insights from frontier Japan

A famous event at the Noboribetsu hot spring, “Hell Valley Demon Fireworks,” was held on the night of September 19 at the Horobetsu Elementary School field in central Hokkaido’s Noboribetsu City. Pillars of fire shoot up from fireworks held in the hands of performers.

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), sent investigators to look into the Kita-Kogane Shell Mound in Date City, Hokkaido, on September 13. The Japanese government is aiming to register “the Jomon Archaeological sites in Hokkaido and Northern Tohoku” as a World Heritage Site, and the Kita-Kogane Shell Mound is one of the ruins being considered.

Eiji Sugawa (51), manager of the "Noboribetsu Marine Park Nixe" aquarium in central Hokkaido's Noboribetsu City, is excited about new display styles.

The town of Atsuma suffered a devastating landslide due to the Eastern Iburi Earthquake that erupted in central Hokkaido on September 6, 2018. View the Yoshino district reconstruction efforts through a two-year span of aerial photography.

The National Ainu Museum and Park (Upopoy) serves as a base for the revival of the culture of the Ainu, an indigenous people of Hokkaido. It opened on July 12 in Shiraoi Town, central Hokkaido. Upopoy means “singing (in a large group)” in the Ainu language.