Hokkaido Local Quiz Practice: Questions and Explanations

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.

Source:函館山（Wikipedia）

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.

Source:ジンギスカン_(料理)（Wikipedia）

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.

Source:青函トンネル（Wikipedia）

Correct answerAinu

The Ainu are an indigenous people whose homeland centers on Hokkaido and extends to Sakhalin and the Kurils. Their worldview honors kamuy, deities dwelling throughout the natural world, and a great many Hokkaido place names, from Sapporo to Shiretoko, derive from the Ainu language.

Source:アイヌ（Wikipedia）アイヌ語地名（Wikipedia）

Correct answerSeicomart

Seicomart opened its first store in Sapporo in 1971 and is Hokkaido's homegrown convenience chain. With about 1,100 stores across the prefecture, it outnumbers every national chain there and is affectionately known as 'Secoma.' Its in-store deli, offering freshly cooked bento and side dishes, is also a local favorite.

Source:セイコーマート（Wikipedia）セコマグループのあゆみ

Correct answerShoveling snow (snow removal)

After a snowfall in Hokkaido, clearing the snow in front of the house and around the entrance -- called 'yukikaki' -- becomes a routine winter chore. Many households now use home snowblowers, and municipalities issue daily updates on snow-clearing operations for residential streets.

Source:除雪（北海道）生活道路の新雪除雪の出動情報

Correct answerDr. Clark

William Smith Clark, president of Massachusetts Agricultural College, served as first vice-principal of Sapporo Agricultural College, opened in 1876. Though he stayed only about eight months, his first class produced leaders like Shosuke Sato, and his parting words, 'Boys, be ambitious,' endure.

Source:ウィリアム・スミス・クラーク（Wikipedia）

Correct answerTrue

Hokkaido is by far Japan's largest prefecture by area, more than five times the size of second-place Iwate and more than twice the size of the entire Kyushu region. Distances here run on a different scale from Honshu.

Source:都道府県の面積一覧（Wikipedia）

Correct answerTrue

Shiretoko was inscribed as a World Natural Heritage site in 2005, Japan's third. The listing recognized the rare continuity of ecosystems where seasonal sea ice feeds a chain linking ocean, rivers and forest, home to brown bears and Blakiston's fish owls.

Source:知床_(世界遺産)（Wikipedia）

Correct answerFalse

The Sapporo Snow Festival takes place every February. It began not long after World War II, when local junior-high and high-school students built snow statues in Odori Park, and has since grown into an international winter event famous for its colossal snow sculptures.

Source:さっぽろ雪まつり（Wikipedia）

Correct answerLake Saroma

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.

Source:サロマ湖（Wikipedia）

Correct answerKushiro Wetland

Kushiro Marsh, at roughly 26,000 hectares, is Japan's largest wetland. In 1980 it became the country's first site registered under the Ramsar Convention, and in 1987 a national park. It is internationally known as the home of the red-crowned crane.

Source:釧路湿原（Wikipedia）

Correct answerChi-Ka-Ho

'Chi-Ka-Ho' (the Sapporo Ekimae-dori Underground Walkway) connects Sapporo and Odori subway stations, a stretch of about 520 meters. Since opening in 2011, it has let people walk from Sapporo Station toward Susukino without getting wet in snow or rain. With event plazas along the way, it has become part of residents' everyday routes around downtown.

Source:札幌駅前通地下歩行空間（チ・カ・ホ）札幌駅前通地下歩行空間（Wikipedia）

Correct answerSapporo Drug Store

Sapporo Drug Store, founded in 1972 in Sapporo, is affectionately nicknamed 'Satudora.' Under holding company Satudora Holdings, it has expanded its store network across Hokkaido and is known for community-rooted services.

Source:サッポロドラッグストアー（Wikipedia）サツドラホールディングス（Wikipedia）

Correct answerHot Chef

'Hot Chef' is a Seicomart service in which staff cook bento, rice balls, and hot snacks in an in-store kitchen and display them in a heated case. It began at the Ashoro store in 1994 so that stores on remote islands or in rural areas could keep cooking and selling food from rice and frozen ingredients on hand even if bad weather cut off deliveries, and it is now offered at more than half of Seicomart's stores across Hokkaido and the Kanto region.

Source:セイコーマート（Wikipedia）セコマグループのあゆみ

Correct answerBan'ei horse racing

In banei racing, draft horses weighing around a ton haul iron sleds loaded with weights down a 200-meter straight course over two earthen humps. The world's only race of its kind, it survives solely at Obihiro Racecourse and is designated a Hokkaido Heritage.

