Jinnai Farm 21 in Urausu Town 2 !

 by Kazu

The calf of the red-haired cattle is about six months old. It will experience the cold winter and heavy snow for the first time in its life.
If you have chance to visit the farm, please go out to the fields where the cattle are eating grass and having a nap. The cattle will get interested in you and get together and surround you.

 But please don't touch them. If you touch them they are surprised. The red cattle are so huge but very gentle. This farm is exerting an effort to preserve this kind of cattle that are rare in this country now.

Dry and aged beef produced in this farm can be purchased at
http://jinnai-shop.com/
or the roadside station in Tsurunuma Area of Urausu Town.

 Tropical fruits are also raised in the greenhouses of this farm. "Affected by global warming and greenhouse effect, southern part of Japan is getting out of the best area to raise those tropical fruits for gift. Too strong sunshine gets the surface of the fruits too hard and those fruits are not appropriate for high end market," said Mr.Furukawa who is in charge of the management of the farm.  

"On top of that, to make them available for the year-end gift, the temperature in the greenhouse should be kept low in May and June and it is difficult to adjust the temperature in the southern area because it costs too much. This is the advantage in growing the tropical fruits in Hokkaido," Mr. Furukawa told us.

 According to his comments, they have only two choices, raising the fruits in natural environment and producing a lot of low price or raising them in completely controlled environment and targeting high-end market.

Many farmers in southern part of Japan visit this farm and learn the strategy now. Cooling down costs so much but in Hokkaido, it is easy if we make the most of snow or the cold temperature in winter.
Needless to say, those fruits are so delicious with promised quality.
It is very fine today !
Please enjoy the cool air in autumn !

Jinnai Farm 21 in Urausu Town !

by Kazu

In the evening of full moon in September, Japanese people make such dumpling to savor with the beautiful full moon and set Japanese pampas grass in the vase. That is "the"must" for us Japanese in every autumn. Watching the beautiful moon and looking back hot summer, family members enjoy talking and pray for bumper crop.  

 Besides, there is a kind of Shangri La in Urausu Town. The name is Jinnai Farm 21. It was established by Mr. Ryoichi Jinnai who also founded short-time banking company "Promise". These photos were taken from the lookout on the top of central tower building in the farm where the new farmers are trained.

The farm is at the foot of Mt. Shokanbetsu(dake).  To run a farm and to develop the agriculture in Hokkaido, getting over the cold winter and controlling the hot summer are the first and the most important challenge to face.

In this farm, getting over the cold winter means to grow veggies and fruit trees in the facility and to make the most of the time in winter to process them. Controlling summer means to make use of ice made in winter in air-conditioning in summer. The founder and the farm are convinced that the agriculture in Hokkaido will developed by leaps and bounds with these methods.  

To reform the agriculture in Hokkaido, one of the key is organizing company to run a farm. Based on the agricultural model for each area and style to run a farm, Jinnai Farm 21 is playing a role to accelerate the revitalization and creation of agriculture as the food producing industry that attracts people and the world

The farm collected 15 couples to raise stable farmers and opened training facility called "Mugen-juku" as the cram school for would-be farmers in 2006. The founder Mr.Jinnai devoted his private asset to the project to support the trainees to stand on their own.

The central building is like an institute for agricultural development.

 A huge warehouse for ice and cold air is under the ground with such chimney-like monument.

Red cattle are raised in the farm. The staff is struggling to make dried and aged beef which is my favorite.

Compared to the black cattle,  the red cattle is easier to treat. The percentage of the red cattle decreased so much. To preserve the red cattle and to enhance the beef culture in Japan, it is so important effort exerted for the future.

The tire is to scratch the back of the cattle.
Stress less circumstances are the most important for making the best beef.
Have a great weekend !

Historical Tour rather than Footpath Event in Utashinai City ? 2

by Chis.

After learning about the history of Utashinai City, we walked around the downtown and residential area of the city.
The city has townhouses and nursing home designed like the buildings in Tirol.

"At first, we were criticized by the members of the city council. They asked us why had  you built such bad taste buildings like motels where to make love." said Mr. Sato in the municipality of Utashinai. "Gradually, the design was accepted by the citizens and it became the integrated design of the city."

We visited the former entrance of the coalmine that had been the driving force to develop the city. There are many monuments established by the labor union of the industry, the coalmine company and so forth.

 The tunnel lead to the gallery and the shaft of the coalmine in adjacent city Akabira over the mountain.
 Every participants to the event learned the hidden history of the city and geographical location under the ground.

This is the symbolic shaft tower of Sorachi Tanko Company with an emblem on the top.
Of course, its is not in use now but the tower itself is left on the hillside.

The office building is still used to manage the operation in the open-pit coalmine in the city.

The backyard of the shaft tower also had been an open-pit coalmine before but now, it remains brown without trees. I am not sure this area will be in use for something or not.

It is getting cold. Please take care, friends !
Have a great weekend !

Historical Tour rather than Footpath Event in Utashinai City ?

 by Chis.

After conquering the peak of Mt. Kamoi(dake) and enjoying the scenery from there, we were given a lecture about the history of Utashinai City in the civil museum called Yume Tsumugi.  The curator of the museum, Mr. Sakuma kindly explained about the instruments used in the coalmine developed with the city and its history.

Most of the citizens are the descendant of the immigrants from Akita Prefecture and the festivals held in the city is strongly affected by the culture of the prefecture except for the dialect.

This is Mr. Sakuma explaining about the former residential area of the city, showing us the miniature model that can be lit with the power generator of bicycle type.

