Aloha Sapporo! Visiting Furano, part 2
The field outside our cabin in the mornings.
Our visit to Furano — the middle of Hokkaido, and one of the most agricultural areas — continued with a very interactive tour to various farms. Although it’s a famously popular area for Japanese people to visit, tourists from outside Japan didn’t know much about it.
Our group with Mr. and Mrs. Asakura of Stellar Pension.
I’m always very open about the fact that Hokkaido is my favorite island in Japan, and this trip to Furano made it even more so. You get the big-city experience in Sapporo, and everything else outside the metro area offers the best and freshest products in the country.
We stayed at a place called Stellar Pension, named such because it’s a great place for stargazing when the skies are clear. In the summer, the place is brimming with the bounty of the area; in the winter, the place is completely covered in snow and can drop to as low as -13 degrees Farenheit. They told us that sometimes, brown bears can be seen on the property, too. Yikes!
Our day was so full, it was impossible to condense it down into one gallery. I have three galleries for you to browse, broken down by meals and excursions. First, here’s what we ate:
Stellar Pension
We visited the Soil & Tractor Museum, which at first sounds dry but is actually really interesting. They can figure out the history of the area spanning thousands of years, just through boring for soil samples. Mr. Tada, who showed us around his farm, also took some samples and explained that it takes 100 years for the water from Furano Mountain to make it to his farm.
For those of you who attended the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival this year, you’ll recall a group from Tokachi brought azuki beans for the chefs to use. Those same people rabidly took some soil samples here, as well, to analyze once they got home. Furano people really take their soil seriously.
When in Furano, always try to visit a flower farm. On this day, we went to Tomita Farm, and it was a feast for all the senses. Be sure to get some lavender soft serve, too!
The Soil & Tractor Museum
One of our final excursions of the day was a visit to Country Terrace Koropukkuru, a strawberry farm. This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, so I had to break it out into its own little gallery! We picked strawberries, then brought them back to the shop to make strawberry chiffon cupcakes, strawberry ice cream shakes, and shirahama dango — a kind of mochi. (Note to Hawaii tourists, don’t ask for chi chi dango or they will laugh at you!)
We enjoyed the total hands-on experience at this farm and felt like we were competing in The Amazing Race. No kidding! Bonus for Edwina: It was a good cooking lesson for her, too.
Country Terrace Koropukkuru
These photos are just the highlights of the day. To see all photos from this day, click here.
Up next: Climbing Mount Tokachi to look for pika. That video game character Pikachu is a real animal!
Disclosure: This tour of Furano (only) was provided by Hokkaido Treasure Island Travel.
