insights from frontier Japan

Cake.jp, a website specializing in cakes and sweets, held a presentation of ‘Whole Yubari Melon Cake’ made with Yubari Melons, at the Yubari City community base-complex facility ‘RESTA’ on July 20.

On July 20, Ishiya Co., Ltd and Hokkaido Airports Co., Ltd. (HAP) launched ‘ISHIYA Hokkaido Airport Selection,’ an assortment of three popular Ishiya confectionery products jointly planned by the two companies, which will be sold at seven airports in Hokkaido, including New Chitose.

The harvest of ‘Pure White SP’ corn, the kernels of which are pure white, has reached its peak in the town of Bihoro in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido. The Pure White corn cobs, grown in greenhouses by Mr. Kojima and other farmers, are individually hand-picked every morning.

Hakodate-based Odajima Suisan Foods has produced its first ‘shiokara’ (salt-picked seafood) pickled in sake barrels made from the wood of ‘southern Hokkaido cedar,’ a tree native to the region. The resulting product has a beautiful cherry-blossom pink color, and company CEO Odajima Takashi says, “We hope to continue using the wood in future.”

Basket fishing for Hanasaki crabs, a specialty of Nemuro in eastern Hokkaido, began along the coast of the Nemuro Peninsula on July 11. On the first day of fishing, a total of 5.6 tons of crab were landed at Hanasaki Port and two other ports in the city. Although the amount landed was about the same as last year, the highest price was 4,847 yen per kilogram, 30% higher than last year. According to fishermen, many of the crabs are meatier than those caught last year.

Ohashi Cherry Farm in the city of Ashibetsu in the Sorachi region of central Hokkaido opened for business for the season, on June 29.

“Morino Hyakunichi-gori,” a shaved-ice store that only opens for 100 days, began this season’s business on July 2 on the premises of the Jozankei Dai-ichi Hotel Suizantei in Minami-ku, Sapporo.

On June 21, Japan Airlines and its group company JALUX, in cooperation with the Tokoro Fisheries Cooperative (Kitami), began airfreighting fresh, raw Tokoro-produced scallops to the Tokyo metropolitan area. The aim is to ship 2 tons per month, and the project is scheduled to continue until late December.

The executive committee of the Assabu Furusato Summer Festival, which is known for making a giant croquette using locally produced potatoes from the town of Assabu in the Hiyama region of southern Hokkaido, has decided to hold the festival in front of the town hall on July 23. This year's festival, the first in three years, will include the first attempt to break the Guinness World Record for a giant croquette.