Takino-suzuran park 2

Hi, everyone! Last week, I introduced Takino-suzuran park, but I couldn't introduce it all. So today I’ll tell you other good points about Takino-suzuran park.

3. Seasonal activities

http://www.takinopark.com/?enjoy=act-s

・Summer

We can enjoy cycling, fishing, playing in the water, going around waterfalls and having BBQs!

There are four waterfalls in Takino-suzuran park, so we can view beautiful landscapes.

This is a waterfall

・Winter

Most  parks don't open in winter. However, we can enjoy the winter season in Takino-suzuran park. We can do some winter sports. 

" I don't have any equipment?" Don't worry you can rent it. 

This is walking ski.

My biggest recommendation in winter is the frozen waterfall. It is indescribably beautiful.

(I didn’t include a picture because you should view it yourself.)

4. AUTO RESORT TAKINO

It is a camping site. There is a shower room, coin laundry, shop and multi purpose hall.

So, you can camp more comfortably than you have never experienced before.

It is good that you play in activity areas, enjoy BBQ and after that sleep in the site while seeing a lot of stars.

Ok, I’ve finished telling you about Takino-suzuran park. It is a very fantastic place, so you have to visit once!

http://www.takinopark.com

Momoka

Kinotoya : A Famous Confection Shop in Hokkaido

There are some famous confectionary shops in Hokkaido. For example, Rokkatei is one of the most famous sweets shops in Hokkaido and not only people in Hokkaido but also tourists from other prefectures visit it. One of the main reasons why Hokkaido is famous for confectionaries is because it is thriving with agriculture and dairy farming. Ingredients of the sweets produced in Hokkaido, such as flour, milk, butter, and sugar, have good quality. 

Today, I will introduce Kinotoya! It is a popular confectionary shop in Hokkaido. One of the shops is near my house, so I have bought cakes there many times since I was little. 

Kinotoya was established in 1985. The main store is located in Shiroishi-ku and there are 11 shops in Hokkaido. Some shops have cafes called “Kinotoya cafe”. We can eat their confectionary in the cafe. 

Omlet Parfait -  Odori Bisse exclusive cake

In Kinotoya cafe in Odori Bisse, we can enjoy Bisse Kinotoya Festa. We can have a dish of our choice, unlimited sweets and beverages for 75 minutes. This all-you-can-eat buffet is priced at only 2,300 yen! I have visited it once with my friends and I really enjoyed a lot of sweets and beverages. When you want to go to Kinotoya cafe, you need to make a reservation. You must go there and enjoy Kinotoya sweets!

(Honoka K)

Handball club

5th August 2020

Hi everyone, I’m Rika! 

This blog is the last one, so enjoy my blog! 

Today I’d like to talk to you about my club team. I belong to the handball club. I had never played it before I became a college student, so I didn’t know how to play it at all. I was interested in it because I like ball game sports, so I decided to join the handball club. Our team consists of 10 players and 3 managers now and most people are also beginners. We practice with the boys’ team and we are close regardless of age or gender.

 

There are two big competitions in the Handball Association in spring and fall. These are held in Sapporo, Asahikawa, Hakodate or Kushiro. Of course, we visit to play games and win, but sightseeing is one of the big events for us to enjoy.

 

Last year we went to Asahikawa. This is a picture after the competition.

 

Our team aims to be promoted to the first division and has practiced hard, but now we can’t do so because of coronavirus.😓 However, we are working towards resuming!

 

The competition in fall is going to be held in Hakodate this year. If you are interested in handball, why don’t you come there??

Japanese traditional card games

Hanafuda is a Japanese traditional card game.

It was created 450 years ago and people in Japan have played this game for a long time.

Hanafuda consists of 48 cards. They are divided into 12 groups which express the 12 months. There are beautiful illustrations which suit each of months on every card. Japanese traditional flowers are the main illustrations, for example, cherry blossom, wisteria and chrysanthemum. Japanese traditional birds are also painted on them, for example, cranes, little cuckoos and the Japanese bush warbler. You can enjoy seeing them when you play it.

You can play seven games at least by using Hanafuda. The most popular game is “koikoi”. This game needs 2 players. In this game, players turn over cards alternately and make a hanafuda hand like mah-jong or poker.

The names of the hands are very unique. “Tukimi-de-ippai” is one of the hands, it means that drinking alcoholic while seeing a beautiful moon. There is also a hand whose name means that drinking alcoholic while seeing beautiful flowers.

“Hanaawase” is also a popular game of Hanafuda. It is easier than “koikoi” and 7 players can play together at once.

You can buy Hanafuda at hundred-yen stores. You should enjoy it as soon as possible!

“Tukimi-de-ippai”↓

Zenibako beach

These days, it is very hot!! So you want to go to the beach and swim, don’t you? I think Zenibako is good for swimming in the sea, so I will introduce it.