I just missed but the fireworks can be seen in the sky of this miniature model if you generate enough power.

 This is also the miniature of the bike shop in the city, that was rented by a collector of miniature automobiles including so-called "Super Cars" that were in the boom in 1970's.  

This caterpillar tractor is not miniature but was actually used in the tunnel or gallery in the coalmine before. As the tunnel of the coalmine was not so big, the tractor is not so huge.    

This cart was for carrying the coalmine workers to the bottom of the mine.

 This cart carried out coal from the tunnel again and again for years. These carts are exhibited on the basement floor of the museum.

Mr. Sakuma explained about the drill actually used in the coalmine.

My hubby's colleague Mr. Kashiwa tried to hold the drill and was so surprised with the weight of it that he could not believed the coalmine workers kept holding the drill for hours in the bad working conditions in order to produce "black diamond".  I felt it was actually difficult to keep the drill on our shoulder level for minutes.
You can see the collection of miniature cars in the museum until September 23(Mon.). I think the crazy collectors of miniature cars will spend a small fortune to obtain those collections. Would you experienced the actual gallery of coalmines ?    

From the peak of Mt. Kamoi(dake) in Utashinai City !

by Chis.

I reached the peak of Mt.Kamoi(dake) in Utashinai City for the first time despite I have visited each part of Sorachi sub-prefectural area frequently.
It is because I thought it was prohibited to enter the sky gelande.

 Can you see the open-pit coalmine on the photo above. It is still run by Sorachi Tanko Company.

As you can see on the photo on the right, there as very few flat area in this city developed with coalmine industry.

Mt. Kamoi(dake) is not so high but each course of the sky gelande is the training field of top-class national skiers and the accommodation on the hillside of the mountain has a well-equipped gym inside.

From the west side of the peak, Takikawa City and its fertile plain can be seen as well as Mt. Shokambetsu(dake) far away.  

As shown on top of the website at  http://sum.kamoi-hotel.jp/
a field of clouds that stay in this hollow can be seen like from the peak of Mt.Tomamu that is very famous nowadays.
Please visit the peak of Mt. Kamoi(dake) early in the morning to see the field of cloud from the peak.

Dynamite Ramen Noodle Soup in coalmine area !

by Kazu

As you can imagine from the color of the soup, it's so spicy but different from Chinese "Tan Tan Men". It is provided in "Tanko Shokudo", which means "coalmine diner", in the roadside station "Haus Jarvi Naie" in Naie Town.
This noodle soup is called "Happa Ramen" in the diner because of the hot spicy taste is like the explosion of dynamite in the mouth.

 Naie Town has sister relationship with Haus Jarvi in Finland that is the namesake of the roadside station beside Route 12 in Naie Town.

It was not as hot and spicy as I expected but so tasteful with something like broth of seafood. If the white sesame paste was added, it would be much more similar to Chinese Tan Tan Men, I think.

This fried rice contained chopped grilled pork and onion. For lunch, it is recommended to females. The overview of the diner and the roadside station  can be seen at    http://machiken292.com/

Besides, the local summer festival was held in Utashinai Town on September 8(Sun.) when we held a footpath event that started from this roadside station in Utashinai City.
kudos to the staff members of the municipality ! They had grilled skewered chicken until just before the footpath event.
The citizens of the smallest city in Japan seemed to be enjoying enough their local event.  

The building on the hillside is "Tirol-no-yu" the hot spring spa and hotel in the city. The facility is refurbished and opened again at the end of August. It has a huge indoor arena that is available and convenient even when it is raining. Many amateur teams and sky teams use this facility. " We need more guests in spring, summer and autumn. It is almost full with the sky teams and tourists in winter, " said Mr. Sato in the city hall.      

Wine Picnic In Iwamizawa Park !

by Kazu

As the result of the efforts exerted by many people gathering under the name of wine produced in Sorachi sub-prefectural area, three hundred guests fully enjoyed the quality wine and culinary delights in Iwamizawa Park albeit the weather was so lovely with heavy rainfall like in Southeast Asia.

Nakazawa Vineyard, Yamazaki Winery, Housui Winery Maoi Winery, Tsurunuma Winery and 10 R (Toaru) Winery brought their best wine to the venue of wine picnic.

A celebrity Mr. Takuro Tatsumi, an actor, commentator and the Chair of Japan Wine Association appeared with many TV cameras and make-up artist and savored enough the wine and food.

Because of the heavy rain, most of the guests including the members of Sorachi  Sub-prefectural Office of Hokkaido Government were enjoyed the wine and food with talk and sound under the tent.  

The performance by Mr. Shohei Yamaki continued even in the heavy rainfall but the sensitive sound from his guitar was annoyed by the noise of the rain.  

 But the sunshine appeared after the heavy rain fall in the afternoon. Many pools were created even on the lawn and the guests had to walk on the wetland to get their wine and food.

Can you recognize the shadow of the food stands on the lawn ? God blessed us for the future of Sorachi wine.

The roof on the stage was taken off to maximize the sound quality and Mr. Yamaki showed his best performance on the day. He has already made his debut in NYC and shows his unbelievable guitar technique and the sound from Heaven once a week in Sapporo City.  

He sold his CD in the venue of this event but a few of the guests went to the CD sellers in the rain. That is why I gave him a present of wine after his performance.

Before it started to rain again, the wine picnic was wrapped up with the curtain calls to the main player of making and prevailing wine of Sorachi sub-prefectural area as well as Mr. Tatsumi who is expected to comment on the wine produced in Sorachi and to advertise on TV show.
Kudos to the people fighting the uphill battle !