Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four main islands, is the least "Japanese" place in Japan. It's sparsely populated, with vast forests, uninhabited seashore, and expansive vistas that seem right out of the American West. One of Hokkaido's most untamed landscapes is Shiretoko Peninsula, in the northeast. I visited here for only four days but was so taken with it, it became the setting for half of my novel, Audrey Hepburn's Neck. Much of Shiretoko is national park land, and it is so wild and remote, the coastal roads end halfway up the peninsula. Utoro and Rausu, on opposite coasts, are both dreary fishing villages. But the people who live in them - many of them nonconformist escapees from the regimented life down south - are fascinating and friendly.

Hokkaido is a volcanic island, and there is a wonderful hot spring-fed waterfall near Utoro, Kamuiwakka No Taki, overlooking the mountains and the sea. I hiked way up to the highest pool, stripped off all my clothes, and eased my way into the very hot water - only to be joined almost immediately by a large group of Japanese hikers, who'd all come prepared with bathing suits. They politely ignored the naked foreigner in their midst, but I was so embarrassed I didn't get out of the water until they - and the two groups that followed them - had left. By then, I was parboiled. The view, though, was magnificent.

A frequent contributor to Travel & Leisure, an intrepid traveler, novelist, playwright and journalist, Alan Brown lived in Tokyo for seven years. He's now planning a trip to Bhutan.