eastern hokkaidofarming experienceflowersHillsHokkaidojinxjapanguideObihiropetit plaisirRanchseafoodshichiku gardenshirakaba avenueSoft ServeStreet foodTokachiWineYatai
Obihiro and Tokachi - Balancing Both Nature and City Life
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| Limited in Hokkaido only! |
Unlike many others who flew to Sapporo, I started my journey to Eastern Hokkaido from Haneda Airport to Obihiro Airport.
This is also my first time flying a code-shared flight. My flight from Haneda to Obihiro is a code-shared flight with AirDO and little did I know the flight is so cute! The have a bear mascot and even their paper cups are adorable!
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| You're my cute cup of tea |
Obihiro is more of the center point of Hokkaido, and it is also close to Tokachi, a place where it is perfect for many kinds of crops so in this autumn season of harvest, we went for a harvesting tour!
We participated a farming tour through the company named Itadakimasu Company. They aren't farmers themselves, but they connect customers to farmers who wants to provide such service (but too busy to do so) to the public. In mid-October, it is the best season for many things but the farm that we went are harvesting Chinese yam.
Weather was a perfect 15 Celsius, and it was a sunny morning. After we were being briefed about the company and what we will do in the farm, it's time to get to work at Michishita-Hironaga Farm!
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| Took off my boots to wear farming boots only to realize they had farming pants lol |
The full set of gear was provided. We were given gloves, top, bottoms and shoes. Then we were also given shovels for digging.
Before we step into the field, we visited the farmer's garage to find a lot of tools and machinery!
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| Our farm guide, Yurie-san explaining about the vehicle |
Our guide, Yurie-san (we call her Yuri) made a scrapbook to explain about the crops and what makes this area producing so much of crops. Though the tour is mainly in Japanese, the scrapbook has English so it is understandable. Here I always thank myself to understand enough Japanese to survive lol.
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| A big gap of temperature is a huge contributor to tasty crops |
After the briefing, we proceeded to the field.
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| Chinese Yam Field |
It was a nice experience plucking the Chinese yam. Who would have thought that they grow so long and deep down the grounds?
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| Our hard labour |
After digging with my bare hands (it worked better than a shovel because I legit cut one into half with one), we waited for everyone else to get their work done and it's time to cook!
We tried eating Chinese yam in three ways:
1) Sliced in thick slices (raw);
2) Sliced in stripes (raw); and
3) Slightly fry them with butter, flower oil and some soy sauce
Though eating raw is great because of the crunchy texture (and sticky lol) it is the best to fry them with butter and soy sauce.
It seems like Japanese food can hardly escape from soy sauce. I don't blame them, it's tasty after all!
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| Winner of the day |
After the fruitful farming tour, our road trip continues to Shichiku Garden. Obihiro and Tokachi region has a lot of gardens, but the particular reason why we chose here is that, this place was completely managed by a cute lady and has a large variety of plants.
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| Our garden lady here is 93 years old and is happily walking around, gardening! |
We landed on the day after Typhoon Hagibis brushed away from Hokkaido, which has caused a significant damage to the weather that killed quite an amount of flowers and crops due to the sudden drop of temperature. However, it is easy to picture this place growing in beautiful blooms!
I'll let the picture do the talking.
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| Entrance of Shichiku Garden |
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| Some plants for sale |
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| A tiny bite of the pepper can send you to the toilet if you have a weak stomach |
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| Some cute house decor of the garden |
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| Dried corns for the squirrels just near the area we'll be having lunch - So kind! |
This garden itself has a stamp rally. If you manage to complete at least 1 stamp you get a prize from the high-tea area.
We had our lunch here and it was very pleasant!
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| Interior design of our lunch area |
Here, you can find sales of flower-related items from seeds to bookmarks, plates, earrings, or even clothes and hats. They also have a soft-serve that is rose-flavored!
Needless to say, the ingredients for our lunch were so fresh!!
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| Our lunch set in Shichiku Garden |
After Shichiku Garden, we've decided to continue to Naitai Terrace. But before that, we made a brief stop at the Shirakaba Avenue.
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| It was windy |
You don't usually see the shirakaba going fully white up till the top branches, and according to a local friend, this place was damaged by typhoon. You might want to come here as soon as you can before Hokkaido decides to restructure this place to recover it from the typhoon damages. Rebuilding the same avenue will take 20 years! 😭
After our brief stop it's time to proceed to Naitai Terrace!
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| Naitai Terrace Entrance |
This is a ranch that has great views and really nice ice cream. It has a drop-down glass window, a great cafe that gives a good view of the ranch and an outdoor terrace!
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| Naitai Terrace Soft Serve |
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| Look at the view! |
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| If you want a gothic lip color, this ice-cream/ soft serve is definitely a good option lmao |
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| Enjoying the ice cream with a good relaxing view |
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| Naitai Terrace Cafe - They also serve full meals that smells so good but I'm here for the soft serve |
After that, it is almost 4PM so we checked in to our hotel since it isn't so far away.
We stayed with Hotel Nikko Northland Obihiro. The room is so comfortable and the beds are really soft!