Source:ばんえい競走（Wikipedia）

Correct answerDrill hall of Sapporo Agricultural College

The Clock Tower's formal name is the Former Drill Hall of Sapporo Agricultural College. Built in 1878 under Clark's plan for cadet training and ceremonies, it received its tower clock in 1881 and survives as Japan's oldest clock tower, an Important Cultural Property.

Source:札幌市時計台（Wikipedia）

Correct answerFried chicken (karaage)

Zangi is Hokkaido's take on fried chicken, marinated more assertively than its Honshu cousins. It is thought to have originated at a Kushiro restaurant in the 1950s, and the name likely derives from the Chinese zha ji, 'fried chicken.' Octopus zangi and other variations exist.

Source:北海道のザンギ（Wikipedia）

Correct answerStar shape

Goryokaku is a star-shaped Western-style fort built using French fortification techniques in the late Edo period. Looking down from the observation deck of Goryokaku Tower, its distinctive five-pointed star shape is clearly visible, making it one of the highlights of sightseeing in Hakodate.

Source:五稜郭（Wikipedia）

Correct answerYumepirika

Yumepirika is a premium low-amylose rice bred at the Kamikawa Agricultural Experiment Station in Pippu, first marketed from the 2009 crop. Chosen by public contest, the name couples yume, 'dream,' with pirika, Ainu for 'beautiful.' Generations of cold-climate breeding turned Hokkaido into a top rice region.

Source:ゆめぴりか（Wikipedia）

Correct answerKitahiroshima

Es Con Field Hokkaido opened in March 2023 in Kitahiroshima as the heart of Hokkaido Ballpark F Village. The retractable-roof stadium became the Nippon-Ham Fighters' new home after Sapporo Dome, in a complex that folds hotels and shops into the ballpark experience.

Source:エスコンフィールドHOKKAIDO（Wikipedia）

Correct answerSoup curry

Soup curry traces to Ajanta, a Sapporo coffee house opened in 1971 whose medicinal yakuzen curry is considered the prototype. Local kitchens refined the thin, spice-forward soup with chunky vegetables, the name itself coined by Magic Spice in 1993, and the dish went nationwide in the 2000s.

Source:スープカレー（Wikipedia）

Correct answerNiseko

Niseko spreads across the foot of Mount Annupuri, facing Mount Yotei, the 'Ezo Fuji.' Its exceptionally light powder snow draws skiers from around the world, and four resorts, including Grand Hirafu, together make up the Niseko United area.

Source:ニセコ（Wikipedia）

Correct answerPotatoes / Sugar beet / Wheat

Hokkaido leads Japan in potatoes, sugar beets and wheat. Sugar beets, the raw material for sugar, are grown domestically only in Hokkaido. Mandarin oranges, by contrast, come mainly from warm regions such as Wakayama and Ehime.

Source:北海道の農林水産業の概要

Correct answerMiso (Sapporo) / Salt (Hakodate) / Soy sauce (Asahikawa)

Sapporo's miso, Hakodate's shio and Asahikawa's shoyu are collectively called Hokkaido's three great ramen, sometimes joined by Kushiro as a fourth. Tonkotsu belongs to Hakata in Fukuoka. Even in Sapporo, most shops serve all three flavors, not miso alone.

Source:北海道のラーメン（Wikipedia）

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.

Source:キムンカムイ（Wikipedia）イオマンテ（Wikipedia）

Correct answerMatsuura Takeshiro

Takeshiro Matsuura surveyed Ezo six times in the late Edo period, recording its geography and Ainu life in detail. In 1869 he proposed six names including Hokkaido written as 'north kai road'; the government adopted it with kai rewritten as 'sea.' The kai, he explained, echoed the Ainu people's name for themselves.

Source:松浦武四郎（Wikipedia）

Correct answerKaitakushi (Development Commission)

The Kaitakushi, or Development Commission, was created in 1869 as the central agency for opening up Hokkaido, moving its headquarters from Hakodate to Sapporo in 1871. It invited American advisers, built the new capital, launched ventures from farming to brewing, and was dissolved in 1882.

Source:開拓使（Wikipedia）

Correct answerThe North Star

The red five-pointed star was the Kaitakushi's emblem, representing the North Star, and flew on the commission's ships. Sapporo Breweries, successor to the Kaitakushi's brewery, carries it on labels still affectionately known as akaboshi, 'the red star.'

