insights from frontier Japan

A blue and orange mosaic appeared in a field in the Kitami region, which boasts the largest onion production quantity in Japan. The color layout of that mosaic in the shape of a perfect square looks just like a QR code. The objects making up the mosaic are iron shipping storage units filled with approximately 1.3 tons of onions. Each unit is 120 centimeters long, 180 centimeters wide, and 130 centimeters tall. To preserve the dry conditions after harvest, they have been covered with two colors of water-resistant tarps.

Wooden spoons made from white birch by Aitomi Mokuzai-kakou Corporation in the town of Tsubetsu in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido, which are used at five shops that sell dairy products in the town of Okoppe and the like, are proving popular among customers for their ‘cute’ cow designs. The spoons are part on an initiative derived from an Okhotsk Regional Promotion Bureau project, and the cost of manufacturing the spoons is covered by a forest environment transfer tax that the national government allocates to local governments for the purpose of maintaining forests in the region. As the trend shifts away from the use of plastic, the plan is to promote the warmth of wooded products.

The first attempt at producing orange wine has begun at the Infeeld Winery in the Tanno-cho district of the city of Kitami in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido.

As autumn approaches, Japan's largest natural glasswort area in Ubaranai, Abashiri City is beginning to change colors. The annual September "Lake Notoro Coral Grass Festival" has been cancelled for the second year running in response to the State of Emergency Declaration for Hokkaido as a COVID-19 countermeasure, but tourists are still enjoying the colorful vermillion scenery with the lake as a backdrop.

The town of Oketo in Eastern Hokkaido's Okhotsk Region completed building the five overnight rental trailer houses that were being constructed within the grounds of "Oketo Katsuyama Onsen Yuu-Yu", the town's only hot spring facility. The trailer houses will be available for overnight rental starting on October 1. The facilities will take reservations for October and November starting on September 10. This new tourism resource launch was prompted in part by outdoor activities growing in popularity out of the desire to avoid crowds in closed-in spaces amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and also in part by an expected continuation of the increase in families and individual travelers even after the pandemic subsides.

The broadnose sevengill shark is considered difficult to keep in captivity for long periods of time, but one is currently on display in the large saltwater tank at Shibetsu Salmon Science Museum located in Eastern Hokkaido's Okhotsk region. According to the museum, this is currently the only shark of its kind to be on display in a Japanese aquarium.

‘Forest Owl’, a ‘zip line’ on which participants are harnessed to a pulley that slides down a wire rope stretched across a mountain, opened at the Engaru Rock Valley Ski Resort in the town of Engaru in the Okhotsk region of eastern Hokkaido in August 14. According to Town officials, it is the steepest zip line in Japan, capable of speeds of up to 70 km/h, and affords extensive views of the Sea of Okhotsk and Yuubetsu River basin.

‘Kitami Athlete Stays’ a training-camp facility exclusive to sports teams and athletes opened in Kitami High Tech Park in the city of Kitami in eastern Hokkaido on July 30, with a preview event for related parties.

A cruise to view scallop fishing from the drift-ice sightseeing boat Garinko-go Ⅲ ‘IMERU’ off the coast of Mombetsu in eastern Hokkaido, began on July 22.