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| My room in Obihiro |
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| Super close to Obihiro Station |
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| I'm weak, this is too cute! |
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| Even the room key is cute!! |
We had a short rest and it's time to hit the streets again! :D
Sun sets early, by 5PM it's already dark in Hokkaido!
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| I can't brain. Malaysia is bright when it's 5.40PM but here in Obihiro is pitch dark!! |
As we explore around the downtown of Obihiro, we noticed that JR Obihiro's design is inspired by the mountains of Hidaka. Then we proceeded to bar-hopping :D
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| Isshin is very famous for their drinking buffet and seafood |
I was also wrong to think that yatai in Japan only exists in Fukuoka but apparently it also exists in Hokkaido!!
We walked for a short time and have arrived Kita no Yatai. There are a lot of different yatai here and they generally change every 3 years.
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| List of Yatai in downtown Obihiro as of the time of my visit |
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| As it was early, there were not much crowds yet. |
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| I am still unsure why but Japanese really seem to love Halloween... |
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| Passing by this famous restaurant |
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| When it is still early evening, the bars are closed. |
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| Hi! |
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| Pretty lights! |
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| Each light represents the shop names |
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| Deer statue. Imagine seeing one when you're drunk! |
For the last stop of our first day, we decided to dine in Petit Plaisir and I have to say that the food here is so fine and is a lot cheaper than eating in fine restaurants! 😊👌🏻
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| The Appetizer |
The owner Makoto-san is very friendly and open. We went in as a group of eight, and he was serving cheese on potatoes.
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| The magical heater + cheese. Yummmm |
Here he serves French cuisine, or Japanese food with a good fusion touch.
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| The combination is so good. Eat while it's hot! |
I sat close to the cheese and I can't move my eyes away from the dripping cheese, lol! They also served Tokachi corn (it's in season) with bacon. Super sweet!
Since the cheese was still drooling, I joked about putting cheese on corn and Makoto-san was like 'Oh good idea!' and made some for us then be like 'Saabisu Saabisu' (service) 😂
I forgot to take the photo of the end product but it's so goooooooooooood.
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| Lamb steak |
Anyways the reason why we dined here is that, this place has been here for 15 years. Usually, yatai operators here will change every three years. To remain here you need to pass a lot of tough standards! His yatai is also in the book of Michelin for Hokkaido!
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| Tokachi beef steak |
So yes, this is a place that you shouldn't miss. They have some really fine wine selection and their Kirin beer is 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻. After dining here you'll be picky on your food because they legit raise your standards on food (I know it did for me!!) 😂😂
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| Shishamo is the best I've tried throughout my trip! |
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| Personal favorite: Lasagna style udon. Mmmmmmm |
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| Kirin beer. Not bitter at all. My favorite so far! (Fruit beer aside) |
With a group of 8, we spent about 3.3k JPY on average. We had red wine, white wine, beer, steak, udon, etc.! Of course if you want more steak you'll need to prepare more cash but it's really worth it 😊 The people you eat with, and the people who serve you are all kind and nice, making the experience wonderful!
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| I hope they will be here for a long time so I can go back again. |
After a good night's rest, it's time to wake up for a new day's exploration!
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| Rise and Shine! It's 5.30AM! |
We started our day with breakfast in the hotel, then proceeded to Tokachi Hills!
Here they have beautiful flowers but my favorite is their red bean ice cream.
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| Red bean soft serve of Tokachi Hills |
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| Japanese Rose |
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| Pink Hydrangea |
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| Tokachi Hills |
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| These are NOT lavender |
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| Tanpopo~ |
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| They have a famous Genghis Khan Restaurant here! |
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| Notably the best view of Tokachi Hills |
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| Japanese Monet Pond (?) |
After seeing Tokachi Hills, we proceeded to Ikeda Winery!
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| Harvested grapes |
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| The bottle sizes |
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| Wine Casks!! So huge!!! |
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| Oops my finger |
Here, on normal days you are allowed for wine tasting! Otherwise you can still look at how they produce wine. They produce them at mass amounts to export them!
After our lunch, we went for a sheepdog show in Boya Farm. The sheepdogs are trained in English and you can command them individually, which I'd say, very impressive!
The show brought laughter to everyone!
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| Ducks |
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| The Sheepdogs with puppets. Can you differentiate them? |
And after this show, we continued our road trip to Kushiro...
So far, I love Tokachi and Obihiro for the friendly people and everything adorable.
It is a friendly space that I feel welcomed, with good food that I know I will gain a lot of weight if I live here permanently too!
Here, people drive around because Hokkaido is huge. You get both nature and the lively city in just a short driving distance too! I'd love a place like this to escape from the concrete jungles ^^
Here, people drive around because Hokkaido is huge. You get both nature and the lively city in just a short driving distance too! I'd love a place like this to escape from the concrete jungles ^^
This is a place that I know I'd want to come back again just for the food and gardens. They are very eye-pleasing. I should come back at a even better timing, perhaps in July or August? :)
I'll find time to update about other parts of my trip again.
Until next time!! ☆
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