Culture

Walk through an orchard garden where fruit trees and flowers coexist. Savour nature’s blessings with fruit harvesting and pizza-making.

Feel nature close to you, enjoy its soothing feeling in this farm that built its orchard in the middle of untouched nature. First, walk around the orchard garden, the"garden within an orchard". The seasonal fruit harvests, and the"witch tomato"mini-tomato grown with a monthly rhythm-farming method are both popular. You can also enjoy other activities, such as the tree adventure that lets you walk through the air in the forest, or the fishing area anybody can try. We recommend trying the cooking course to make a seasonal pizza. Start from stretching out the dough, load it up with seasonal vegetables and cook it in the farm-made pizza oven. Try the joy of making and eating it on the spot for yourself.

Enjoy the historic building and the works of the western-style painter Masayuki Matsushima, who traveled through and painted Japan, China and Europe.

Masayuki Matsushima is an artist from Iwamizawa, who worked as a part-time instructor at the Iwamizawa division school of the Hokkaido Kyoiku University. In his final years he built an atelier in Cannes, France, and traveled the world, leaving behind many paintings. 10 years before he died in 1999, at the age of 89, he donated his works to Iwamizawa City. At first they were displayed in a painting hall set up in the civic hall, but the next year, in 1990, the old Iwamizawa police station building was put to use and the works moved there. The Iwamizawa City Painting Hall/Masayuki Matsushima Memorial Hall was born. Built from reinforced concrete in 1932, the outer appearance, lobby, ceiling, stairs and more about this building are made in a style unusual today. In addition to this, other paintings, sculptures and crafts by Iwamizawa artists are displayed here.

Next to the Nopporo Forest Park, with all its beautiful autumn colours. Passing on the culture of Hokkaido’s bricks and pottery to today.

Hokkaido’s red brick production is said to have started around the end of the Edo period. The Ebetsu City ceramic centre has a "brick information exhibit room"displaying the history of Hokkaido brickwork, and the "northern pottery exhibit room" that displays the works of Hokkaido’s current pottery artists, as well as a workshop that holds pottery classes, and a library with materials concerning pottery and ceramics. Additionally, the Shinobu Komori Memorial Room keeps the works of Hokkaido’s greatest pottery researcher, Shinobu Komori, on permanent display for you to look at. If you want a souvenir, try the pottery shop that sells the works of artists living in Ebetsu. Climb to the watchtower of the building, and you’ll see the Noppori Forest Park, as well as a majestic view of countless trees painting the mountains.

A facility where you can learn about winter sports, and feel the emotions and history of the Olympi

In 1972, the 11th winter Olympics were held in Sapporo, and moved the hearts of many. In the city and nearby, many stadiums for skiing, skating and jumps were made, and are used for domestic and international tournaments to this day. One of those is the Mt. Okura Ski Jump Stadium. The Sapporo Olympics Museum was opened here. Aside from being a facility where you can feel the emotions and history of the Olympics yourself, it also aims to develop and spread winter sports. Inside, you have many exhibits where you can learn about not just the Sapporo tournament, but the Olympics so far in general. The exhibits of tools used in the sports are a must-see as well. There are also 6 simulators where you can experience Olympic sports from the athlete’s perspective.

A Hokkaido-designated tangible cultural property, this building will teach you the history of the golden days of herring fishing

Built at an impressive height overlooking the sea, the Otaru Nishin-Goten was built in Tomari village in 1897, and moved to Shukutsu in 1958. The two-floor construction covers a total area of 611 square metres, and at the height of herring fishing, a full 120 fishermen stayed here. To compare it to modern society, this would be something like a herring-fishing company combining its office, the CEO’s house, and employee dorms, and the result is designated a Hokkaido tangible cultural heritage. Built from luxurious lumber like local ash and Sakhalin fir, as well as hinoki cypress brought in from Aomori, its bulky and sturdy construction gives it great value as a structure already, but it also offers exhibits or herring fishing tools and photos, giving insight into a part of Hokkaido’s history.

Spend a while relaxing in a hotel facing the Otaru canal,
then enjoy natural hot springs and meals from local foods!

