Furano

The next morning after breakfast we set off for a sightseeing trip of Furano, which is famous for many things including the Lavender Gardens and the on-site location for the popular Japanese drama Kitano Kunikara (this family drama, loved by many Japanese viewers over the approximately 20 years of broadcasting, puts focus on a small, beautiful part of  the Hokkaido region, surrounded by nature. Set in the town of Furano in Hokkaido, the drama revolves around the story of the Kuroita family).

First on the list of places to visit there was the lavender farm called Farm Tomita. Where large gardens of lavender, and many other types of flowers created a beautiful display of colour. A pretty popular place for photos, as people snapped friends and family against the picturesque backgrounds. Here you found shops that sold every conceivable thing you could think of to make from lavender: skincare, candles, lollies, food and many things you can not make from lavender but can print pictures of lavender on.

There was also a lavender icecream vendor. Icecream was a popular treat at the farm with its soft lavender colouring and unique flavour

At the entrance to the farm was a dried flower and souvenir shop, with the most awesome display of dried fruits, vegetables and flowers draped and displayed artistically around the walls and ceilings in an inspired presentation. Again cameras were clicking everywhere, but capturing the scope of the display was not possible. There was a small bridge underneath the central hanging displays where people posed for photos.

We left the lavender farm and drove to visit the bush location of the popular television drama, Kitano Kunikara . Amongst the thicket bush were a few houses which had been built, over the 20 years, to represent the different houses the family lived in over the time the drama was being filmed. The drama is about a young family with two children. The mother dies and the father takes care of the children. He has no money and builds their house from whatever he can find. There were a few houses at that location (over time the father built different houses)  and we were told there were more locations in Furano similar to the one we were visiting. These locations have become something of a tourist attraction, much like Ramsey Street from the popular Australian soapie, Neighbours.

We then drove to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido,  and had noodles (was it sorbet noodles?) at a famous noodle bar. There are messages and signatures from many Japanese celebrities posted up near the ceiling of this restaurant. Not far from here was the ‘Shooting Star’ hostel where we were staying the night. The price was pretty reasonable for  Sapporo, but that was  because it was a biker’s hostel and not quite as well maintained as some of the others we stayed at. However with our finances getting low, we were just glad to have  a place to sleep that would allow our budget stretch further.

There was also free internet here, even though it was slow, and I sat up as long as I could to post on the blog. (As it turned out it was much harder to access the net in Japan than I thought.  Most people carry phones and can do most of their online stuff commuting to and from work or school. Internet cafes were also,  much different than I expected. The one we went into in Tokyo was like a member’s club: clean, individual booths with a comfortable and stylish couch, up to date computers, showers outside the booths, and food if you wanted to stay long enough to eat. You could stay overnight up to 8 hours. You did have to sign in for a minimum membership fee).

I did my best to post as much as I could of the trip, but the amount of travel we had done in the last few days was taking its toll, and the wisdom of sleeping was evident.

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