FARM TOMITA （ファーム富田） in Late May | Lavender Farm | Naka-Furano

Farm Tomita is one of Hokkaido’s premier flower farms. Originally a simple lavender farm, today the farm has expanded to include a number of large fields of various flower types, including Poppies, French Marigolds, and many more.

The most famous image of the farm is that of the ‘rainbow field’ created by planting rows of different flowers along the gentle rolling hills. The image is unforgettable and each year visitors come to photograph the fields made famous by their use in a nation wide Japan Rail calendar.

Go straight to the tree-lined street,

and you can see Grape Hyacinthus and Pansies on your left.

This is a ‘rainbow field’ in late May.

Along with the fields, the farm has cafes, ice cream vendors, gift shops, a dried flower shop and a potpourri shop.

My favorite items in the ice cream vendor are.........of course............ :)
■Lavender soft serve ice cream

■Chiffon cake (lavender)

■Cream Puff (lavender)

■Calpis jelly (lavender)

 ■Ferano melon cream bun

 ■Honey pudding (lavender) 

There is a cafe next to the gift shop.

In a lavender season from late June to early August, the cafe is packed with visitors, but today we can relax, drinking lavender soda....

In the gift shop,

you can find many lavender items such as............

■Dried lavender

■Lavender tea

 ■Lavender soap

■Lavender cosmetics

■Lavender potpourri doll

and so on.

In late June to early August, you can see purple carpets of lavender here!

But this is the only season to see colorful flowers and snow-capped mountains at the same time!

I love the Tokachi Mountain range capped with snow in this season!

Farm Tomita has a green house, which offers guests blossoming flowers throughout the year.

■Lavender

And outside the greenhouse in late May, several other flowers can be seen such as
■Moss pink

■Tulip

■Iceland poppy

This stream in this garden makes me relax!

Farm Tomita is free to enter and you can wander around at your own pace.

The weather for photography is often best very early in the morning when you will find the keenest of flower enthusiasts enjoying the beauty of the farm.


If you are interested in this flower field in other seasons, please refer to my other posts!
■Early June---→☆ (including different flower pics)
■Mid July-----→☆ (including lavender oil, water, and ice cream information)

■Where is Farm Tomita?

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!

Shikisai-no-Oka （四季彩の丘）| Biei in late May

The panoramic flower garden of Shikisai-no-oka (the Hill of Seasonal Colors) provides spectacular views across seven hectares of land on Oka-no-Machi (hilly town) Biei. It is a paradise of seasonal blossoms from spring through to fall, in which several dozen different species of flowers and grasses flourish.

This is a mascot of the garden named Roll-kun (Little Roll). How cute it is!

Actually it is a little bit early to come here to enjoy flowers, but now is one of the best seasons to see the Tokachi Mountain Range capped with snow!!!!

How beautiful the mountains are!



Then I'll show you some flowers here in late May.
■Tulip

■Grape hyacinth

They look like lavenders.

(Lavender season is usually from late June to early August.)

■Pansy

■Cherry blossom

■Flower Information■

From early to mid June, we can enjoy different flowers here such as Oriental Poppy, Campanula, Lupine, Peony, Gayfeather, Iceland Poppy, Common Snapdragon and so on.

Just for reference, this pic was taken last summer! How beautiful the hilly garden was!

There are a restaurant & a shop at the entrance.

Biei is famous for its agriculture products such as potatoes, pumpkins, asparagus and so on. You can enjoy delicious vegetables depending on the season. Now is the time for asparagus!

Look at the green asparagus grown here in this garden! You can buy the freshly picked vegetables in the shop!! They look delicious, don' t they!!!

There are two famous brand of potatoes here; Danshaku (baron) and Kitaakari (northern light).

■Danshaku
Danshaku brand of potato turns flaky and soft when cooked.

■Kitaakari
Kitaakari is a new variety and yellow potato. It has extremely high vitamin C.

I like the shopping rule here for these potatoes.

First, you'll get a plastic bag. Then you can put potatoes into it as many as possible! Of course the potatoes were grown in this garden!

Last but not least, I bought a croquette cooked with potatoes grown in this garden. It was really difficult to choose one out of the two brands, but this time I chose Kitaakari, which I think is sweeter than Danshaku.

When I come here again, I want to try some melon with ice cream and colorful flowers! If you are interested in Hokkaido flowers, I recommend you to come here in late June to September.

Entering the park garden itself is free - although if you're kind enough, they'd be happy if you donate 200 yen.

If you are interested in the garden in the mid-July, which I believe is one of the best seasons to see flowers, please refer to my other post→click!



■Where is Shikisai-no-Oka?

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!

Santouka （山頭火）| Asahikawa Ramen Village

I came to Asahikawa Ramen Village again!
I love ramen very much!!
If you'd like to know the general nformation about this ramen complex, plz click here!

Today I chose "Santouka", famous for its tonkotsu (pork bone broth) and soft juicy char siu (pork slices)!

I prefer the counter seats so that I can see the ramen chefs cooking ramen just in front of me!

We ordered almost all ramens on the menu here!!!
Wow wow wow!!

■Salt flavor ramen with specially soft char siu
This is the the limited number of ramen. We were so lucky that we were able to eat it!!!!

The set of soup & ramen and the topping including the specially-tender char siu are separately served like this.

I ♡ meat! Hahahaha :)

You can put the sliced pork into the soup or eat it separately as you like.

■Ramen topped with motsuni (cooked tender cattle giblets)
If you like motsuni, plz try it! Tender motsuni really suits with this soup!
This is my choice!

■Salt flavor ramen
It is one of the popular ramen in this shop. If you've never tried its ramen here, plz try this one first! This tonkotsu broth is I think a kind of art work!

■Hot miso ramen
It is named hot, but hot for Japanese people. You know, it's mildly hot for people from the rest of the world :)
I came here with some Thai  people and surprisingly (or naturally??), they added chill powder to this ramen!!!!

■Miso flavor ramen
Miso flavor ramen is the most popular ramen in Hokkaido although soy sauce flavor is the typical ramen in Asahikawa.
We enjoyed compareing normal miso and hot miso.

The conclusion is............both of them are recommendable!

■Soy sauce flavor ramen
When you come to Asahikawa, you should eat soy sauce flavor!
The soup is very rich, but you do NOT feel the soup oily!

I'll give you some great information!!!
30th of every month is "a Day for Santouka", this ramen restaurant!

This is a special discount menu for  the day this month.

You can eat soy flavor ramen and char siu bowl at the half price on May 30th! Don't miss the wonderful chance!

They have branches in other countries including the United Sates, Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Plz find one of the branches in your country and try one of the recommendable ramen restaurants in Hokkaido!

■Where is Santouka in Asahikawa Ramen Village?

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!