Tag: Hokkaido

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Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 8 – Wakadori Jidai Naruto Honten – Otaru’s Famous Fried Chicken

Being in Hokkaido, you would ask why would anyone think of eating fried chicken, when you can have some of the freshest seafood in the world. Otaru in particular, has a famous Sushi sweet with over 25 shops.  But, if you are in Otaru, you have to visit Wakadori Jidai Naruto Honten to find out why this fried chicken is so special.

I visited the Naruto Honten (main branch) to try what some consider Otaru’s treasure, as they have been part of the city’s community for a long time.  They are known for serving a hanashinage chicken, which is a whole half of a perfectly cooked, golden-colored fried chicken.

Continue reading “Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 8 – Wakadori Jidai Naruto Honten – Otaru’s Famous Fried Chicken”

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Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 8 – Otaru – LeTao Cheesecake and Squid Ink and Uni Ice Cream

Continued from post here.

We checked out of the Sapporo Grand hotel in the morning and all got on our car.  Our plan was to drive to our ryokan in Niseko called Zaborin, which was a three and a half hour drive away.  We planned to make stops at Otaru and Shatokan along the way to break up the trip and enjoy the coastal towns and key attractions along the shores of the Sea of Japan.

First up is Otaru which is a 30 minute drive northwest of Sapporo.  It is a small port town famous for its beautifully preserved canal and the many old converted warehouses that are transformed into restaurants and shops.  It is also known for its glasswork, music boxes, and sake distilleries.

Continue reading “Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 8 – Otaru – LeTao Cheesecake and Squid Ink and Uni Ice Cream”

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Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 7 – Yoichi Distillery

Continued from post here.

After the Curb Market, it was time for something I really wanted to do, and that was to visit the Yoichi Distillery. This was a real treat for me as I am a big fan of Japanese Whisky.   I have in my collection bottles from the popular Suntory (makers of Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Hibiki),  Nikka (Yoichi and Miyagakyo), and Ichiro’s Malt (including a bottle of Hanyu).  So visiting a distillery for the first time was a major treat of our vacation.

According to Stefan Van Eycken, author of “Whisky Risking”, Yoichi was founded by Masataka Taketsuru, who many recognize as one of the  founders of what is Japanese Whisky today.  If your are interested in the book, you can purchase it at amazon, which I linked here.   It is claimed that Taketsuru felt that Yoichi is the perfect place to set up a whisky distillery as the climate and terrain is similar to  Scotland.  Taketsuru based this on the fact that earlier in his career he worked in a Scotland and even married Rita (Jessie Roberta Cowan) who is from Scotland.  Rita is also notable in that she is recognized as the “mother of Japanese whisky” as there is a recent daily soap opera featuring Rita’s life that was won a large following in Japan.  I’m sure this soap opera also helped to popularize the branding of Yoichi’s whisky, as a bottle of Yoichi 20 year costed about $220US back in 2014, but now cost about 4-5x as much due to both it’s popularity and it being discontinued.   Continue reading “Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 7 – Yoichi Distillery”

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Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 6 – Sapporo and Kani Honke

Continued from post here.

From Furano to Sapporo, it is about a two-hour drive by the expressway.  Through the four days so far driving in Hokkaido, we have not used the express-ways and when we got to the toll booth, that took some figuring out of how to get the ticket as we did not sign up for an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) card, which would have automatically deducted any toll fairs and express lane usage.  Something to remember for next time if we decide to drive again as the convenience of not stopping and figuring tolls is a huge pus..  The drive itself was uneventful and we arrived at Sapporo.

Sapporo is Hokkaido’s capital and its largest city.  Overall, it’s the fifth largest population in Japan.   It is famous for its beer, skiing, and annual snow festival in the winter featuring large ice sculptures.  There is quite a bit to see and do in this city, but our itinerary included plans for a week in Tokyo at the tail end of our trip, and if you see one big city, you kind of see them all.  As such we planned on only staying 2 days in Sapporo.

The plan was to eat a big crab course, miso ramen, visit the Wholesale Curbside fish market, and do a little sight-seeing. Continue reading “Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 6 – Sapporo and Kani Honke”

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Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 5 – Furano and Biei Part 1 – Tomita Melon House, Farm Tomita, and Trick Art Museum

Continued from last post here.  An overview of the entire itinerary can be found  here.

After eating curry for lunch at Yuiga Doxon, we started our sightseeing trip through Furano and Biei.   Furano is known for its picturesque rural landscapes and its flower fields, especially its lavender fields in the summer.  The neighboring town of Biei is also known for its beautiful rural landscape of rolling hills and vast fields.  As these two areas are close to each other, we were able to drive to the various attractions of both areas relatively easy.

Although we planned to visit a couple of farms and fields, more rain was in the forecasts and so we had to limit our visit to just the main attractions.  Additionally, we were still early in the summer season, so the flowers were not too impressive.  The first areas we arrived at on our drive was  Tomitas Melon House and Farm Tomitas which are owned by the same family and right next to each other.  It is located in Nakafurano town. Continue reading “Tabemono Summer Vacation- Hokkaido/Tohoku 2016 Day 5 – Furano and Biei Part 1 – Tomita Melon House, Farm Tomita, and Trick Art Museum”

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