Hokkaido Specialty Products, Souvenirs, Shrines and Temples, and Sightseeing | 47 Prefectures Guide

Simply calling Hokkaido’s food “abundant” is the same as saying nothing. When you look at the numbers, what this land takes on for Japan becomes clear.

Specialties

Raw milk production accounts for more than half of Japan’s total. What matters, however, is not the quantity but how it is used.

On Honshu, milk is mainly for drinking, but Hokkaido is far from the consumption centers. That is why, from the start, processing into butter, cheese, skim milk powder, and the like has been assumed.

The disadvantage of distance gave rise to an industry of processing. Hokkaido became a dairy-product region not simply because it has many cows.

Potatoes account for about 80% of Japan’s total. Nearly all of Japan’s sugar beet production is concentrated in this one region. Sugar beets are a raw material for sugar. Japan relies heavily on imported raw materials, but a substantial share of domestically produced sugar is supported here.

Souvenirs

The abundance of milk and chocolate in souvenir sweets is not a matter of taste. It is because the raw materials are local.

The cold climate is suited to making sweets that are sensitive to temperature. This is one reason nama chocolate became a specialty.

The same logic applies to processed seafood. By freezing or drying it, it could be transported far away.

Shrines and Temples

Hokkaido Jingu Shrine (Sapporo City) is a shrine established in 1869 by imperial order of Emperor Meiji as a guardian deity of development. in total.

Shrines on Honshu usually have histories measured in thousands of years. Hokkaido Jingu is about 150 years old. Even so, it is the most visited shrine in Hokkaido. The weight of faith is not determined by years alone. The enterprise of development needed a source of support. The deities enshrined are the three kami of land development.

Hakodate Hachimangu Shrine and Ubagami Daijingu Shrine in Esashi Town are older than that. Southern Hokkaido, which prospered through herring fishing and Kitamaebune shipping, was a region with early ties to Honshu. in total.

And Ainu faith has no shrine buildings. Kamuy are said to dwell in mountains, rivers, and animals, and the place of worship was nature itself. Like the utaki of Okinawa, it is a faith that does not build structures. These two layers overlap in Hokkaido.

Sightseeing

The reason Shiretoko became a World Natural Heritage site in 2005 was not the beauty of its scenery. It was recognized because nutrients carried by drift ice support the marine ecosystem, and the connection between sea and land can be seen completed in one place.

Hakodate’s night view is distinctive because the city spreads across a narrow strip of land between the sea on both sides so the topography itself becomes the view.

Furano’s lavender was not planted for tourism. The raw material for fragrances declined once under pressure from synthetic fragrances, and survived because of photography. The best season is July, and the Snow Festival is in February. Tourism in this land does not work if you miss the seasons.

Traditional Crafts

Hokkaido’s nationally designated traditional crafts are only two items: Nibutani ita and Nibutani attus Both are Ainu crafts, designated in 2013.

Ita are trays, and attus is cloth woven from the inner bark of ohyo. Both began not as things to sell, but as tools people used themselves.

For details, see [VILLAGE Report vol.47] The Last Village: Ainu Handwork

Articles About This Prefecture

Specialties, souvenirs, and tourist destinations all lead back to the same place when you trace them. Cold, distance, and vastness.

See All Hokkaido Articles　 ← List of 47 Prefectures

References: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, “Crop Statistics Survey” and “Milk and Dairy Products Statistics”; Hokkaido; Ministry of the Environment; Biratori Town; Hokkaido Jingu Shrine; The Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries -- Value Village Editorial Department