuro-dake Ishimuro has power.

Expect snoring:)

Official page of huts maintained by Kamikawa Town (上川町). 

More about huts. 

Another trek report: Hakuundake Refuge (白雲岳避難小屋), Hisagonuma Refuge Hut (ヒサゴ沼避難小屋)

Huts rules

Quiet for sleeping from 8:30 pm. 

No shoes, no smoking in the hut.

BYOTP: Bring Your Own Toilet Paper

When full, use only space of your sleeping mat.

When

The Daisetsuzan area has a long winter and a very short summer—roughly July to August. 

Official season is from July 1st to September 30th, but you can visit any time. 

Hiking season: July-October.

Autumn foliage peak: mid-September, the first snow come in October.

Most popular and colorful: Late August – early September.

Ski touring in winter

Transportation

Railpass gets you anywhere by train. It needs to be purchsed before entering Japan. It is valid also for city lines and JR. It does not apply only to the fastest (most direct) trains. 

Train schedules are spot on (seconds). Traveling speed over 260 km/h. 

Google maps cover public transportation. 

Car drive is extremely slow due to traffic and speed limits (often 50 km/h even out of city). Highway is couple of times more expensive than a train, but fast. 

There is no rule on unsigned cross-roads: no priority/give way to a traffic from the right, so everyone drives slow and reaches consensus.

In most cities is good to rent a bike. Sometimes even hostels offer that.

Almost all traffic/navigation signs are also written in latin.

Maps

Mapy.cz are fine for tourist trails. 

Geographical Survey Institute of Japan (third party app Android/iOs) offer a possibility of a bit detailed topo maps at higher scale. 

Accomodation

Airbnb, HostelWorld and Booking.com have good coverage and there is also a nice list of backountry huts hokkaidowilds.org.

Info points on train stations can guide on accomodation or maps. 

Local info

Great source of local info japan-guide.com

Weekends and hollidays can be busy: hostels and car rentals can be booked. If hollidays are on weekends, it's delayed to Monday. And galeries closed on Monday are closed on Tuesday. 

Phone & Internet

Prepaid data sim is sold only by bmobile (1 GB / 3500 ¥ (360 MB FUP/3 days). Must be activated from a japan phone (ask seller). Econnectjapan.com can send activated to your hotel (order 5 days in advacne). 

Voice/tarif can' be purchsed by foreigners (Skype OK). You can also rent a protable WiFi router (e. g. on airport) if you want to carry it. 

Some European phones might not work with Japan SIM despite not being blocked by an operator. Second-hand phones are cheap though.

Map of Area