Winner of the quiz for November!

 by Kazu

Congratulations, Andy!
Yes, this is the photo of Kuriyama Park. It was taken from the bridge over Yubari River.
I will send you the coupon issued by AEON or JCB Credit Card Company.
The quiz might be so difficult that Andy was the only one respondent in this month.
Thank you all for attention and visiting to this blog site!
The number of visitors is continuing to increase.

I hope more expatriates in Hokkaido and residents in foreign countries visit this site and contribute the photos with article or
comments.
The beautiful season is passing by so rapidly that we should go outside and hit the road, shouldn't we.

We welcome the photos of Hokkaido with short article so much. Please cut out your favorite scenery with your camera and put a comment. If anybody could send it to ikeda.kazuaki@pref.hokkaido.lg.jp
,
I would appreciate it so much!

Please let your friends and family know about this English blog and quiz posted on this site every month.
The present to the winner of the quiz for December will be "Pan Forte" made by "Food Pallette a.i.u.e.o" in Nanporo Town. The photo of  "Pan Forte" of world class will be posted on this blog soon.

Thanks to all the visitors to this blog site!

Utashinai City in Sorachi sub-prefectural area!

  by Kazu                                                    This Tirolean-like building is "Tirol no Yu" Hot Spring Hotel in Utashinai City where Mr.Takaoki Murakami won the election and began to call the shots. This City almost went bankrupt before after the coalmine industry in its area had collapsed. The citizens and the clerks of the municipality  had a long tough time to recover from the bad financial situation and to provide public services in a shrunk budget.    

Recently the municipality was successful to make ends meet in a fiscal year and is continuing to pay back the debt.
The city has a so nice ski Ge lande on the hillside of Mt.Kamoi-dake that national ski team stays and do their training here every year. Other than "Tirol no yu" hot spring spa and hotel, the city has Kamoi-dake hot spring spa and hotel near the ski courses. After the hard training,  hot spring spa with the smell of sulfur works out to take off the strain of the muscle and ease the pain.    

Of course,  soaking in the bath of ONSEN makes the athletes feel relaxed and give the power to strike out the best time. This photo is the hot spring bath of "Tirol no yu".

"Tirol no yu" has a so nice in-house training area that the families can enjoy sports and some kinds of activities even on the rainy day. Utashinai City exerted efforts to revitalize its area by introducing Tirolean design of Switzerland to the public building and apartment house run by the municipality in developing the city.

"Kamoi-dake Hot spring spa and Hotel " has an excellent training gym for athletes in house. Winter is the high season of tourism for this area, but even in summer, this area is a good place to enjoy horse trekking and mountain- bike riding. Actually, horse riding endurance competition is held around this area every year. Would you visit Utashinai City before the  reservation to stay in the hotel become difficult in winter?

It was snowing at Nakayama Pass!

by Kazu

The road was a little bit slippery with the snow left on it. Should we call it quits?

But we managed to go through the slippery road and to reach Niseko area on November 3(Sat.).
It did not seem that the automobiles had difficulties to keep the grip on the road but slippery points were here and there on the road around the pass.

The season of skiing has come on top of the mountains?
My wife does not feel the necessity to ski in winter since we came back from Canada. It's a pity that I can not go with the wind on the snow btu the priority is the safety after aged enough. "No rapid move, no rapid reaction, no rapid stop is required for our health and well being." Are we old codger?                           It may be the first time for us to have whole fried potatoes at this pass since we had got married. It may be good for us to remember the happiness of sharing food, time, and inspiration at the same time or talking to each other later.

The azalea was still showing its beautiful vivid red like a flame of enthusiasm what we had in our younger age, even in the cold weather. Shall we rekindle the fire of enthusiasm ? Yes, at the risk of my life, I have to protect my precious!

As a result, we had to come back to Sapporo City on the day after checking in the hotel because my brother in law had a heart stroke. He had almost no damage to his heart muscle and getting well rapidly. What a ?????

Hokkaido University in the night !

by Kazu

It's not the beginning of the nebula.
This is the outdoor lamp along the promenade backside of my condo in Sapporo City.
Almost all the trees had begun to shed the leaves but some of them are showing us the fading dream in day and night.

The gingko trees along the kita 13street in the premises of Hokkaido University are lighten up in the night. So many photographer and citizens visit there and take time and photos that some guards are leading automobiles passing by the intersection.
please compare the scenery with the one of daytime I posted before.

I am not sure this lighting up started this year or last year but it is the first time for my wife and me  to see the beautiful bright colour of gingko biloba even in the night.

Before snow fall, it may be the last time to see the vivid colour of the nature world. If worse came to worst because of the end of the world indicated in Mayan calender, we would not be able to expect the beauty of nature and camaraderie again.

But we have to hand the beautiful world to our descendants without fear of annihilation of human beings albeit I have no kids.  We may be travelers in the eternal  time going. What kind of manners are required to the travellers?



The darker it become, the brighter the light of hope looks sparkling.
Shall we build up the bona fide light of hope before the world we love tears itself apart!

Quiz of the month for November 2!

By Kazu

Thank you very much for sending me your guess about this photo, Andy!
But this time it was not the right answer. Sorry.
I post a few more photos of the place. I think Andy has ever gone through this road.

 This is not in Yubari City.

Is the sign clear ?
I think you can read the sign if you expand it.

 Wow, let's get the competition started!
Only the first person to have sent the right answer will get the coupon worth 3,000 Japanese Yen.
If you got the right answer, please send it to
ikeda.kazuaki@pref.hokkaido.lg.jp
as soon as possible!
So far, no winner of the quiz in this month.
Get the coupon!

Have a nice weekend!

