insights from frontier Japan

Two cheeses – ‘Sakura-no-Affine’ produced by the Kyodo Gakusha Shintoku Farm (Shintoku), and ‘Raclette’ produced by NEEDS (Makubetsu) – have won the Gold Award at the World Cheese Awards 2021, one of the world’s most influential international cheese shows. Including these two products, a total of four products from three cheese factories in the Tokachi region received high-ranking prizes.

Tokachi Nauman Onsen Hotel Arco in the Tokachi region's town of Makubetsu started offering "glamping" accommodations on July 1. Visitors can stay overnight in tents equipped with luxuries including beds, and enjoy a charcoal flame barbeque.

Amid the expansive fields of Tokachi, straight stretches of roads that look as if they reach to the heavens are dotted here and there. The Minami 10-sen road that runs almost east-west through Tobetsu in the town of Makubetsu is one of those roads. Here, just twice a year – in the period after the spring equinox and just before the autumn equinox – the sun can be seen rising from a point that is an extension of the road. Each time is a magical spectacle that’s limited to just a few minutes.

Roses are beginning to bloom one after another at “Tokachi Hills”, a tourist garden in eastern Hokkaido's Makubetsu Town. Some of the rose types have a honey or pear fragrance, so the garden is filled with a sweet aroma.