Yamaga （手打ちそば やま賀）| Soba Restaurant | Sapporo

Sapporo has a lot of soba restaurants, but not all the restaurants serve delicious soba, of course. Today I'll show you "Yamaga （やま賀）" on the Michelin Guide Hokkaido, serving wonderful soba and tempura.

Let's enter it!

I love this Japanese atmosphere! How peaceful it is!

Addition to the regular soba, they serve seasonal dishes, such as clam rice, oyster tempura, king crab tempura, and so on............

 And I chose a soba and oyster tempura set. Sounds winter in Hokkaido!

Until the set was served, I enjoyed soba tea for a while..........

Voila!
Here comes the oyster seiro set!

All of them are my favorite; asparagus, eggplant, shimeji mushroom, and ............. oysters!!!!

This special soba soup makes these tempura

more delicious!!!! Yummy x 2!!!

Look at the oyster tempura! Sooooooooooo plump!!! Hahaha!

Thier soba look very beautiful, don't they? They use cores of buckwheat only!! That's why the noodles are quite translucent!

The thin and elastic noodles are definitely their artworks!!! Enjoy the distinctive aroma!!

Last but not least, we enjoyed sobayu （そば湯）, hot water left in the pot after soba are boiled.

I really recommend this soba restaurant!

■Where is "Yamaga （手打ちそば　やま賀）"?

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■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Hamanoren （浜のれん）| Oyster Dining | Akkeshi

Akkeshi （厚岸） is famous for its very delicious oysters. Please take a look at the restaurant's curtain. They serve a wide variety of oyster dishes!!! Wow! Wow! Wow!

Let's enter "Hamanoren （浜のれん）"!

It looks like a typical dinning in rural areas, but look at the wall! They have a lot of autographs of celebrities!!!

Voila!!!
They serve a lot of oyster dishes such as grilled oysters, oyster soup, oyster ramen, oyster curry, oyster bowls, deep-fried oysters, raw oysters, and so on.

And I ordered the oyster ramen. Smells very oysters!!!!

The noodles are thinner than the average ones.

The delicious oyster juice is flowing into the soup! Let's drink it in big gulps!! Hahaha!

How plump the oyster is! Yummy x 2!!!

I really love this oyster town very much!

■Where is "Hamanoren （浜のれん）"?

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■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Smoked Oysters （牡蠣の燻製）| Kuroda Suisan （黒田水産） | Akkeshi

Akkeshi （厚岸） is one of the famous fishing sites of oysters in Japan! I really recommend its very fresh oysters, but how about smoked oysters as your souvenirs?
Let's go to the JR Akkeshi station!

Its Kiosk has some kinds of oyster souvenirs.

Have you ever heard oyster monaka （かき最中）(oyster-shaped bean jam wafers) ? Sounds very interesting, isn't it?

Anyway, when you come here, please eat smoked oysters. Tastes super x 2 wonderful!!!

They have a normal version, and

a cheese-in version.

I definitely chose the later ones, because it won the award of the Director-General of Fisheries Agency （水産庁長官賞） at the Processed Seafood Competition of Japan（全国水産加工たべもの展）!!!

See?! It is very very yummy!!!

■Where is Akkeshi （厚岸）?

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■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!

How to Make Ice Candle Holders （アイスキャンドル作り）

It's very fun to make ice candle holders during the winter time in Hokkaido.

The supplies you will need are as follows:

• Plastic beach bucket
• Plastic cup
• Masking tape
• Votive candle

1 Fill a bucket roughly 3/4 full with water. 

2 Place a plastic cup in water being sure to center it. 

3 Keep the cup in place by crisscrossing tape across top of the bucket. Let it freeze overnight.

4 The next day, run it under cool water for a few seconds, and flip the bucket over to release the cup.

5 Lastly, rest a candle inside the opening.

Voila!

How romantic they are!!!

Look at the cute face! Hahaha!

The darker it is outside, the more beautiful the candles are!

As the highest temperature in Hokkaido is below zero recently, it is very easy to make such objects.

Why don't you make ice candle holders, and decorate them outside during the winter time??

■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!

64th Sapporo Snow Festival （第64回さっぽろ雪まつり）| Tsudome Site （つどーむ会場）

The 64th Sapporo Snow Festival will be held from Feb. 5 (Tue.) through 11 (Mon.) in 2013. Please come to the "Community Dome Tsudome （つどーむ会場）", one of the festival venues, and enjoy its tube sliders, ice slide, snowrafting, Hokkaido food, and so on.

I'll be in charge of the festival announcement at the facility!
Let's enjoy the wonderful festival together!

■Where is the "Community Dome Tsudome （つどーむ）"?

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■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Soh's BAR（ソーズバー） | Designer's Bar | Furano

Furano is a world of Mr. Sou Kuramoto （倉本　聡）, one of the famous playwrights in Japan, making a lot of dramas and plays featuring Furano (富良野）.
Today I'll show you Soh's BAR（ソーズバー） designed by Mr. Kuramoto.

It is located in the forest, about five minutes away from Ningle Terrace （ニングルテラス）. (If you are interested in the Ningle Terrace, log house craft shops in the forest near Prince Hotel New Furano （新富良野プリンスホテル）, please click here!)

Plz be careful when you go there especially during the winter time. The forest roads are dark and very slippery. Hahaha!

You don't have to worry about how to get there. After finding the sign, just follow the route.
Voila! This is the Soh's BAR（ソーズバー）. There's nothing around the stone bar..........

Tobacco boxes are decorated on the wall like this.

There's NO non-smoking area here. Sounds very special, doesn't it? This is Mr. Kuramoto's idea....

As no young noisy people are here, we can be very relaxed in the peaceful atmosphere. Look at the fireplace! I like all the details of the bar.

Look out of the window. As it is located in the forest, the scenery is very special and soothing.

 Although it has an open space like this, I recommend seats at counter.

How do you like it?
There is a big window in front of the counter. How romantic it is!!!

I ordered "Time of Forest （優しい時間）", their original cocktail, which is Mr. Kuramoto's famous drama's title.

Time slowly passes in the forest................

■Where is "Soh's BAR（ソーズバー）"?

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■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!

North Rainbow EXP （ノースレインボーEXP）| Joyful Train （ジョイフルトレイン）| JR Hokkaido

I luckily took "North Rainbow EXP （ノースレインボーEXP）", one of the "Joyful Trains （ジョイフルトレイン）" of JR Hokkaido from Kushiro to Sapporo.

Look at the express train!

This is a double-deck train!!!

Let's enter it!

As this is double-deck, the train cabins are higher than normal ones. It has bigger and wider windows at the level of our eyes. Addition to that, it has also small windows above these ones! Wow! Wow! Wow!
We can enjoy monitors in front us, too!! This train is like airplanes!!

I walked around the train.

What?!
Is there a lounge on the 1st floor????

They were enjoying videos, eating a lunch box!!!

I was so excited about the train.................
The peaceful scenery from the train window made us very relaxed at the same time!!

The train stayed at JR Shintoku Station （新得駅） for about 15 minutes.

I rushed to the soba noodle shop at the station, because this town is famous for its soba noodles.

If I had time, I would go to an authentic soba noodle restaurant................ but................

This sansai (or wild mountain vegetable) soba is only 370 yen!!

I really enjoyed the trip on the "North Rainbow （ノースレインボーEXP）" from Kushiro （釧路） to Sapporo （札幌）.

■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?I'll guide you! Plz click here!