Source:その他、サッポロならではのこだわりビール（赤い星の由来）

Correct answerShowa-shinzan

Showa Shinzan is a lava dome that rose from a wheat field during eruptions of Mount Usu between 1943 and 1945. Local postmaster Masao Mimatsu charted its growth day by day, and his Mimatsu Diagram won worldwide recognition as a unique record of a volcano's birth.

Source:昭和新山（Wikipedia）三松正夫（Wikipedia）

Correct answerEtorofu Island

Etorofu is the largest of the Northern Territories, stretching about 214 kilometers with an area of roughly 3,187 square kilometers, far larger than Okinawa Island. Kunashiri ranks second. Japan maintains that these volcanic islands are inherent parts of its territory.

Source:択捉島（Wikipedia）

Correct answerIshikari River

The Ishikari River rises in the Daisetsuzan mountains and waters the Ishikari Plain on its way to the Sea of Japan. Its 268 kilometers rank third in Japan, its basin of about 14,330 square kilometers second only to the Tone River's, and it is a designated Hokkaido Heritage.

Source:石狩川（Wikipedia）

Correct answerRobatayaki

Robatayaki seats guests around a charcoal hearth where fish and vegetables are grilled before their eyes. The style's source lies in Sendai, but a Kushiro restaurant named Robata, opened in 1953, perfected the seafood-centered form that spread nationwide, and Kushiro remains its heartland.

Source:炉端焼き（Wikipedia）

Correct answerKutchan

Kutchan is a town in the Shiribeshi region at the foot of Mount Yotei, the gateway to Niseko. The name is thought to derive from Ainu phrases such as kucha-an-nay, 'stream with a hunter's hut,' though several theories exist. Hard to read, yet known worldwide for its snow.

Source:倶知安町（Wikipedia）

Correct answerNakayama Kyuzo

In 1873 Kyuzo Nakayama succeeded in growing the cold-tolerant Akage rice strain at Shimamatsu, in present-day Kitahiroshima, and gave seed rice freely to settler farmers. Honored as the father of cold-climate rice farming, his homestead within the former Shimamatsu station site is a national historic site.

Source:中山久蔵（Wikipedia）

Correct answerCoal

The government-run Horonai Railway, built by the Kaitakushi, was Hokkaido's first: the Temiya-Sapporo section opened in 1880 and was later extended to the Horonai mine. Its purpose was hauling coal to the port of Otaru, where wagons could unload directly onto ships at the Temiya pier.

Source:官営幌内鉄道（Wikipedia）

Correct answerLake Shikotsu

Lake Shikotsu fills a caldera formed by a huge eruption about 40,000 years ago. Its maximum depth of 363 meters is Japan's second after Lake Tazawa, and that deep water keeps the surface from freezing, making it the northernmost ice-free lake, though rare full freezes have been recorded.

Source:支笏湖（Wikipedia）

Correct answerEstablishment of the Matsumae domain → Establishment of the Kaitakushi → Sapporo Winter Olympics → Opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen

The Matsumae domain took shape at the start of the Edo period, when the Kakizaki family became daimyo under the Matsumae name. The Kaitakushi followed in 1869, the Sapporo Winter Olympics, Asia's first, in 1972, and the Hokkaido Shinkansen in 2016.

Source:松前藩（Wikipedia）1972年札幌オリンピック（Wikipedia）

Correct answerKushiro Wetland Ramsar Convention registration → Shiretoko World Natural Heritage → Toya-Usu UNESCO Global Geopark certification → Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan including Hokkaido

Kushiro Marsh became Japan's first Ramsar site in 1980, and Shiretoko a World Natural Heritage site in 2005. Toya-Usu was certified among Japan's first UNESCO Global Geoparks in 2009, and the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Hokkaido and Northern Tohoku joined the World Heritage list in 2021.

Source:釧路湿原（Wikipedia）洞爺湖有珠山ジオパーク（Wikipedia）北海道・北東北の縄文遺跡群（Wikipedia）

Correct answerNamara (very) / Shitakke (well then) / Menkoi (cute)

Namara ('very'), shitakke ('well then') and menkoi ('cute') are all common Hokkaido expressions. The dialect grew from the mingled speech of settlers from across Japan and is considered relatively close to standard Japanese. Okini belongs to Kansai.

Source:北海道方言（Wikipedia）