Niko - Traditional Japanese Restaurant (二幸本店)

If you read the "sushi" section of the Asahikawa Tourism Website you would have discovered that the conveyor belt style of sushi dining is the equivalent of fast-food in Japan, a type of "MacSushi" if you will. If you want to try the 'top shelf gear' when it comes to sushi, a traditional Japanese Sushi-ya is your best option.

To this end, I would recommend Niko without hesitation. The freshest seafood, cheerful and friendly staff, reasonable prices, modern comfortable decor, and perfect city location are all that you would want from a restaurant. Far from simply being a sushi restaurant, Niko offers an elaborate menu filled with traditional Japanese delicacies, many of which you are unlikely to have tried before.

Niko is open for lunch or dinner and can be found on 3jyo 7chome on the ground level next to Okuno department store.

Andon - Japanese Paper Floats

Andon are huge floats made primarily out of timber and paper (with some extras) that get lit up from the inside and are paraded by Andon teams during festival parades. 

The floats are either dragged or carried, and if you chance upon the appropriate festival, you can see them crashing head-on into each other in a battle of the strongest (as in Numata, as small town a short distance south west of Asahikawa). 

When you consider the fact that andon are carried or dragged, please note that at some festivals they can measure 7m high x 12m long x 3m wide and can weigh up to 5 tons. 

Very impressive indeed.

Summer Fireworks in Hokkaido

Most of the Japanese festivals’ main event is the fireworks display. During the summer festivals, organizers launch more fireworks than you may have expected possible, but it seems people can’t get enough. 

The fireworks display marking the launch of the San Roku Festival in Asahikawa is impressive, both for the number of shells launched as well as the scenic river-side location. However, for those wanting a little more bang for their buck, the most comprehensive fireworks display in Hokkaido takes place in Obihiro (a beautiful small city south west of Asahikawa). 

By way of comparison, a standard summer fireworks show will fire somewhere in the vicinity of 2000-3000 shells. The Obihiro fireworks festival will launch about 20,000 shells and reduce the life expectancy of many a house pet. Even the smaller fireworks shows in Obihiro fire about 10,000 fireworks. Obihiro is quite close to Asahikawa, so if you find yourself here in summer and love to watch fireworks, consider it for a really fun short trip.

Those that don't have the time to travel the country-side too much will have to settle for the Summer Festival fireworks in Asahikawa, not a bad consolation prize really.

Yukata / Jinbei - Summer Festival Fashion

A yukata is a summer kimono for girls. Unlike the kimono, it is relatively easy to wear and priced reasonably. A jinbei is the summer wear for men, a loose two piece summery wear usually made out of cotton or linen, it’s great for the warm festival season. Summer, and the festival season, is the time people really enjoy dressing up in yukata and jinbei. You can buy them at department stores, kimono shops, or on-line. The price range is from a few thousand yen for a complete set to,…well, the sky’s the limit.

 

Beer vs Happoshu

Just to keep the beer theme for this month rolling along, I thought I might quickly explain the difference between the Japanese beer and happoshu (the other Japanese beer).

Happoshu is a low malt (sometimes no malt) beer. With Japanese beer taxation based on % "malt content", beer brewers have been experimenting with low malt brews as a means of keeping costs down and passing those cost savings on to the consumer. For this reason you'll find a standard-sized can of happoshu about 50yen cheaper than its full malt counterpart.

As the techniques for brewing happoshu have improved with time, the taste has increasingly mirrored the taste of full malt beers, though it is still some way off according to seasoned beer consumers.

Japanese brewers spawn new varieties of happoshu faster than Japanese car manufacturers produce new models, so you will have to consume a few barrel loads of brew before you settle on your favourite (or decide that its altogether not for you).

Please tell us your favourite Japanese drink by taking the poll on the right side of this page.

Asahikawa San Roku Festival 2008

The promo poster for this year's San Roku Matsuri (festival) has been released, well, to us anyway,...everybody else probably got it three weeks ago. In any event, if you are not already geared up for it, or alternatively don't have a great deal of information about it, here is what you can expect (in no particular order);

(1) Ice cold beer

(2) Fireworks (a very tidy display riverside)

(3) Traditional Dance

(4) Ice cold beer

(5) Quality Festival Food (more on this later)

(6) Traditional Taiko Drumming

(7) Not so traditional Taiko Drumming

(8) Mikoshi Parade

(9) Asahikawa Ramen (best in Japan)

(10) Lots more...