Zenibako is near Sapporo, it takes about 30 minutes from Sapporo by train. And you can be at Zenibako beach in about 10 minutes from Zenibako station. It is very accessible, so a lot of people go to Zenibako beach every year. This year, some places are closed and most of the events are stopped because of the coronavirus, but beaches are open as usual. Beaches have good ventilation, so I think it is a good choice for your amusement this summer!

There are a lot of gourmet shops around the Zenibako station, so if you go to Zenibako, you should go to shops after enjoying swimming in the sea. I will introduce one of them. The shop name is gato-fraru (ガトーフレール)

It is a famous sweet shop. The shop sells cakes, cookies, and so on. I recommend you to eat soft ice cream! It is very nice to eat on a hot day!! If you want to buy presents for someone, you should buy a pudding on an earthen pot (土鍋プリン)！It is baked in eathen pot and a lot of fruits are put on it. It is a specialty of this shop.

  

I think you could know why Zenibako is good for swimming in the sea by reading my post. So why don’t you come to Zenibako in this summer?(Miyu)

 

Minami-ku (ward)

Hi, I’m Ririka! This post is the final one. Please read until the end.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to my hometown. It is ‘Minami-ku (ward)’. This place is the widest ward in Sapporo. In fact, the land area is 60% of Sapporo. It's a surprise, isn’t it?

Also, I’d like to tell you about good places in Minami-ku. First, it’s a supermarket. It is called by everyone ‘Moiwa-ieon’. I think this supermarket is the most enormous in Minami-ku. There is a high school nearby. Therefore, maybe I think this supermarket is for the students. Because, they have a good time hanging out with their friends after school. 

Second, if you love art, you should visit ‘Sapporo art park’. It’s known as ‘ Geijutsu No Mori’. I think almost all people believe that a museum is inside. Of course, one is inside as well. However, another museum is outside. It’s called Sapporo Sculpture Garden (Yagai-museum). I think this work is especially the most famous in this museum. Have you ever seen this?

When you go here, you can be a chair like in this picture. So, this work is called ‘take a break to be a chair’ (isu- ni-natte-yasumou). I’m sorry I don’t know the true title in English. But, you can experience artwork directly. Also, I think you want to challenge yourself by making some craft. If so, I suggest you go to ‘the craft hall’. You can produce your own original artwork there. For me, when I was a middle school student, I was in the art club. So, I visited there with my club members and made a necklace with glass.

I told you about just two attractions in Minami-ku this time. However, if you can come here, you may find a lot of awesome places. And, when you visit here, I’ll be a guide for you!

Thank you for reading my blog. Could you enjoy yourself? I hope this blog is useful for your amazing life.

See you someday😴

DRIVING SPOTS

Hi guys! How is it going? I’m excited because the summer vacation is coming! I’m looking forward to going for a drive with my friends so today, I’m going to introduce some popular driving spots! 

First, I would like to tell you about Chikyu-misaki, which is a kind of cape. “Chikyu” means the earth in Japanese so It is known as a wonderfully named cape and many people go there to see the first sunrise. I went there when I was a little child but I hardly remember the scenery so I want to go there again and see the lighthouse! 

The next is Ororon-line, which is a very long straight road. If you drive there, you can see beautiful scenery and ocean view. In addition, you can see a lot of windmills in a line! The view is a little strange but it is extremely interesting, isn’t it?  I have never driven on the road before so I want to go there next summer vacation!

I really recommend you going to these driving spots but recently the number of coronavirus cases rises again so if you go these spots, you need to wear a mask definitely and bring spare masks and antiseptic solution if you can! In addition, it’s getting hotter so don't forget to drink something frequently. 

That’s all for today! I hope you became interested in these spots! 

See you next time!

JR TOWER

Hello, I'm Misaki. I will tell you about JR TOWER. If you live in Sapporo, you have heard of it before.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/JRタワースクエア

JR TOWER is connected to Sapporo Station. It is composed of Apia, Esta, Paseo and Stellar Place Sapporo. It is a shopping center so it is very useful for local people to go shopping and eat food and so on. Also we can watch movies there. I often go there with my friend. 

First I tell you about Paseo because I like it the best in JR Tower. Paseo has a lot of clothing shops. There is Nice Claup which is my favorite shop there. It is only located there in Hokkaido so when I want to buy clothes, I go there first. I bought sandals last month. However the goods are not cheap so I would like to purchase them after I save a lot of money by working hard. 

http://www.jr-tower.com/shop_detail_paseo/195

Next is Stellar Place Sapporo. My proposal to you is to go to the dining flour. It is located on the six floor. There are various kinds of restaurants for example yakiniku, sushi, Korean food, Chinese food, and so on. I think every restaurant is great so first of all it is the best to go to restaurants which you want to check out.

http://www.jr-tower.com/shop_detail_stellar/290

http://www.stellarplace.net/shop_detail/155

I want to write more but I have finished this blog. Thank you.