Stay the night in Otaru. The Otaru Furukawa Canal Inn is in a perfect location, with the Otaru canal right in front of you. The front desk replicates a Meiji era merchant house, lamps light up the "light lounge", and otherwise add to a nostalgic atmosphere welcoming guests in. Rooms come in many varieties, such as Japanese style, western style, or special rooms with an outdoor hot spring attached, each offering a relaxing space. The soothing natural hot springs come through two major baths, each equipped with an outdoor bath as well. The dining area offers handmade dinner and breakfast made from ingredients from within Hokkaido, near Otaru. This inn makes it easier to walk around the canals during dusk or nighttime as well, lit up by gaslamps. It also offers yukata loans for walks outside.

A magnificent worship space created by the world-famous architect, Tadao Ando.

The Great Buddha enshrined in Makomanai Takino Cemetery in Sapporo city. It's called "Atama Daibutsu (Head Great Buddha)”. Although it's a cemetery, it has become a famous place where tourists from all over the world visit. The Great Buddha itself was originally built outdoors as a "Great Buddha of spiritual commemoration". But an architect, Tadao Ando designed Hill of the Great Buddha as a commemorative project in 2016 which is the 30th anniversary year of the opening of the park. Now, it has tourists coming to visit its unique shape. As you can only see its head sticking out from the hole in the center of the dome-shaped roof, it's called "Atama Daibutsu (Head Great Buddha)”. Its appearance integrated with fresh green in spring, lavender in summer, and the snow-covered hill in winter has become a new famous place with its artistic charm in Sapporo. There is "Rotunda Cafe & Store” on the banks of the water garden. You can take a break with a light meal or tea, and also buy original souvenirs. In addition to this Atama Daibutsu, 33 Moai statues which are nearly 10 meters high are lined up, and there are also statues which were modeled on Stonehenge of an ancient English ruin, and Kannon statues. It's a mysterious art space, and you can enjoy its own view of the world. This vast site with a total area of 1.8 million square meters is a cemetery where graves of the deceased are lined up. But since it's a park cemetery regardless of denominations, welcoming a lot of people for sightseeing and leisure.

History and art mingle together.

Otaru prospered as the gateway to the sea and built the foundation of the Hokkaido's economy as the center of the economy. Otaru Art Base, which consists of three facilities utilizing the four buildings that are former Arata Trading Co., former Takahashi Warehouses, former Mitsui Bank Otaru Branch, and former Hokkaido Takushoku Bank Otaru Branch, built during the early 20th Century, when Otaru prospered greatly, is where you can appreciate domestic and foreign arts and crafts that have colored each era, and experience their cultures. “Nitori Museum of Art” begins with stained glass works of Louis C. Tiffany spreading in front of you, and you can appreciate a wide range of art works closely such as Japanese paintings by Taikan Yokoyama, Japanese and overseas Western paintings by Ryusei Kishida and Renoir, wood carvings by Koun Takamura and his disciples, and Art Nouveau and Art Déco glass works. At “The Former Mitsui Bank Otaru Branch”, you can see the inside of the heavy bank building built in 1927. At “Stained Glass Museum”, you can enjoy the beautiful and majestic space of light crafted by the use of stained glass of churches in England.

Enjoy the nature, which is typical of Hokkaido, and Ishikari Lighthouse, a symbol of Ishikari City.

180 kinds of beach plants grow naturally on the coastal topography called sand spit, which was formed over a long period of time by the intersection of the Sea of Japan and Ishikari River. A part of the site is also designated as a protected area of Ishikari City for beach plants. Ishikari Lighthouse, which stands at the entrance of the park and features red and white stripes, is a proof that a vast sand spit was gradually formed over 100 years by the flow of the river and the waves of the sea. In the park of about 46 hectares, you can enjoy a variety of flowers in each season such as ramanas rose, which is the origin of the park's name, viola grayi, beach pea, bindweed, lilium pensylvanicum, and solidago virgaurea. The best time to see ramanas rose is from late June to early July. You can feel the expression of the seasons that change from season to season as well as early summer. Many locals frequently visit this park that is also popular as a bird watching spot and a wide variety of wild birds come to all the year round such as larks, Japanese bush warbler, and eagles. ''Hamanasunooka Park Visitor Center'', which has a resting space, sells Ishikari's special products and ramanas rose related products. What we particularly recommend is the Original Hamanasu Soft Serve, which is pale pink, and has an elegant scent of ramanas rose. Please enjoy the popular taste while feeling the booming of the sea and the pleasant sea breeze of Ishikari Beach.

