Marimo

 

Marimo’s features

Marimo is unique plant. It cannot live outside of certain environments.

First, you have to prepare clear water. Marimo is alga so it does photosynthesis. It lives in the bottom of the water so it is necessary for it to be in highly transparent water that allows sunlight to reach the bottom.

Second, it needs there to be good waves in the water. Marimo is very vulnerable and it needs water motion to roll.

 

Third, Marimo is good at staying at cold water. On the other hand, it doesn’t like being in hot water. If it stays in hot water, it will die.

For these reasons, Marimo can live in only certain areas. For example, Lake Akan in Hokkaido. If you would like to see it, why don’t you go there? But there is a rule. The regulation is that you are prohibited from collecting Marimo. Please take note of it.

Marimo and Akan-cho

It is said that it takes 100 years for Marimo to grow to the size of a baseball ball, but the Marimo in Lake Akan grows about 3 cm a year when the conditions are good. It takes about 10 years for the Marimo in Lake Akan to grow to about 30 cm in diameter.

In order for Marimo to grow, various conditions must be met. For example, a place where minerals contained in hot spring water gush out, and shallow and wide terrain which gets enough sunlight. Lake Akan has these conditions.

There are only a few places in the world where you can see huge Marimo. If you want to see them, please go to Akan-cho!!

Akan city

Akan city is renowned for Marimo and hot springs so Akan city is sometimes described as a mysterious place.

Akan city has a lot of visitors because it has many kinds of leisure activities. For example, rafting and fishing, also it often holds popular festivals, especially the Akan Ice festival is very popular.

The local specialties in Akan are Marimo youkan and smelt, I’m sure that both are very tasty. So why not go to Akan during your summer vacation.