Clear the Dosanko Local Quiz and earn the Dosanko Local title. Want to know Hokkaido even better, or already confident? The tougher courses are next.
Most of Hokkaido's unreadable place names trace back to the Ainu language, and that is where this quiz begins. From there it opens onto the wilderness of Shiretoko and the winter drift ice, a table that runs from jingisukan to fresh seafood, the compressed history of the frontier era when Ezo became Hokkaido, and the habits of snow-country life, from shoveling at dawn to studless tires. Sapporo, Hakodate and Otaru each lend the questions a different face. What a Dosanko takes for granted often proves to be the hardest question of all. The practice questions offer a first measure of just how wide this northern land really is.
Q1.Which mountain is famous for offering a view down over Hakodate's beautiful night scenery?
Mt. Teine
Mt. Hakodate
Mt. Moiwa
Mt. Maruyama
Hint: Elevation 334 m, accessible by ropeway
Reveal the correct answer
Correct answerMt. Hakodate
Mount Hakodate, a 334-meter tied island at the city's edge, overlooks streets fanning out between Hakodate Bay and the Tsugaru Strait. With Nagasaki's Inasa and Kobe's Maya, it ranks among Japan's three great night views, reached easily by ropeway.
Q2.Which signature Hokkaido regional dish involves grilling mutton on a special pan?
Sukiyaki
Shabu-shabu
Motsunabe
Jingisukan (Genghis Khan)
Hint: Uses a pan with a raised center
Reveal the correct answer
Correct answerJingisukan (Genghis Khan)
Jingisukan grills mutton or lamb with vegetables on a dome-shaped iron pan. The dish spread through Hokkaido as sheep farming was promoted in the Taisho era, and two schools coexist: meat marinated in sauce beforehand, or dipped after grilling.
Q3.Which undersea railway tunnel connects Hokkaido and Honshu, passing beneath the Tsugaru Strait?
Kan-etsu Tunnel
Seikan Tunnel
Kanmon Tunnel
Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line
Hint: Opened in 1988
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Correct answerSeikan Tunnel
The Seikan Tunnel is one of the world's longest undersea railway tunnels, running beneath the Tsugaru Strait, and opened in 1988. It remained the world's longest railway tunnel until Switzerland's Gotthard Base Tunnel surpassed it in 2016, and today it carries the Hokkaido Shinkansen.
Lake Saroma covers about 152 square kilometers, the largest lake in Hokkaido and third in Japan after Biwa and Kasumigaura. Separated from the Sea of Okhotsk by a long sandbar, it is Japan's largest brackish lake, known for scallop and oyster farming.
Q5.What name do the Ainu use when revering the brown bear as the god of the mountains?
Repun Kamuy
Ape-huci Kamuy
Kimun Kamuy
Kotan-kor Kamuy
Hint: "Mountain god"
Reveal the correct answer
Correct answerKimun Kamuy
In Ainu, kimun means 'of the mountains' and kamuy means 'deity': Kimun Kamuy is the honorific for the brown bear as mountain god. Bears were held to be kamuy visiting the human world with gifts of meat and fur, sent home through the iomante ceremony.
