A journey along the crystal-clear Chitose River through the Japanese Prehistoric Jomon Period

Meet your tour guide at JR Sapporo Station at 7:45am. After a 30-minute train ride and a 20-minute drive by private car, arrive at the Usakumai Prehistoric Ruins Group, the starting point for your canoe tour.

Meet your canoe guide (warm welcome guaranteed!) at the starting point.

– First, visit the Usakumai Ruins Group, the remains of villages from the Jomon Period (7,000 years ago). Enjoy the quiet atmosphere and space of surrounding woods covered with moss.

– Before getting in the canoe at the riverside, you’ll receive a quick briefing covering the day’s activities, your travel route, and safety tips. All participants will also have the opportunity to introduce themselves.

– Begin your journey downstream through the wild nature of the upper basin of the Chitose River, where you’ll voyage for 2.5km over the course of about an hour.

– Your first break comes at Meisui Community Park, where the Chitose River and its Naibetsu River tributary meet. Taste Naibetsu spring water, the source of Chitose City’s tap water.

– Continue your twin canoe ride to the beginning of the urban area, covering 4.5km over about 80 minutes. Enjoy a peaceful time, building friendships with your canoe guide and crew.

– When the weather is nice, lunch is served on the river bank, surrounded with pretty views. Savor tasty rice balls prepared with Hokkaido ingredients by your guides, while enjoying the splendid landscapes.

– After a short 500 meter ride, land at the Chitose Shrine, where Shinto priests will take you around the shrine grounds. Their stories of the origin of the shrine and its rules and etiquette are both educational and entertaining. Draw the shrine’s sacred spring water (Sachii no Mizu), sourced from the underground water of Lake Shikotsu.

– The last leg is a 2km ride through urban areas, which takes a quick 20 minutes. Though the river water remains clear and clean, you’ll find yourself in a totally different atmosphere upon your return to urban reality.

– After exiting your canoe, visit Salmon Hometown Chitose Aquarium, where you’ll learn about the river ecosystem. As a special treat, the aquarium director will escort your group. Enjoy quality time learning more about the Chitose River and its inhabitants – there’s even a chance in season to observe salmon swimming upstream to spawn.

– Toast with beer brewed with water from the upper basin of the Naibetsu River to complete your tour! This local specialty is very enjoyable.

– Depart at 16:10, arrive at JR Sapporo Station at 17:10 by private car and train.