The exhibition is centered on works of artists related to Otaru.

Otaru has a landscape of houses dotted around the undulating terrain of the sea, canal, and harbor. The art museum was the Otaru Regional Savings Office at that time, in a corner of the street where banks and such in Otaru City, which was also called Northern Wall Street. This museum has two memorial halls and a themed exhibition room, and exhibits and preserves works of contemporary artists who are related to Otaru, centered on works of artists who made excellent achievements during the time when Otaru prospered as a commercial city. One of the memorial halls is Zensaku Nakamura, who is known as a landscape painter from Otaru. The rich colors of the landscape paintings, which show a kind and gentle personality of his, draw viewers’ attention. In Ichihara Arinori Memory Hall on the 3rd floor, there are a lot of works by Arinori Ichihara, an internationally renowned printmaker with a unique style of art using a technique called Monotype. There is also ingenuity in appreciation as well as works such as a section that reproduces a part of the art studio, and a section where you can watch the work production process. In addition, the citizen gallery on the 1st floor holds a variety of exhibitions by citizens throughout the year.

A blissful time to spend while feeling the connection between the climate and culture of Otaru.

A museum of literature on the 2nd floor of the building that was the Otaru Regional Savings Office at that time, in a corner of the street where banks and such in Otaru City, which was also called Northern Wall Street, were lined up. You can appreciate books and materials of novelists, poets, and haiku poets related to Otaru such as Takiji Kobayashi, Sei Ito in the building built in 1952. Valuable items such as handwritten manuscripts and letters, and the Takiji's death mask as well as artists’ biographies and photographs are displayed in the exhibition room where the scent of old books seems to waft. Among them, there are personal bags and cameras that the writers actually used. There is also a section where the personality and characteristics of the writers are explained, and you can get to know a new aspect of the writers. In addition to the permanent exhibition, special exhibitions and themed exhibitions are held on various themes such as literature lectures and literature walks to visit places related to the writers and their works.

Forget about time passing in a relaxing space, and have a delicious time.

A warehouse building, which has a good feel to it and was built on the site of the former Uminekoya. The building features its brick construction, and has been certified as a “historical building designated by Otaru City”. The design of the interior on the 1st floor is based on the deep sea, and there are plenty of store commitments such as Sapporo soft stone antiques and custom-made tiles. The light and shadow of the lighting make an atmosphere mysterious. The ingredients used for cooking in such an atmosphere are carefully selected local ingredients of Otaru and Hokkaido. “Hokkaido beef and various meats” baked by using Hokkaido's local birch firewood have a crispy surface and a juicy taste filled with the good flavor inside. One of the popular menus is pasta, which is made elaborately to make the most of the uniqueness of the ingredients. The commitment to food is the same at lunchtime with a lunch set that includes drinks and such. The kid's lunch is also appealing to families with children.

Enjoy cycling through the landscape of the countryside while collecting shrine red ink stamps of Ishikari Tobetsu.

Departure is from Tobetsu Shrine, which has an extensive land. The shrine's precinct is close to the park with rich greenery, and just walking along the approach makes you feel sacred. After visiting Shotoku Shrine, which is inside of the shrine's precinct, split into two courses with a guide and visit. The idyllic scenery rooted in the area, such as the abandoned station and the two-story wooden school building is also a highlight. After visiting the shrines in the town along the course, you will return to Tobetsu Shrine and receive a red ink stamp book. One of the attractions is that you can get red ink stamps, even if shrines you visit on the day are unmanned. After exercising pleasantly by cycling, have relaxing lunch at a popular restaurant in Tobetsu Town. We have selected popular restaurants that use local ingredients such as Japanese restaurants that are beloved by locals, soup curry restaurants that are soul foods in Hokkaido, and fashionable café restaurants. You can enjoy the nature and culture of Tobetsu Town.