“Michi-no-Eki” Roadside Stations For Drinving | Guidable - Your Guide to a Sustainable, Wellbeing-centred Life in Japan

“Michi-no-Eki” Roadside Stations For Drinving 

By Guidable Writers Sep 30, 2016

《What is Michi-no-Eki?》

Have you ever heard “Michi-no-Eki,” or been to one of them? It is roadside stations where people drop at by car to take a rest, get souvenirs, or enjoy each local food. There are over 1000 Michi-no-Ekis in Japan, and they are proud of each one’s features.

Michi-no-Ekis are different from the places along highways which we call service area/parking area, but they are along surface streets such as national routes. Some Michi-no-Ekis are the “Poke-stop” or “Gym” for Pokemon Go, so more and more people are gathering each of them recently.

Now, let us find the attractive points of Michi-no-Eki.

 

《How to enjoy Michi-no-Eki》

#1: Stamp rally

We have an interesting culture in Japan called “stamp rally” which we collect a series of stamps at arranged spots. As for Michi-no-Eki, they adopt “stamp rally” system with a booklet we stamp on at each Michi-no-Eki. In each district, they issue a booklet every year, and encourage people to go around as many spots as possible; we will be given some memorial goods according to the numbers of stamps we have got every year.

 

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#2: Stamp! Stamp! Recommended spots in Hokkaido

 

In Hokkaido, there are 117 Michi-no-Ekis at present; to our surprise, it is about one tenth of all Michi-no-Ekis in Japan!  Every Michi-no-Eki in Hokkaido is proud of seafood or agricultural products as well as their beautiful sceneries, so you will surely succeed to go around Michi-no-Ekis to bask in “real Hokkaido.”  I would introduce some Michi-no-Ekis here.

 

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○Central & western part of Hokkaido (Dou-Ou) 2 spots / 41 spots

 

・Sunflower Hokuryu: It is famous for numerous numbers of sunflowers which attracts visitors in summer. There has hot springs as well for you to wind yourself down.



Sunflower field in Hokuryu

・Boyo Nakayama: It is located on the top of Nakayama Path where we can view Mt.Yotei which shows us various appearances every season. You will see clouds on the skirt of the mountain in picture 4. It is called “Unn-Kai.” “Unn” means cloud and “Kai” means sea; now, you can understand that the clouds spread like sea, and we can see “Unn-Kai” only from highlands like top of a path. As for food, it is famous for deep fried potatoes (Age-Imo) which is sold about 400 thousand skewers every year. The potatoes are grown around the foot of Mt. Yotei; let us learn that Hokkaido grows most potatoes in Japan.


Mt. Yotei in spring season & Age-Imo

You can find the detail from following Link;
http://www.hokkaido-michinoeki.jp/en/michi-no-eki/46/

 

○Northern part of Hokkaido (Dou-Hoku)  1 spot / 22 spots

 

・Fuwatto Tomamae: Tomamae town is located along the coast of Japan Sea where we can see two small islands, Teuri&Yagishiri that are called “husband & wife islands” even in hot springs. If you feel hesitant to take a hot spring bath because you have to take off any clothes for public bath in Japan, you can try footbath filled with the same hot spring. The fee for the footbath is free while you will be charged 500 JPY for hot spring bath. Please note that you can take the footbath from Golden Week (around May 3) to the end of September.

Tomamae town is famous for one of the biggest wind farms, so you can view wind turbines in Tomamae Greenhill Wind Park.

 

%e3%82%b9%e3%82%af%e3%83%aa%e3%83%bc%e3%83%b3%e3%82%b7%e3%83%a7%e3%83%83%e3%83%88-2016-09-29-16-07-29An outdoor hot spring & A footbath in the viewing platform
(Reference: http://www.recruit-hokkaido-jalan.jp/)

 

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(Reference: http://www.recruit-hokkaido-jalan.jp/)

 

You can find the detail from following Link;
http://www.hokkaido-michinoeki.jp/en/michi-no-eki/317/

 

Let’s see other Michi-no-Ekis in Hokkaido to be recommended in the previou article.

Check Here.

 

Clare

Japan