insights from frontier Japan

Potato plants are in full bloom at the foot of Mt. Yotei in the town of Kutchan in the Shiribeshi prefecture, which is known as one of Hokkaido’s leading potato producing regions. The sight of fields full of flowers swaying in the breeze is a sign that summer has arrived.

Visitors to the rugged cliffs of the Otamoi coast in the city of Otaru are often overwhelmed by the beauty of the clear sea below, before summer begins in earnest.

Orange Siberian lilies (Lilium pensylvanicum) and other colorful wild flowers have begun to bloom at the Koshimizu Genseikaen Wild Flower Park, a popular tourist spot in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido. According to the Information Center Hana, the peak of the viewing season for Siberian lilies is from the end of June to early July.

The shibazakura (moss phlox) cared for by former farmer Mishima Kazuo in the town of Kutchan within Central Hokkaido's Niseko region are popularly known as "Mishima's Shibazakura Garden". And the shibazakura flower viewing season has arrived again this year, with a virtual carpet of vivid flowers spreading out across the field and delighting the gaze of area residents.

In the town of Takinoue in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido, moss phlox is in full bloom at Shibazakura Taninoue Park, which is open for the first time in two years. On May 20, hillsides in the park were a vivid pink color and a sweet aroma drifted beneath the clear blue sky.

‘Unkai Terrace’ (height of 1,088 m), the popular spot in Hoshino Resort Tomamu (in the northern Hokkaido village of Shimukappu) that affords panoramic views of a sea of clouds, opened for business this season on May 12. Approximately 140 visitors could be seen taking photos of the sea of clouds beneath the blue skies.

The Ministry of the Environment Wakkanai Ranger Office for Nature Conservation in the northern Hokkaido town of Toyotomi has established a large-scale monitor and digital signage at the Sarobetsu Wetland Center, with which multilingual, virtual reality (VR) images of the beautiful nature of the Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park can be experienced.

Wakasa Resort Co., Ltd., which operates the Usuzan Ropeway in the town of Sobetsu in central Hokkaido, held a grand opening on April 24, for ‘Mt. USU Terrace’ at the summit’s Lake Toya Observation Deck.

Work to lay electricity cables underground, which the Ministry of the Environment began in the Shikotsuko Onsen (Lake Shikotsku Hot Spring) district last May, has been completed, improving the scenery by removing visible electricity cables and utility poles.