Furano
is the center of Hokkaido. Its summer
festival is the Belly Button Matsuri because it is located in the “belly button”
of Hokkaido.
We
stayed at a bed and breakfast called B&B Furano, located very near the ski
slope area. We highly recommend it – it was
conveniently located, the room was large and clean, the staff was friendly, and
the breakfast delicious!
This is
the control panel for the toilet in our room. We don't have one of these at home!
Shoes
are not allowed beyond the entrance, which is probably how the place stays so
clean! I can imagine it is a great place to stay in the winter.
The
first evening we met one of Ted’s former students, who is now a police officer
in Kamifurano, and his father, who is also a police officer. We ate at
Shinatora, a Japanese style noodle place.
Shojikimura
(which has vegetarian choices) was walking distance from the B&B, and we
ate there the second night. I had a
great bowl of pumpkin ramen and Ted had chicken and stir fried vegetables.
Before going to the zoo, we ate a konbini bento lunch outside at a riverside park.
The second day we ate a bento lunch at the base of San Dan Yama, where backcountry skiers are still on the mountain. (I had cold soba).
The last day we had lunch at a pizza restaurant called Bakusyuu.
We bought omiage and had a dessert at Furano Delice.
Furano
is a great vacation spot – stay tuned for the next installment of our trip.
