hokkaido– tag –

There are so many hidden gems in Hokkaido. You can see beautiful scenery e.g.; lakes, mountains, forest, sea and so on. I would like to share some gems in Hokkaido. 【The Mt. Fuji of Hokkaido "Mt. Yotei"】 Mt. Yotei, known as Yotei zan, ...

Why does the Scottish folk song "Auld Lang Syne" make Japanese people instantly flee? I explore the Pavlovian closing signal ("Hotaru no Hikari"), only to pivot to the actual fireflies in Hokkaido. From a surreal night in the JSDF to Asahikawa’s successful community effort to reclaim natural beauty, I argue that the magic of a cool summer night is the best reason to avoid the heat of mainland Japan.

There are so many hidden gems in Hokkaido. You can see beautiful scenery e.g.; lakes, mountains, forest, sea and so on. I would like to share some gems in Hokkaido. 【Hell Valley in Hokkaido】 Hokkaido is like a heaven but there is the H...

There are so many hidden gems in Hokkaido. You can see beautiful scenery e.g.; lakes, mountains, forest, sea and so on. I would like to share some gems in Hokkaido. 【Pink! Pink! Pink!】 Takinoue Town is the small town, located in the th...

There are so many hidden gems in Hokkaido. You can see beautiful sceneries, like lakes, mountains, forests, sea, and so on. I would like to share some of them. 【Unique characteristics】 Lake Kuttara is a crater lake located near the fam...

Why do I, a rationalist, keep buying the same book twice on Kindle? I explore the Efficiency Trap, where the pursuit of digital convenience leads to lost memory and diminished experience. The problem is not nostalgia, but the value of inefficiency. I argue that life is notoriously poor in cost performance, and that the modern search for meaning requires us to reject pure efficiency. Join us at Asahikawa Design Week to experience the value of real, inefficient communication.

You spend 52 minutes a day gossiping. Is that a bad thing? I analyze the social genetics of gossip through the lens of Yuval Noah Harari's theories, arguing it is a necessary human survival mechanism. Discover why online chat fails to satisfy this deep need, and why June in Hokkaido—outside the rainy season—is the best place to reconnect and engage in genuine, face-to-face "gossip."

Why does a Japanese person who hates the smell of raw fish insist you visit his mountain-surrounded hometown for the best sushi? I explore the Sushi Paradox, noting the scientific mystery of our elusive tastes (I love fishing, but won't touch the catch!). While Hokkaido's seas are bountiful due to colliding currents, the logic is in logistics: Asahikawa, the inland distribution hub, gathers the best fish—the quality too high to stay on the coast. Come to Asahikawa for the best sushi! (I’ll order the cooked egg.)

What are the unwritten scripts in the snow? I decode the footprints of deer and foxes in Hokkaido, only to uncover a philosophical problem: The deer population boom is destroying our forests. I admit this fear is purely human ego. This leads to my ultimate, self-serving conclusion: We should solve the ecological problem—and the chicken-or-egg venison dilemma—by dining at one of Hokkaido's many excellent deer meat restaurants. Come and eat some of the problem.

Jason’s mask scares us by its absence of expression. Noh masks scare us by their subtle, shifting asymmetry. We dive into the physics of fear to uncover the 600-year-old secret: how slight, intentional, left-right imperfection gives the illusion of life—a profound, subtle complexity forged by the deep Japanese woodworking tradition. The imagination is always the most effective special effect.