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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Ashiribetsu Waterfall (アシリベツの滝)| Takino Suzuran Hillside National Government Park (国営滝野すずらん丘陵公園)

Have you ever watched ice falls? Here in Sapporo, some beautiful ice falls can be seen during the winter time. Today I'll show you "Ashiribetsu Waterfall (アシリベツの滝)", one of the most famous ones.
Now we are in "Takino Suzuran Hillside National Government Park (国営滝野すずらん丘陵公園)", located in the southern part of Sapporo.↓

Look at the thermometer↓ The temperature here is - 7.2C. Not bad for local residents like me. Hahaha!

Snow shoes can be borrowed at the Takino Park Information Center (滝野公園案内所). Of course free of charge.....

Let's go to the ice fall!!
It takes only 40 minutes from the information center to the ice fall. Sounds perfect, doesn't it?

You can go to the ice wall without wearing snow shoes, but if you wear them, you can walk on fresh snow outside of the walking course. Fresh snow here is very fluffy and you must love it!!

Look at Atsubetsu river (厚別川)↓ Snow lumps on the river look like marshmallows! How cute they are!!

Trees along the course are covered with snow like this↓

"Water ouzel course (カワガラスコース)" to the ice fall is flat, with cross country ski course and waking trail side by side. Next time I want to try cross country skiing to the waterfall! Actually I love exercising!

The course is basically along the river, and we can enjoy taking pictures while walking on the course. The scenery here is so beautiful that we feel as if time passes very quickly!

If you find this sign, you are around the corner.

We've arrived at "Ashiribetsu Waterfall (アシリベツの滝)"!

The cascade is 26m high, and designated as one of the most famous 100 waterfalls in Japan (日本の滝100選).

Voila!!
How marvelous it is!
We couldn't say anything for a while because it is pretty beautiful!

Water is not completely frozen. Look at this↓ Ice falls are in front of waterfalls. Amazing and dynamic!!!

Please enjoy it from the different angle.
I really recommend the waterfall from the bottom of my heart.

All of my guests love the waterfall, and I'm sure I'll be back with my other guests in the near future!

■Where is "Takino Suzuran Hillside National Government Park (国営滝野すずらん丘陵公園)"?


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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!

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Ramen Kichirin (らーめん きちりん)| Chicken Stock Ramen Restaurant | Ramen Kyowakoku (札幌ら~めん共和国)

If you want to try chicken broth ramen, I recommend "Ramen Kichirin (らーめん きちりん)". They have several branches in Sapporo, and now we can enjoy one of them at "Ramen Kyowakoku (札幌らーめん共和国)" next to JR Sapporo station. Convenient, isn't it?
(If you need general information about "Ramen Kyowakoku (札幌らーめん共和国)", please refer to my other post→)
 

As "Ramen Kichirin (らーめん きちりん)" is a chicken stock ramen restaurant, they doesn't use any pork to make their broth so that I can take Muslim guests to this restaurant!!!

Let's enter!

If you want to enjoy chicken stock soup from the bottom of your heart, I recommend salt or sio flavored ramen!

Voila!
This is sio ramen!!! Looks delicious, doesn't it?

Char siu is also made of chicken, and really tasty!!!

The noodles are made by KANEZIN (カネジン), a famous noodle company.

Look at the broth!
It is not oily, but savory!!! The balance of vegetable, seafood, and chicken in the broth is perfect!!

How do you like it?

■Where is "Ramen Kyowakoku (札幌ら~めん共和国)"?
*General information about "Ramen Kyowakoku (札幌ら~めん共和国)"→


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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!

Monday, January 27, 2014

Kyodoryori Kawazin (郷土料理 川甚)| Muslim-Friendly Japanese Restaurant | Nakajima Park Area

If you are looking for a Muslim-friendly Japanese restaurant in Sapporo, I recommend "Kyodoryori Kawazin (郷土料理 川甚)" at Art Hotels Sapporo (アートホテルズ札幌) near subway Nakajima Koen station (地下鉄中島公園駅)↓

As they use a different kitchen, dishes, and cooking knives from ones for regular customers, I feel comfortable to take Muslim guests here.