Hokkaido University in the daytime! ~for Ms.Lee~

by Kazu

Autumnal foliage gave us some kind of inspiration this year, too. Nowadays, everybody may be under fire struggling with hammer-head superior, demanding customers or clients, report assignments, paranoids, red-tape reactions and making ends meet.

Please have a look at the art of the nature that surrounding you. Why are they so systematic? Why are they so beautiful ? Because they don't expect too much in their lives. If I pursued only my benefit, the plan would not go well.     

      In the premises of  Hokkaido University, autumnal foliage is at the peak of beauty in this year.

The foliage of this tree shrunk and withered last autumn but is in full flourish before going away.

Every tree in Hokkaido University is playing as if each of them was the protagonist on this stage.

I forgot how they performed last autumn but they have impressed me so much every year and whenever I jogged around the premises, they showed me different countenance.

Do you have enough time to enjoy such kind of consolation in Japan? if any problem, please do not contact me or my wife in the way you know!

This street is lighten up in the night and many photographers visit there to cut out the scenery and post it on where they managed to create.

The brightness of gingko biloba is superb with the colour of yellow. The contrast of the black trunk and yellow leaves are so nice!
                   This tree is in front of Medical School  of Hokkaido University.
reflecting the sunshine, it is like a light emitting tree.
   This area is located at the northern end of Hokkaido University premises.
It is the old barn of Hokkaido University that was originally established as an agricultural college many years ago.

Many barns and a pond are in this fence.

The colour of red is so vivid in Hokkaido University this year that many visitors including tourists stop by those tree with red .

Poplar trees have been playing the role as the consigliere of the freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors as well as post-graduates for years. Have they been replaced by electronic gadgets and web?

This tree beside the power plant of Hokkaido University
was there when I graduated Hokkaido University. When I stop the  fight against the wrong in this world and stand still, I will come back to this area to fight again.
Good bye, flowers for a while!

Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin 2

by Travel Report in Sorachi sub-prefectural area

Do you remember the article about pumpkin ?It's the best season to eat and make the most of pumpkin now.
Speaking of pumpkin, pumpkin potage was served as an appetizer of the lunch set in the restaurant I dropped by.
The theme of the seminar on veggie and fruit given by the senior veggie sommelier Ms.Masako Yoshikawa was also "pumpkin".
Here I tell a bit about pumpkin;)

Largely the pieces of pumpkins can be divided into three kinds, Japanese pumpkin(Oriental pumpkin), Occidental pumpkin and Pepo-pumpkin.
Japanese pumpkin contains plenty of water in it and tastes sweet and feel sticky.it accounts for the most part of the pumpkins in the market until 40 years ago.
As the way and manner of calorie in-take became like occidental, the number of farmers who produce Japanese pumpkin decreased. Nowadays, more sweet and not-so-sticky occidental pumpkins that can be cooked in various kinds way are sweeping from sea to sea. The pieces of pumpkin such as "Ebisu", "Miyako" and "Yuki-geshou" that we eat frequently are occidental pumpkins.

The pumpkin above is a kind of Japanese pumpkin called "Kogiku"「小菊」 which means small chrysanthemum in Japanese.
It has deep vertical groove on its surface and the shape seen from above is like the flower of chrysanthemum. It is said that is the reason the pumpkin was named, I heard.
When I tried it, actually it contained plenty of water and was wet.
As it is strong enough not to be broken down to pieces while being boiled, it is suitable to cook Japanese mixed boiled pot.

Pepo-pumpkin has unique shape, taste and feelings and butternuts and noodle pumpkins that I introduced before also belong to pepo-pumpkin.
I found the venue where various kinds of pumpkins like that could be purchased even in Sapporo City. It is "The variation of food sourced locally" "HUG Mart" at Tanuki  Koji 5 chome.

There were so many pumpkins produced in Sorachi sub-prefectural area such as Iwamizawa City, Akabira City, Kuriyama Town and Mikasa City.

This pumpkin is called "eaty" and not so sticky, sweet. It is so sweet and suitable to be boiled or fried as tempura.
 Oh, a Japanese pumpkin was among the occidentals.
These yellow species are called "Korinki" (I am not sure the right spelling.) derived from South Africa. They are crisp and the fresh peel can be eaten with the rest. The colour is so vivid and beautiful that it is suitable to salad or being pickled.

 There were butternut pumpkins what I introduced on this blog site, too

I tried to cook the baby pumpkin in the way Ms.Yoshikawa taught me！
This time, I cook this baby pumpkin raised in Kuriyama Town.
First off, I put it upside down into the microwave oven with the power of 600W and cook it for three minutes. 

After cutting off the upper side of the pumpkin to use it as a lid, the pumpkin should be wrapped up with cooking wrapping and be put into the microwave oven again. Cooked for two minutes in the oven, the seeds and the flesh inside should be taken off.  
Put two spoon of sugar and  100cc of fresh cream into the bowl, mix it up, add an egg and mix up again.
Then, put in the flesh of the pumpkin and vanilla essence.  Put the mixture into the pumpkin cup and steam it up for 15 minutes.

As the time to steam depends on the size of the pumpkin, please check if it has bee steamed enough or not by poking a bamboo stick.

I made it!
Very delicious pumpkin pudding is here!

Pumpkins just after the harvest is not edible. It takes a while after harvesting to make its starch inside glucose.
If you want to eat as soon as possible, put the pumpkin in the warm room. In such a way, the pumpkins produced in Hokkaido can be enjoyed until the end of this year.
Pumpkins are so high in Karotin, vitamin etc and are said to have the effect to fend off flu and cold. Please prepare for cold winter season with delicious pumpkins.