insights from frontier Japan

It’s the height of the cherry harvest season in the southern Hokkaido town of Nanae, which is famous for the cultivation of fruit trees. The trees in the orchards are adorned with red cherries, which producers harvest carefully by hand.

On June 26, the Shin Hakodate Agricultural Cooperative (Hokuto) in southern Hokkaido began selling ‘Dojima Roll Tomato Mix,” a roll cake made with tomatoes produced in the city of Hokuto. Jam made from tomatoes produced in Hokuto is added to the cake’s sponge and cream.

On June 26, bread bakery and sales shop Masuya in Eastern Hokkaido's Obihiro started selling limited quantities of "Minori no Megumi", a high quality bread bursting with Tokachi ingredients. It is made from Tokachi grown flour "Minori no Chikara", and is a high quality product that is softer and more plump than regular bread. This is the first time for the Masuya bakery to try its hand at the high quality bread category since its inception in 1950.

The harvesting of hydroponically cultivated paprika, which takes advantage of the cool climate in Kushiro in eastern Hokkaido, is reaching its peak at the Hokkaido Salad Paprika facility in the city of Kushiro. 　As well as common red, yellow and orange paprika, the company also cultivates a very sweet, long, thin variety in its greenhouses.

With several hundred curry restaurants in the city, Sapporo is known as the place of origin of soup curry. As sales slumped last September due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Ide became chair of the ‘Curry City Sapporo Promotion Committee’, established by over 100 curry shop owners. By planning drive-through curry sales and issuing premium meal vouchers, the committee hopes to “group together as one and protect Sapporo’s curry culture to the end”.

Shipment of ‘Raiden watermelons’, a specialty product of the town of Kyowa in the Shiribeshi region of central Hokkaido, began on the morning of June 10. The plump, striped watermelons were loaded onto trucks under a clear blue sky before being transported to a fruit sorting facility in the town.

‘Chimikepp’, a restaurant in the Chimikepp Hotel accommodation facility in the town of Tsubetsu in eastern Hokkaido, which acquired a 1-star rating in the ‘Michelin Guide Hokkaido 2017 Special Edition’ ranking book, has been selected as the only Hokkaido restaurant among 10 from around Japan in 2021, by three gourmets with extensive knowledge of cuisine throughout the world.

Shipping started on June 7 for "Hobetsu Melons", a special product from the Central Hokkaido town of Mukawa. Hobetsu Melons are known for their high sugar content and for staying fresh for a long time.

The ‘Kobayashi Farm Soft-serve Ice Cream Shop’ run by the Kobayashi Farm dairy in Sapporo’s neighboring city of Ebetsu is proving popular. After opening in late April, the establishment attracted approximately 1,300 visitors per day during the long vacation period. With milk and cheese also on sale there, the wide range of fresh dairy products is receiving favorable reviews.