hokkaido– tag –

Hokkaido is sometimes called the milk kingdom that boasts the largest milk production (about 55% of the total milk production in Japan). Only a short drive takes you to the road where dairy farms spread on both sides anywhere in Hokkaido. Every time I see cows lazily munching, an environmental issue occurs to my mind, which is methane gas produced from cow belching and manure.

In order to gain objective information about hometowns, what helps us is "travel YouTubers." As checking some videos by such YouTubers to introduce Hokkaido, I found very beautiful scenery only seen in autumn. The YouTuber introduced it as a magnificent view that we'll want to see before we die. It's the field of coral grass (the ones consisting of the red field in the first image).

Among river fish in Japan, the king is definitely salmon. You can see them in many rivers in Hokkaido this season. In autumn, salmon comes back from the sea and dies in its home rivers soon after spawning, which supports the ecosystem of Hokkaido's rich nature and economy.

Many movie freaks are likely to look down on animated movies. I'm sure of that because I was one of them until I went to a special exhibition in Sapporo. The exhibition is "The Science behind PIXAR" that is about the movie production of PIXAR. You may still believe that it is only dramas played by real actors that can move you, but CG animation is also very dramatic. If you know human struggling behind the scene, you will be moved by animated movies as well.

I rarely buy flowers. It's only on Mother's Day, though I forget even that sometimes. In addition, there's a mental wall in us, I guess. In fact, I've never seen anyone who is waiting for his/her date with a flower bouquet, and so I believe it only happens in the movies.

Travel by train in Japan is safe, punctual in time, etc. There are many advantages, but in Hokkaido, the infrastructure may be gone in the not-so-distant future. Please come here to travel around by rail before that happens.

The small town is called as "a town of miracle." It has no rail line, major route, and water infrastructure in it. Japan is facing a declining population, which is most obvious in rural areas. Nevertheless, the population of the town has been on the increase for these 20 years, surprisingly.

Soba, buckwheat noodle, is very popular in Japan. The harvest season of buckwheat is autumn, the same as wheat, but funnily enough, only soba noodles are recognized as an autumn seasonal food in Japan. And also, many Japanese people see Soba noodles more elegant than Ramen and Udon noodles.

If you can only eat just one food, which would it be, ramen (noodle) or curry? I'm sure we all the Japanese people have asked and answered this stupid question at least once in our life. For your information, I'll take curry, definitely! Anyway, the point is ramen and curry are the top two popular foods in Japan. As I looked up the number of restaurants, ramen is about 24000; curry about 4700, respectively.

Genghis Khan is a barbecue of mutton, lamb, and vegetables. It's one of Hokkaido specialties. Mutton and lamb are not so generally eaten in Japan. There are many Japanese people who don't like the smell. It's very difficult to find a Genghis Khan restaurant outside Hokkaido.