Akaigawa

It’s a small village located on the southwestern part of Hokkaido and has population of 1,200 people. It takes approx 90minutes by car from Sapporo via Otaru. This is “caldera no sato (the village of the caldera)” born in the eruption of the volcano a long time ago and villagers live inside the huge caldera basin.

The features of Akaigawa-mura surrounded by mountains on every side is a cone-shaped hollow. Due to the climate peculiar to the basin, it will be covered with 2 meters of snow at a maximum in the winter. It is known as one of the best snow quality in the world and it is also a “sacred place for skiers” where attracts endless stream of visitors seeking this powder snow from home and overseas. A lot of foreign staff work in a facility “Kiroro Resort” utilizing this snow and foreigners occupy 10% of the population in spite of a small village.
The key industry of the village is tourism and agriculture. the temperature difference between day and night is great in summer and the temperature change is suitable for cultivating delicious rice, vegetables and fruits. Vegetables are especially delicious. Originally, because it is a privileged land with few disease and pests, there are quite a few producers doing organic cultivation without using pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Sweet taste potato like sweet potato. Pumpkin with rich taste. Soft asparagus fully filled with taste of sweet and “umami (flavor)”. There are cases where it is distributed only in the area because it is the small village and it can't be mass production, but when eating, the original powerful and sweet taste of vegetables grown in a fertile ground spread in the mouth.
It was in 2005 that they joined “The Most Beautiful Villages in Japan” union. They are one of the seven member villages, which is the initial starting member. The registered regional resources are the caldera basin and the caldera taiko drum which is also the village's local entertainment.
A scenic spot which can be said a gateway to the village is the Hiyamizu Pass commands a panoramic view of an urban area of the village. A caldera observatory in its old road is a hidden cloud sea spot where fantastic sea of clouds can be seen in the early morning between spring and autumn under the weather conditions such as the big temperature difference between the morning/evening and the daytime, windless condition.

Interviewed in April, 2017