Beer is listed twice because with the expected hot/humid weather you'll really appreciate it.

Anyway, we'll post more info soon,

Here's the poster

See you at the festival

Beer Gardens

One of the great things about the city during the summer is that its never really difficult to find a beer garden to enjoy an ice cold beer outside. Probably the easiest option is the Kaimono Koen (4jyo / 7chome) beer garden, about 7 minutes walk from the station straight up Kamiono Koen, on the right just before you reach 4 jyo. Great local brews from the Taisetsu Ji Microbrewery can be sampled as well as the standard Japanese favourites. 

A slightly more conservative option is the beer garden at the top of the Terminal Hotel (next to Asahikawa JR Station). It suffers a little from not being street-level, but does offer a broad choice of food and drink as well as a festival-like atmosphere.

Which ever you decide on, you'll find it fun, relaxing and pleasant to be outside.

Asahikawa Winter Festival

The date for the 50th annual Asahikawa Winter Festival has been announced. The 2009 festival will be held from the 7th to the 11th of February with a festival launch party to be held on the 6th.

Although we have not confirmed the full details as yet, the International Ice Sculpture Competition will start on the 7th with the sculpting teams working through the night to finish on the 8th. The sculptures will be displayed until the 11th of February. More information can be found HERE, and we will post further details as they come to us.

Until then, the flier below will have to suffice.

Restaurant Search - Deden (ででん)

Deden is a generously sized Japanese Izakaya in the San Roku　quarter in the heart of Asahikawa City. Expecting the standard Izakaya fare, we were surprised to find an unusually elaborate menu, rich with interesting adaptations of recognized Izakaya dishes.

The beauty of the restaurant is not so much the novel approach to standard fare, though this is major bonus for seasoned Izakaya campaigners, but more so the multitude of choices available from the menu.　Sashimi, tempura, grilled fish, yakitori, nabe, soups, and Chinese-influenced dishes are all available in many different varieties. Lovers of the more exotic will be excited to find stewed tripe, sashimi (raw) liver, stewed beef tendon, 50-50 deep fried octopus, venison, or tempura crab.

With the help of Asahikawa Tourism, the Deden menu is soon going to be available in English and Chinese, making Deden a great choice for excellent dining without communication difficulties.

As a last note, for the love of all things tasty,

PLEASE TRY THE ICE-BREAD !!!

More info on 50-50 octopus and ice-bread HERE

New TNT Blog from Q

For those people that like their nature information with a little more credibility than my random rants, you'll be happy to know that a very good friend of ours at Asahikawa Tourism and TNT member, 'Q', (a.k.a Booster, a.k.a Rocket, a.k.a Grizzly Man . . . actually I just made these up) has started a new blog from Asahidake. Q is a park ranger at Asahidake making him the most reliable source of tourist and weather information for Asahidake Onsen and the Taisetsu National Park. Check out his blog for new and up to the minute information on the mountains in the Taisetsuzan, ECO Tourism and all things Nature.

You can find Q's blog HERE

Something for this summer

If you're wondering how to best spend your time this summer in Asahikawa, definitely consider park golf.

The cheaper, shorter, less complicated baby brother of "real golf", park gold is one of the best ways to escape the city and get some fresh air, not that the Asahikawa air is unclean, ...you know what I mean. With so many great Park Golf courses accessible on foot, by bicycle or by car, there really is no excuse for not trying it out at least once. You'll be happy that you did. It's amazing how therapeutic taking your frustrations out on a small little ball can be when you're surrounded by nature. We'll be posting locations, prices and the like soon. Until then, happy park golfing.

Hokkaido Pimped Vans

If you are planning on driving in Asahikawa, or spend enough time here, you are more than likely to run into one of these punters. With more bodywork than actual car, these guys do a surprisingly  good job of not taking up too much road. 

Look for them on  this the road this summer

more pics here