insights from frontier Japan

On March 10, five ninth-grade students who were about to graduate from Kushiro City Akanko Compulsory Education School observed ‘Lake Akan marimo,’ balls of algae that are designated special natural monuments of Japan, is they await spring beneath the ice-covered Lake Akan. The students visited Chuurui Bay in the northern part of Lake Akan – to which access for visitors is normally limited – and rediscovered the value of this local ‘treasure.’

The Lake Akan illuminations ‘Ten-en-no-Mori’ (Heavenly Garden Forest) have begun at a special venue next to the lakeside parking lot in Akanko Onsen in the city of Kushiro in eastern Hokkaido. Approximately 30,000 LEDs and the like are set to music to create a magical spectacle amid the winter forest in Akan.

‘Hunting time: Kucha’ a monitor tour in which participants could experience Ainu-style camping was held from October 8 to 10 at Akanko Onsen, Akan-cho in the city of Kushiro in eastern Hokkaido. Participants stayed in ‘kucha’ (small, temporary huts) made from pine trees, and came into contact with part of the Ainu culture. The Akan Tourism Association & Community Development Organization, which sponsored the event, is aiming to introduce the program as a new sightseeing tour from 2022.

A ‘marimo’ algae ball habitat observation meeting was held on June 22 by the specified non-profit organization Lake Akan Marino Conservation Society and Kushiro City Marimo Research Laboratory, after a large number of marimo were washed ashore in Churui Bay, in the northern part of Lake Akan. The observation meeting has been held every year since 1994. Churui Bay is an Akan-Mashu National Park Special Protection Zone, and normally cannot be entered without permission.

‘Soranomori Café’ has opened in the Akanko Onsen hot-spring resort in the city of Kushiro in eastern Hokkaido. Enjoji Atsushi, who runs the Yamaguchi hot-spring guesthouse, has taken over the café in the premises that have been disused for approximately 4 years.　

Eastern Hokkaido's Lake Akan was covered with ice during the winter. Ice crushing work using a sightseeing boat began there on April 16.

On May 21, activity tourism provider Akan Adventure Tourism (Akan Town, Kushiro City) will begin offering "Kamuy Lumina, an Enchanted Night Walk at Lake Akan", a nighttime Lake Akan lakeside forest walk enhanced by lights and video with an Ainu myth theme. A multilingual guide app will heighten convenience for foreign tourists and the hearing impaired.

The "Akan Yukar Utasa Festival" displays the amazingness of the Ainu culture that exists in the Lake Akan area of eastern Hokkaido's Kushiro City. Starting on February 13, it was held for 2 days at the Lake Akan Ainu Kotan settlement. It was held without a physical audience to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. Performances including prayer ceremonies to the gods and ancient Ainu ritual dances were broadcast online for free.

The movie "Ainu Mosir" focuses on Ainu culture, and was filmed in areas like Kushiro City's Lake Akan Ainu Kotan settlement. It won Best Picture in the International Feature Film category at the "23rd Guanajuato International Film Festival", Mexico's largest film festival.