Super Power of the Backhoe !

by Kazu

We stood on almost the top of the mountain of open-pit coalmine. The skylines of the surrounding mountains looked so clearly and nicely. It was like a wonderful oil painting or watercolor.  

The white and gray clouds worked wonder against the backdrop of shining blue sky. The open-pit coalmine was a little bit dusty but the winds blew away the particles from the ground. 

The bigger size backhoe was so attractive that some of us entered the bucket of the backhoe and took memorial photos to show the size of the bucket. The first investment must have been huge and hundreds of millions of Japanese Yen was required to dig the ground. Stable and tremendous size of capital was needed. 

 

When the coalmine is closed !

by Kazu

The huge working machines went back and forth carrying the soil and rocks beside us watching the layers of the open-pit coalmine. The mayor of the city said that they were planning to save the open-pit layers to show them to the visitors and tourists as a open-air museum. 

You might have seen much bigger trucks outside of Japan but I was really overwhelmed by the scale of the open-pit coalmine and the working machines on that day.The design of the machines were also cool.  

Near the top of the mountain, we could see the layers of coal where the underground coal-gasification  experiment was conducted before. A the next step of the experiment, the gasification should be conducted a hundred meter below the ground.  

 

Coalmine in Mikasa City !

by Kazu

I think it was the first time for me to enter the open-pit coalmine in Hokkaido. It is located in the midst of a mountain of Mikasa City. I could see the layer of the coal and other era. The other side of the mountain was still covered with trees and this side of open-pit should be filled up with soil and planted with the appropriate seedling of trees. 

Some huge dump trucks and backhoes were working to carry the soil and rocks to fill up the open-pit of the coalmine. I'd never seen such huge working automobiles before. 

I've heard of and seen much bigger trucks and mining machine like dinosaurs in Bulgaria and Australia on the web but I was so surprised to hear that one tire of the huge truck was ten million Japanese Yen and the truck itself was worth one hundred million Japanese Yen.. 

 

Ponbetsu Coalmine Community !

by Kazu

I'd never recognized and tried this buckwheat noodle eatery "Sarashina Shokudo" before. A young couple seemed to be running the eatery. It used refined buckwheat noodle and a variety of dishes welcomed us, to be surprised. 

Hot buckwheat noodle soup topped with venison caught our eyes at first. Grilled bamboo shoot rice bowl seemed to be one of the  side orders of the restaurant. I didn't think the people of the community could be a base of the eatery's income. Many visitors can make their business successful.   

I chose the sarashina buckwheat noodle with hot soup of boiled pork, leek and mushroom. The taste was much better than I had expected and furthermore, it might be one of the best buckwheat noodle soup I'd ever had. It may be a hidden spot of happiness and satisfaction in Hokkaido. 

 

Ponbetsu Coalmine Now !

 by Kazu

I made a business jaunt to the old coalmine area of Hokkaido Mikasa City. I've been to there so many times during my mandate in Sorachi Sub-prefectural Area to figure out the idea to make the most of such ruins of old coalmine. 

The long concrete building was used to load the coal on the train. The railway from here to Iwamizawa City was abolished but many workers got down to the gallery of the coalmine with the elevator in the shaft tower of the mine.      

The workers and their family looked up the shaft tower for elevators everyday. It had been a landmark of the area for the citizens. It is prohibited to enter the building because it had been damaged and not maintained for the safety now. Nobody could imagine the current ruin-like appearance of the facility when tons of coal was produced here. 

 

Mia Angela 2026 !

by Kazu

We had reserved a table and the chef's signature cold spaghetti topped with the seasonal delicious sea urchin for us two before visiting our favorite Italian Restaurant Mia Angela. The number of the sea urchin is limited everyday. So we have to check up and make sure that it can serve the dish for us or not before our visit.   

The wine shelves of the restaurant was filled up with so fascinating wine bottles but they must be only bottles and the wine bottles to be served to the guests must be in the wine cooler because the bottles on the shelves stood and seemed not to be able to avoid too much breathing. 

Nowadays we can find so many tourists from overseas in the restaurant. I am very happy to see them savoring the dishes and drinking alcohol so happily but i cross my fingers and toes crossed to avoid the situation where the restaurant run out of sea urchin before our dinner. 

 

Golden Imperial Jewel from Kumamoto !

by Kazu

Have you ever heard of the special water melon produced in Kumamoto "Konjiki Raou" ? Hokkaido has also produced such yellow water melon for decades but the citizens of Kumamoto Prefecture seemed to be proud of the yellow water melon so much.  

Actually it has special and wonderful sweetness and taste but the degree of sweetness was 15-17 based on the description on the message card inside the box. I am not sue why the color is yellow but the heavy weight of the watermelon was so different for m other kinds. After savoring the fruit, we went to the Italian Restaurant Mia Angela to indulge in the cold spaghetti topped with the seasonal taste of the ocean sea urchin form the Sea of Japan.