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

Otokoyama Park

Otokoyama is one of Asahikawa's most famous local sake brewers. If you go to any popular Japanese restaurant in your home town, you will always see it offered as the finest sake from Japan. Otokoyama sake brewery is located in Nagayama, in the northern suburbs of Asahikawa and if you continue past it heading north, you will find Otokoyama Nature Park at the top of the hill.

The park is made up of a web of narrow paths with slight gradients making it ideal for those looking for a quiet hike in beautiful scenery. The variety of flowers is a treat for photographers and nature lovers.

The park is most popular during the spring at which time visitors flock to the park to view Hokkaido's largest natural garden of Dog Toothed Violets (Katakuri). Definitely worth seeing if you are in Asahikawa in spring.

 Otokoyama Nature Park

Address: Higashi-yama, Asahikawa
Phone: (0166)57-2131

Open
April 19 to May 11 
10：00am to 5:00pm
Admission: Free
Parking space: 500

How to get there
30 min by bus
Dohoku Bus from city, get off at “Otokoyama Koen”

Number 2 To Nayoro (The Express skips the Otokoyama Koen stop so please check the schedule),

Number 5 To Aibetsu (via Pippu), 

Number 32 To Pippu Ski Area

25 min by car
Drive Route 40 to north. Turn left 100 meters before the first tunnel then right at the old tunnel enterance.

Japanese Vending Machines

If Hong Kong can boast the highest population density of any city in the world, Japan can definitely boast the highest vending machine density of any country in the world, with the number of vending machines in action by the end of 2007 standing at a lazy 5,405,300. 

The reason for such a staggering number is primarily their convenience, but we're not particularly concerned with that. What is interesting however is the type of item that can be procured using vending machines in Japan. 

Here they are, and this is by no means an exhaustive list, the search continues...

Food / beverage 

Canned drink

Bottled drink

Carton drink

Cup drink

Alcoholic drink

Nuts 

Chewing gum 

Candy

Bread 

Snacks

Cup Ramen 

Burgers

Canned Ramen

Rice 

Eggs

Hot Dogs

Curry

Spaghetti

Ice Cream

Popcorn 

Spaghetti

Ice Cream 

Tobacco 

Cigarettes

Cigarette lighters 

Tickets 

Train tickets

Food tickets 

Postage stamps 

Horse racing tickets

Payment stamps 

Random 

Postcards

Newspapers 

Magazines

Books

Comic Books

Cards

Adult Videos

Umbrellas

Telephone cards

Fishing Bait 

Used schoolgirls underwear (banned since 1995)

Toast 

Condoms 

Tissues 

Phone battery chargers 

Travel insurance 

Disposable cameras 

Stag Beatles

Dry Ice 

Read the complete article:

Onsen Etiquette

There is definitely a strong element of ritual when it comes to taking an onsen, but really there’s nothing at all difficult about it as long as you remember some simple basics.

The golden rules for taking an onsen (or sento) in Japan are as follows;

1. Wash top to bottom in the wash area BEFORE going in.
2. DO NOT bring your large bath towel into the bath (it stays with your clothes in the changing area)
3. Make sure to rinse thoroughly so as not to carry soap suds into the bath with you when you go in.
4. Remember that an onsen is a bath, not a swimming pool, don’t treat it as a thing for entertainment.
5. Soak for a while but do not soak your courtesy towel in the water. Most people leave it by the side of the bath or fold it in half and place it on their heads.
6. After your first soak, get out and scrub down in the wash area once more (optional).
7. You are now ready to hop as many baths as you can find.
8. Please also remember to be mindful of your volume so as not to disturb the tranquility of others.

For the complete article, go here

Daisetsuzan vs. Taisetsuzan

Over the past couple of years of writing for Asahikawa Tourism, one of the most frustrating things was not remembering whether to use Taisetsuzan or Daisetsuzan when writing about the Taisetsu (Daisetsu??...its starting again) mountain range. 

Websites, both official and non-official seem to arbitrarily use one (Ta) over the other (Da) and leave it at that,  not giving any hint as to why. It took two years of not deciding on which side of the fence Asahikawa Tourism would sit before I thought it may be a good idea to raise the issue with a born and raised Asahikawa local having a perfect understanding of the intricacies of the Japanese language and a working knowledge of Asahikawa's history, ...or  W.i.f.e

It seems that the issue is relatively simple. 

Daisetsuzan  is the official name for the Daisetsu Mountain Range, it is the name that appears on the Range's  birth certificate as well as all other official paper work, for example the law stating that impersonating wildlife documentary filmmakers like Werner Herzog in the "Daisetsuzan" in winter is prohibited under Article ????? (of course in summer go your hardest). Despite it being the official name, local people always refer to the range as the Taisetsuzan or Taisetsu Mountain Range, possibly because if you say Daisetsuzan quickly a thousand times, the D sound tends towards a T sound.

So there you have it, if you want to avoid sounding like a tourist, use Taisetsuzan. 

Interestingly enough, the official name of Asahikawa is actually "Asahikgawa", again, the reason for the pronunciation is that in the event of you having to say "Asahigawa" several thousand times in quick succession the G will tend towards K. The founders of Asahigawa, being incredibly forward thinking, must have decided to make people pronounce the K since it was inevitably going to go that way in the end. Brilliant! - probably not true - but , Brilliant! if it is.

If someone was really looking for an answer on this issue, I hope this post helped.

Oh, and for good measure, here is a nice pic of the Taisetsuzan, 

see you up there soon,

Greg

b.t.w: the person in the photo is "Q", local guide, and 'everything outdoors' expert

When the snow is gone...

Asahikawa is a city whose people are neatly divided between those that love the snow and can't get enough, and those that hate the white plague which tests their snow shoveling endurance for a solid 5 months of the year. As far as Asahikawa's reputation goes, this year was not a bumper snow year by any stretch of the imagination, but the relief on the faces of those praying to the sun Gods since last November is very noticeable. 

For the snow junkies however, its not quite over. Asahidake and Kurodake are both still options for giving the deck or skiis some end of season punishment, albeit in slushy uncomfortable conditions, only tempered by the freedom to get up and down in a t-shirt without freezing. 

In the last three days the mercury has hit 24 degrees and while the Massive Units mentioned above are still chasing their last runs of the year, the more conservative are getting an early start to the B.B.Q season. Asahikawa has a few great B.B.Q locations close to the city, none better than Kaguraoka Park, a beautiful large park about 10 minutes drive from the city. Last Sunday was the first B.B.Q of the season, for us anyway, and already the prematurely warm temperature had the park filled with people enjoying basketball, Frisbee golf, soccer, baseball and of course generous amounts of food and beer.

Winter tourism has a very good reputation in and around Asahikawa, primarily due to the fantastic snow conditions over the course of the season as well as the adventure inherent in high altitude snow activities. It would therefore surprise many to learn that summer tourism to Asahikawa and the Taisetsuzan National Park far exceeds its winter counterpart, and by a large factor. 

The reason for this is that essentially there is much more to see and do here in the summer. Hiking, climbing, mountain biking, camping, fishing, golf, and park golf are just some of the many activities on the menu here in summer. 

More on these in a later post, ...gotta get back to work!

The pic below is the Grand Opening of the B.B.Q season at Kaguraoka Park.

Cheers to all that participated, especially to Mark for the great steak, A-Rod for that super-addictive game that had us all thoroughly entertained (also another post on this to come), and to all the crew that helped to clean up.

See you all next week.

Greg