Hokkaido Official Tourism Site HOKKAIDO LOVE!

Country Papa is a farmers restaurant and cottage in Shikaoi town. This is the best place to have a slow life in a country style cottage. In the restaurant, there are menus with fresh vegetables of the season, local meats and eggs of Shikaoi town, and the rice that is directly delivered from rice farmers. Hamberg steaks and omelets are their typical dishes among a variety of choices. They are friendly for a group of visitors with letting reserve the entire restaurant or hold an event in the grass square. Families or a group of friends will be satisfied with this facility.

The biggest public farm in Japan, Naitai Kogen Farm, continues to the horizon with its green carpet. The main purpose of the ranch is to breed cows until a delivery, and they have around 11 groups with 250 cows each. In the vast land, the changing of the seasons can be seen quite clearly. Starting with dandelions in spring, light purple flowers of Hokkaido decorate the field in early summer. The green of summer gradually turns into red in fall, and finally into perfect white in winter. Perfect place to see the ranch is the observation deck located at an altitude of 800 meters. You can enjoy the patchworks of fields in Tokachi Plain as well.

Kamishihoro town, which has a population of 5,000 and 40,000 cows, is trying to revitalize the region with ICT (Information and Communication Technology). One approach to it is the smart hotel Kamishihoro. It has a huge contrast of being located in the center of Hokkaido with great nature surrounding, and the cutting edge technologies they have. It starts with smart check-in with a tablet, you can enter your room with face recognition, there are delivery boxes in every room, and you can learn about the town with the artworks of animal fur and nails in the hotel. Modern-design rooms and the lounge are comfortable and very convenient. They have both wired and wireless LAN which help you to have online meetings. It is an ideal place to have a workation.

Shikaribetsuko Kotan is open from the end of January to mid March. It is a kotan, which means village in Ainu language, appears on the frozen lake of Shikaribetsu. In the igloos made with naturally freezed ice that have been cut out of the lake and snow cubes, you can enjoy different types of activities. There is a bar in an igloo, an open air bath on the ice, ice-made lodges where you can stay, and outdoor sports such as snowmobile and cross country skiing. It has been more than 40 years since the Shikaribetsuko Kotan project started. There were a number of efforts in planning, building, and organizing the Kotan all by themselves. It is worth seeing the winter wonderland that the Shikaribetsu people have built.

Onnetoō, known as “Five Color Lake” or “Mystic Lake” since its color changes with the time and weather conditions, is one of the most popular spots in Ashoro town, Tokachi Area. 20 to 30 minuites of light trekking from Lake Onnetoō, there is the only one “alive” mineral deposit in the world: Onnetoō Hot Spring Waterfall. The waterfall with gentle slope has approximately 35 degrees celsius in the upper stream. Since the microbes generate manganese oxide, it is unable to bathe. It has a sacred atmosphere with the waterfall, surrounding pine trees, and moss covering all over. This waterfall is attracting attention globally because of its natural rarity. You have to take bells as it is a habitat of brown bears.

Cape Nosappu in Nemuro city is the easternmost place you can visit in Japan. The sunrise time in June is at 3:30 AM, which is 2 hours earlier than in Naha, Okinawa although they are in the same time zone. People gather on New Year’s Day to see the earliest sunrise in Japan. The cape is also known as the spot where you can watch whales and sea otters. Discover nature in the eastern frontier of Japan!