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Showing posts with label Hamanaka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hamanaka. Show all posts

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Kiritappu Wetland Center (霧多布湿原センター)| Visitor Center & Cafe | Hamanaka

The Kiritappu Wetland is a mire with an area of 3,168ha, located in Hamanaka town in the eastern part of Hokkaido.

It is the third largest wetland in Japan and was designated as a site of international importance under the Ramsar convention in 1993.

Today, I'll show your its visitor center↓

Look at the real kelp seaweed hanging from the ceiling! It's longer than what I imagined. Interesting! The quality of the local kelp is very high and it is one of the popular souvenirs in this town.

 The center has a shop which sells local products.

If you are interested in the history of the wetland, how about the profile of earth layer?

We can learn red-crested cranes in and out of this facility.

The sofa is as big as the nest of the crane! What a great idea to learn the size of it!

When we go out to the deck, we can enjoy Kiritappu wetland!

Look at the uninhabited island, named Kenbokki Island. We landed the island last year through an eco-tour organized by Kiritappu Wetland Trust (NPO).

There are a lot of red-crested cranes around here and

we can observe the birds nearby.

 How beautiful they are!!!

On the second floor of the facility, there are a lot of items we can play with. For example, this is a unique height scale, with which we can compare our height to wildlife's height.

The play equipment was created by local fishermen! Wow! Wow! Wow! How skillful they are!

 There is a cafe on the 3rd floor.

and we can enjoy local food! As we ate with the center staff and our staff members altogether, we ordered all of the dishes at the cafe! Hahaha!

Yachimanako chowder
They use a lot of local milk produced Komatsu ranch and Takanashi butter in the bread baked by "Kona no Mi (粉の実)", a famous bakery in this town.
(*Takanashi Dairy Co. is one of the sponsors for the wetland)

Yummy x 2!!!


■Hamanaka Beef curry
Hamanaka is famous for its seafood as well as its beef! Is the town the heaven???

■Sunset curry (seafood curry)
I don't have to explain about it! Of course the local seafood goes well with curry!!!

■Pizza toast with venison salami
Iwamatsu Farm, a local vendor, specializes the local venison. Their meat products such as salami as well as raw venison are very popular around this area!
If you are interested in deer hunting, they serve deer hunting guide service, too.

■Rice with "rich" butter and local soy sauce
Collaboration between Hokkaido rice, Takanashi rich butter, and special kelp seaweed soy sauce is very recommendable. This is very simple, but we can enjoy each high-quality ingredient fully!

■Kelp toast
Local kelp and rich butter are on the toast! The local kelp has a lot of umami. As I really love it, I made kelp toast at home after this business trip!

■Honey toast with Häagen-Dazs
Do you know that milk in ice cream of Haagen-Dazs Japan is 100% from this town, Hamanaka? That's why the bread is topped with large amount of Haagen-Dazs ice cream!! Honey is produced in Hokkaido! The bread is baked by "Kona no Mi (粉の実)" in the town. We can enjoy very local ingredients with this dessert!

We ate a lot................

■Kiritappu Wetland Information■
Please refer to my previous posts!
*Genaral information on Kiritappu Wetland→click here!
*Inn Yorimichi→click here!
*Okubiwase Wild Bird Park→click here!

■Where is "Kiritappu Wetland Center (霧多布湿原センター)"?

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!

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Okubiwase Wild Bird Park (奥琵琶瀬野鳥公園) | Kiritappu Wetland | Hamanaka

Are you interested in bird watching? If so, I recommend "Okubiwase Wild Bird Park (奥琵琶瀬野鳥公園). This is a wonderful spot to observe wild birds.

Depending on the season, we can enjoy a lot of kinds of wild birds coming to Kiritappu wetland.

It is located near a river and has different scenery from the one from other observation decks in this area.

We can enjoy red-crested cranes,

gray herons,

black-faced buntings, stonechats, goosanders................. to name a few!!! 

This area was successfully purchased recently by Kiritappu Wetland Trust, an authorized specified non profit organization, with the cooperation of Seven Eleven Japan Green Foundation, in order to protect wild birds.

If you have time, please drop by the office of Kiritappu Wetland Trust.

It provides information on the wetland to visitors. If you are hungry, why don't you eat something delicious at the cafe at the same facility!!!

I recommend rice ball with fresh sea urchin! Yummy x 2!!! The sales at the cafe and souvenir corner is used for the wetland conservation program.

If you are interested in their activities and the wetland itself, please refer to my previous post→click here!!!

Kiritappu wetland is a very very beautiful wetland in Hokkaido. Why don't you visit here when you come to eastern part of Hokkaido.


■Kiritappu Wetland Information■
Please refer to my previous posts!
*Genaral information on Kiritappu Wetland→click here!
*Inn Yorimichi→click here!
*Kiritappu Wetland Center (visitor center)→click here!

■Where is "Okubiwase Wild Bird Park (奥琵琶瀬野鳥公園)"?


■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, November 07, 2011

Inn Yorimichi (民宿より道)| Hamanaka

Hamanaka, located in the eastern part of Hokkaido, is a town with a famous marsh called Kiritappu wetland. Today I'll show you an inn in the town.

"Inn Yorimichi(民宿より道)" is a family-run inn and you can enjoy typical atmosphere of traditional Japanese homes. The accommodation fee is only 3,700 yen! How cheap it is!!

Open the door, and Peter welcomes you!!!

The rooms are very simple.........

Look at this room! It is a type room seen in the 1960's, isn't is??↓ There are no key (although you can lock the door) nor a bathroom in each room..... Well, I feel like I'm staying a private house not an inn!

There is a dining room with a bar like izakaya (Japanese-type bar restaurant) on the 1st floor and

the owner cooks for us↓

Actually he is a good cook! I'll show you the dishes he cooked for us!!
Hamanaka reminds us of its seafood. Now is the best season to eat salmon roe!

This cooked herring and grilled pork have very home-made taste! We feel very comfortable!

This salmon is a local one. Hamanaka has a good port and fishery is the main industry in the town. I love this stir-fried vegetables, too.

This potato salad and cooked beans are dishes of the kind typical Japanese mothers have made.

I love this fish soup! Cod is used for this fish ball! Yummy x 2! Pickles are must for Japanese dinner!

This inn has a welcome drink service; soft drink or home-made wine. Of course, we ordered the latter one!Hahaha! The owner himself picked up wild vine and made this alcohol! Actually, we had two glasses of this wine! Yummy x 2!! Thank you very much, the owner!!!

The shared shower is in the same building, but the shard bath is outside of it. How cute the small facility is♪♪

The space is big enough to enjoy bathing for three people. We can use it 24/7!

The temperature of the water is a little hot. Please be careful!

I got up at 5:00 and jogged around here. Look at the morning glow! The early bird catches the worm. I was very luck to see such beautiful scenery. Actually there were a lot of armature and professional photographers taking pics early in the morning near the ocean.

■Kiritappu Wetland Information■
Please refer to my previous posts!
*Genaral information on Kiritappu Wetland→click here!
*Kiritappu Wetland Center (visitor center)→click here!
*Okubiwase Wild Bird Park→click here!


■Where is "Inn Yorimichi (民宿より道)"?

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!