Music Festival in Hokkaido Vol.2

Hello, I’m Yuno.

This time I’ll introduce another big music festival in Hokkaido. It is “Rising Sun Rock Festival in Ezo (RSR)”. It's a very good name. 

It is held in Ishikari, in August. This festival was held in 1999 for the first time, so this year would be the 22nd time, but it will not be held because of COVID-19.

I have been to this festival twice, in 2017 and 2019. 

In 2017,  I saw Sumika, my favorite artist, for the first time there. So it was a very memorable event for me. They performanced on a smaller stage than now, so it was a rare experience that I could see them there. I also saw a lot of bands then and that was the occasion that made me like seeing live performances. 

This is a picture taken at the festival in 2017. They look so young.

In 2019, I took part in this festival as staff.

My task was checking wristbands of audience members and asking whether they have bottles or cans because several years ago an audience member threw them onto the stage. It is so dangerous.

Next  I'll pick up some features of this festival.

・Live performances over the night

This is the biggest feature of this festival.

RSR is the first festival in Japan which held live performances through the night.

Audiences can spend the night with music in their ways. Of course being at the stage is good, and they can listen to live performances in the camp site; while eating, drinking or sleeping is also good.

 

This picture is the rising sun from the official website. It's so beautiful !☀️

Unfortunately, when I joined RSR, I couldn't see the sun because the weather was too bad. It was a very rainy day and I got wet, but it was also a good memory for me.

・Delicious food of Hokkaido

A lot of local food is sold at this festival.

Actually, this festival is held between Ishikari and Otaru, so “Letao” is set up in this festival. I ate its sweet food when I went to RSR in 2017.

Audiences can enjoy not only live performances but also delicious local foods.

Actually, this year, some local food products are sold online to support Ishikari. 

These vegetables are made with compost, and this is made from raw garbage which people produced in the past festival. RSR has 13 kinds of division of garbage “Earth care” since 2000.

I think it is a great project.

Last two times I wrote about music festivals, so now I strongly want to join these festivals.

I hope next year people can enjoy events that this year was not held.　(Yuno)

Eating spots in my hometown

Eating spots in my hometown

Kaori

Hi everyone! Did you enjoy my fourth blog?  Have you ever watched a video about the sea butterfly’s predatory behavior? It was very frightening, wasn’t it?

As you know, I have been living in Kitahiroshima for 20 years. Kitahiroshima is famous for the Fighters stadium and Mitsui outlet park. But, My final blog is about eating spots in my hometown! I will introduce 2 restaurants which are loved by local people.

1.Muginokaori

Muginokaori is a bakery which is in a residential area. Its bread and buns are really popular for local people! So, if you want to buy your favorite bread or buns, you have to visit there before 10:30 because its food is often sold out by 11:30. I always buy its garlic bread. Look at the photo, the shape is like a rugby ball.

2.Tenjiku

Tenjiku is a soup curry shop which is near the station. I strongly recommend you eating stewed cubes of Hokkaido’s pork curry! There are a lot of vegetables in the curry. Also, you are able to choose the amount of rice. If you want to eat more rice, you can get an extra serving of rice! In addition, you can drink delicious lassi there! Lassi is an Indian beverage and the taste is like yoghurt. I want you to try it when you visit Tenjiku!

If you’d like to know more information about these shops, you can check their websites!

URL:https://tabelog.com/hokkaido/A0107/A010703/1009777/

:http://www.tenjiku.server-shared.com/

The areas I lived in ②

I’ll introduce three towns, Yuni, Naganuma and Kuriyama! These towns are very close to each other and have a lot of nature. I’ll tell you mainly about events held in those towns.

Yuni～Centipede (Mukade) festival.

Do you know the centipede race? Some people stand one behind another and they tie their legs with rope. In this race, if someone in the group disturbs the group’s rhythm and stumbles, everyone will fall on the ground and the person who is at the head will fallen on by other members. So, teamwork is very important to do well and not to get hurt in this festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOipu7Zawb0

Naganuma～Yuyake-Ichi

This event is usually held every month from May to September. A lot of stores in the main street participate in this. There are many stalls along the street and we can enjoy eating good food, playing games or other things. In September, we can play bingo and this game always warms up!

https://www.maoi-net.jp/kanko01/kanko.htm

Kuriyama～Kuriyama festival

This is a festival of Kuriyama shrine and held on a large scale. Streets in the town are very crowded. Not only people who live in and around this town but also people who come from Sapporo enjoy the festival. Some Yosakoi teams also come and dance. We can watch their dances closely.

https://www.kuriyama-tenmangu.com/%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%AD%E8%A1%8C%E4%BA%8B%E3%81%AE%E3%81%94%E6%A1%88%E5%86%85/

It is difficult to enjoy these events this year, but I want you to visit someday!

(Aoi)