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. 

 

Treatment of the Wastewater from the Abolished Mine !

by Kazu

In order to treat the wastewater from the abolished mine, pure water should be  taken in a most effective way without much cost. The water intake point should be at much higher altitude than the wastewater treatment unit.

In case of taking in the pure water from the river flow, some kind of sift should be put on the water intake point to avoid stuck in the pipelines. Once a week, the sift should be cleaned up because the leaves of plants will cover the sift and prevent the water flow from going through the pipe. 

The maintenance of the pipeline seemed to be so tough and sometimes dangerous because at least three brown bears were strolling around the area in the morning of the day of our visit. No machine can reach the water intake point on the upper side of the river. It requires so much money, labor force and long time to keep the water flow clean.  

 

The Mountain of Precipitate !

by Kazu

Even after abolishing metal mines, the wastewater from the shaft or gallery will continue to flow out. Most of them are acidic and contains arsenicals. They affect the environment including ocean and prevent rice crops from growing.

The wastewater should be neutralized with calcium carbonate and dehydrated precipitate will be carried to the mountains. The drain system should be arranged around the mountains of debris to avoid the rainfall eroding the accumulated debris and damaging the water flow of lower side. 

The accumulated debris will soon covered with plants and become more stable as long as the artificial drain systems work well. But once the U-shaped gutter was broken, the rainfall and drain water will erode the debris. It takes so long time and much money to treat the wastewater after a mine is developed.   

 

Kitafunaoka Station in gray !

by Kazu

Nobody was waiting for the train when we visited  Kitafunaoka Station because the Express Trains wouldn't stop by the Station. Only train manias and the local residents use the snail trains. 

The surface of the ocean, precisely speaking, The Eruption Bay, was not reflecting the sunshine as usual on that day. But we had to enter the habitat of brown bears aft we left the Station. 

We should keep on our toes to avoid bear attack in the Mountain that produced sulfur until decades ago. In order to neutralize the wastewater from the abolished mine, calcium should be added and the mud dehydrated would be carried to the Mountain. That made some new peaks and flat. Soon some plants and trees cover the surface of the new peaks and hillside.