We enjoyed a 8,000 yen course menu today.

Among the appetizer, my guests love the tofu dishes (豆富白和え) the best. I love this style several small dishes on one plate so that we can enjoy a lot of different food.

They use Halal beef. Sounds perfect!

The pot dish has Hokkaido seafood such as salmon, king crabs, cod and so on.... Yummy x 2!!!

I'm sure my guests love our local cuisine.

This chawanmushi (茶碗蒸し) tastes and looks very sophisticated!!!

The grilled sea bream is very recommendable! Perfect!

Tempura is a must!! We enjoyed vegetable and seafood tempura from the bottom of our heart!

Rice in the rice porridge absorbs delicious seafood juice!!

Last but not least we enjoyed fruits.

We had a wonderful night!
The amount of the course is a little bit big. Be careful! Hahaha!

■Where is "Kyodoryori Kawazin (郷土料理 川甚)"?


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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!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Yumoto Takubokutei (湯元 啄木亭)|Hot Spring Hotel|Hakodate (函館)

When you come to Hakodate, staying at a hotel in a downtown is wonderful to go around, but if you want to enjoy hot spring, I recommend Yunokawa (湯の川), 15 minutes away from the central Hakodate.
This is "Yumoto Takubokutei (湯元 啄木亭)" in the famous hot spring area.

As we visited here at the New Year, it was decorated with special ornaments like this↓

This is a room I used this time. Not bad, isn't it?

The main attraction here is hot spring, and I'll show it to you later. First, I'll introduce dinner and lunch venues to you. (This is a standard hotel, and don't expect too much about the meals)
We chose the buffet for dinner↓

They serve sushi,

beef and pork steaks,

local sashimi,

seafood and pork pot dishes, and so on.

The pot dishes can be cooked on the table by ourselves. Yummy x 2!!

This is a breakfast venue.

Don't take a seat in the (fake) Mediterranean-style space....

I recommend a table near a Japanese garden!!!! The trees are covered with snow and how romantic it is!!

We mainly enjoyed fresh vegetables as well as

local seafood.

Thank you for your patience. Finally I'll introduce their hot spring to you!!

Voila!!!
This is outdoor hot spring!!! The water is  blessed with salt, good for our health, and

transparent like this↓
Other than this outdoor hot spring, they have large indoor hot spring. I took hot spring five times during our stay here!!!

From the roof top outdoor hot spring, we can see the ocean,

and downtown Hakodate.

I recommend hot spring in this area with several types of hot spring hotels from standard ones like this to high-graded Japanese inns.

■Where is "Yumoto Takubokutei (湯元 啄木亭)"?


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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!

Monday, January 20, 2014

Ramen Shin (拉麺 Shin) | Ramen Restaurant | Sapporo

If you want to try delicious soy sauce-flavored ramen (醤油ラーメン) in Sapporo, I recommend "Ramen Shin (拉麺 Shin)"↓

Sapporo is famous for its miso-flavored ramen (味噌ラーメン), but please forget about the stereotype when you come to the restaurant!!!

Just for reference, this is their miso↓. It's OK, but their soy sauce is much much better and recommendable!!! Please believe me!!

Voila!
This is soy sauce-flavored ramen (醤油らぅめん)↓, the most popular ramen in this restaurant!!

The broth is made mainly of small dried sardine (にぼし), which has distinctive aroma! Yummy x 2!!

The noodles are not very curly, and go well with seafood soup!!

The char siu is appropriately seasoned and appetizing!!!

Personally, I love a side dish rather than ramen here! Are you interested in the yummy yummy dish?



This is Soboro Bowl (月見そぼろ), a bowl of rice topped with minced char siu and york!! Perfect combination, isn't is?
You cannot leave this restaurant without ordering it! Hahaha!

■Where is "Ramen Shin (拉麺 Shin)"?


View Larger Map

■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!