Asahikawa Bars - The Den International Bar

The Den International Bar

The Den is one of Asahikawa's original International Bars. Featuring a sensational beer menu, a host of international food, and a large screen projector , it is a great place to spend a few evenings when in Asahikawa. The relatively large floor space (by Japanese standards) allows comfort of dining and drinking and features an Australian pub-sized pool table. 

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The Den Asahikawa

Asahikawa Bars

Live Music Asahikawa

Asahikawa Places of Interest

Hot Yoga is Coming!

Hot Yoga in Okuno from December

As far as I can tell, Hot Yoga is,...Yoga at 38 degrees Celsius and 65% humidity. What that does for the body I'm not sure, but for the Yoga professionals, those wanting to experience a new style or technique, or simply those trying to do something good for their body, this could be worth a try.

Hot Yoga will start in December in Okuno Department Store Asahikawa.

Give it a try. I'll write more as soon as I try it myself.

Rumoi - Don't Forget the Beach!

Rumoi - Not too far away and plenty to do!

For those that get tired of forests and mountains and start to get sentimental about the sea, Rumoi is your best option. 

Rumoi is about 1 hour west of Asahikawa by car and offers three activities worthy of mention. The first of these is camping on the beach. If you like being surrounded by people, camp on the beach during weekends, national holidays or school holidays, the scene is best described by the pic below;

Fishing is also a popular pastime in Rumoi. The sea is adequately stocked with flatfish (flounder), a tasty white-fleshed fish that will add a bit of DIY to your beach B.B.Q later in the evening or the next day. Flatfish can be caught from the beach, off the rocks or at any of the many mini-harbours used by the fishing vessels. Some places won't permit fishing, so the best rule of thumb is that if you see people fishing, chances are you're good to go.

And finally, in the event that you don't catch any fish, or don't even bother to try, there are some fantastic dock-side fish markets ready to stock you neck deep in the freshest, finest, tastiest seafood to come out of the Sea of Japan. A good deal cheaper than any supermarket, these places are extremely beneficial for those that like flounder, octopus, scallops, squid and sea cucumber as well as other seasonal fare.

Asahikawa Restaurants - Buffet with style

Lilas Restaurant

Lilas combines the comfort of a spacious modern layout, convenience of a city location and excellence in the preparation of local produce to give customers a thoroughly satisfying dining experience.

Not really what you would expect from either a hotel or buffet restaurant, but then, exceeding expectations tends to be the norm at the Loisir. Lilas carefully combines Asian and Western influences using local seasonal produce where possible, presenting stunningly original dishes that beg to be tasted at least once.

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Lilas Restaurant

Loisir Hotel

Asahikawa Hotels

Asahikawa Restaurants

Asahikawa Restaurants - Togen Chinese Restaurant

Togen - Chinese at The Grand Hotel Asahikawa

Togen recently re-opened after renovations. The restaurant offered a magnificent lunch course for ￥1,000, including three popular dishes, tea, and dessert. 

Its difficult to imagine that anyone would be dissatisfied with value of that calibre. The food was, on the whole, outstanding, though I would advise those with a weak tolerance for chili to check whether the kitchen can go conservative on the red stuff. Those like myself that don't mind a bit of a kick will be in flavour country.

Togen is open for lunch and dinner, and with its food quality, service, and location, combined with the elegant flair of the Grand Hotel, represents a fine choice for those wishing to dilute their Japanese food intake with some different Asian flavours.

 

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Asahikawa Restaurants

Izakaya

Ramen

Soup Curry

Deden

Traditional Japanese

Camping - Great Places to Camp Close to Asahikawa

Camping - Lake Shumarinai

There are so many great camping locations close to Asahikawa and scattered all over Hokkaido.

The first of these that I'll let you know about is the Lake Shumarinai Auto Campground. A short distance from Horokanai, which itself is a short distance north-west of Asahikawa city, Lake Shumarinai is Japan's largest man-made lake. Basically drive in, set up shop on one of the conveniently leveled tent locations close to the shore and you're ready to have a relaxing day or two.

Reasonable enough bathrooms are available at the top of the driveway, while a large wash area is available for washing plates and cooking utensils and the like.

Fishing at different parts of the lake is good, canoeing is available as well as a lake cruise and paddle boats for a fee. There is a great look out on your right when nearing the camping area allowing you a delightful view of the greater part of the lake on a nice clear day.

If you camp during the week and away from public holidays, there's a good chance you'll be camping on your own. There's a lot to be said for being given the feeling that you have the entire lake to yourself.

Something Interesting About Horokanai

Horokanai - Big on Soba,  Small on Population, Not so Warm in Winter

Horokanai town is as big as one third of Tokyo prefecture, 767.03km², but the population is only1,811. The population density of this town is 2.36 per km² , the lowest of any Japanese town. Luckily (or not),  if Horokanai were considered a village, it would rank as the second least populated village in Japan.

Horokanai's other talking point is its claim to the lowest recorded temperature in Japan, a balmy -41.2 degrees Celsius. This record is not official however, as due to its size, Horokanai didn't have in their possession an official thermometer at the time of recording. So even though Horokanai claim the record, Asahikawa are the official coldest temperature title holder at -41 degrees.

That's why we have such good snow!

More on Horokanai

Horokanai Town

Furano Town

Biei Town

Asahikawa Golf - Asahikawa Intl. Country Club

Asahikawa International Country Club

Just to keep the golf theme going (the last post was about Shirogane Golf Club), I thought I'd throw in a plug for my favourite course close to Asahikawa, the Asahikawa International Country Club in Aibetsu.

Aibetsu Town is known for its famous Maitake mushrooms as well as its mushroom festival (second Sunday in September), but is also home to one of the finest golf clubs to be found within easy reach of the city.

During the week the prices are quite reasonable and the traffic is slight. The course is perfectly maintained and challenging in length. Long par 5's are the order of the day, though most have very forgiving wide fairways. The course is light on water hazards but full of carefully placed sand traps ensuring several visits to the beach during your round.

At the end of your 18 you can relax in fine style in the clubhouse restaurant (excellent for Ramen), then take a hot spring bath in the Onsen area. 

Aibetsu and the Asahikawa International Country Club are a good 40 minutes from Asahikawa city, but well worth the trip.

Golf Asahikawa - Shirogane Golf Club

Shirogane Golf Club

As far as value for money golf courses close to Asahikawa go, Shirogane Golf Club  must be considered in the top 5. Perfectly maintained, picturesque, uncrowded and having a distinct country club look and feel, you would be excused for thinking that it was a strictly 'Membership Only' affair. This thankfully is not the case, and although you really do get a sense of golf extravagance as staff rush to your car to take the clubs out, as soon as you walk through the front doors you are quickly put at ease by the welcoming friendly staff.

Fully automatic, remote-control buggies guide you around the course with ease, allowing you the luxury of taking in the spectacular mountains of the Taisetsuzan National Park which dominate the horizon at different parts of the course.

The course itself is professionally maintained throughout and provides a comfortable balance between forgiving fairways and 'gone for good' OB gullies. The dog legs tend to be taxing following inaccurate drives, but some do offer a chance to cut corners and make shots up.

More Information 'HERE'

Asahikawa Golf

TNT Golf Tours

TNT Park Golf Tours

Samurai Finish 8th in International Cup

The Japanese Samurai Football Team have ended their 2008 International Cup Campaign in Australia with a loss in the playoff for 7th and 8th place against the U.S.A. 

All things considered, 8th out of 16 teams is not a bad result for the Samurai who showed good spirit to convincingly win two matches during the tournament.

The final score was:

U.S.A:   14.12.96

Japan:  02.04.16

Better Luck next time

Soba Festival - Horokanai

Horokanai Soba Festival

This year, the Horokanai Soba festival is actually being called a Soba Expo, and spans three days rather than the standard two. For those that don't know, soba is buckwheat noodle. People outside of Japan (in particular people from Europe) would be more familiar with buckwheat grain, served like rice as a side to steak, goulash, or stew. In Japan, the grain is ground into a fine powder in the same way  wheat is, and is ultimately turned into noodle to be served hot or cold at a soba or izakaya restaurant.

Horokanai, as well as regularly featuring on the national news for its 'Freeze the B...s Off a Brass Monkey' cold temperatures in winter, is Japan's number one soba producer, least populated town, and holder of one of the best soba festivals (expos) in Japan. 

Aside from making it possible to sample dozens of unique soba styles, visitors to the festival are able to try and buy non-traditional soba creations. In the past, the festival has provided soba crepes, soba bread, soba cakes, soba beer, soba ice cream, soba mochi, and soba bagels to name just a few.

As a final thought, there are plenty of activities to distract one from overdosing on soba alone. A large stage in the center of the festival grounds serves up non-stop song and dance. There's a jumping castle for the kids, craft sales for the interested, and a soba tractor exhibit for the manly.

Final word; 'Well worth the scenic drive, and a couple of hours well spent'

Asahikawa Ramen - Japan's #1 Choice

Asahikawa Ramen

In short, ramen is noodle soup. Not so complicated you would think, but in reality countless numbers of ramen variations exist in Japan, specific to region, city and shop.

Most ramen broths are made using pork or chicken (or both) as the main bases. In addition, shops (or regions) will add any number of ingredients such as fish, beef, garlic, mushrooms, seaweed and others to make their broth distinctive.

Asahikawa is a very cold place in winter and the ramen made is Asahikawa is a little heavier than that made in other parts of the country. This extra heartiness is what gives Asahikawa ramen the unique flavour so popular all over Japan (and more recently internationally).

More Information About Asahikawa Ramen  HERE