Tourism and local product PR activities, etc.

Tourism and local product PR activities, etc.

Autumn Fest (Sapporo Odori Park)

Since 2008, the Autumn Fest Executive Committee (whose secretariat is the Sapporo Tourist Association) has held the Sapporo Autumn Fest, and Hokuryu Town has also promoted its specialties such as sunflower rice and Kuro Sengoku soybeans.

The predecessor of Autumn Fest was the Linkage Up Festival, which was held from 1994 to 2006 to promote local specialties and tourism in Hokkaido. Since the tourism association did not have to pay a stall fee when applying for this Linkage Up Festival, we participated in 2006 and sold Sunflower Rice, Sunflower Farm products such as rice cakes and buckwheat flakes, and promoted the use of Sunflower Park Hokuryu Hot Springs during the next Sunflower Festival and Winter. The event was attended by the Yubari Promotion Agency, which purchased about 400,000 yen worth of Sunflower Rice.

The name was later changed from Linkage Up Festival to Sapporo Autumn Fest and a stall fee was charged, but the event is still held today to sell new sunflower rice to Sapporo citizens.

Hokkaido Sapporo "Food and Tourism" Information Center (Sapporo Station North Exit, Hokkaido Sapporo)

(Tourist Information Centers: Dosanko Plaza, Shisaikan, etc.) Because the PR space at the Hokkaido Sapporo "Food and Tourism" Information Center is free of charge for use by tourist associations and other groups, in 2009, 2010, and 2012, the Sunflower Festival flyers and 200 300 g bags of sunflower rice (purchased by the tourist association) were distributed for free, and pocket tissues containing hot spring bath tickets were distributed. At that time, the promotion was limited to tourism promotion only, as Dosanko Plaza was selling local products.

Then the "Sorachi Fair" conducted by the Sorachi General Promotion Bureau was held, initially at Iwamizawa Park, but later at Aeon or Sapporo Factory, where specialty products can be sold. Currently, the fair is held at Dosanko Plaza and Shisaikan, the PR space of the Hokkaido Sapporo "Food and Tourism" Information Center.

Sapporo Underground Walking Space

Sold goods and promoted Hokuryu Town at the JP01 Festival in Chikaho and Odori Bisse B1 Chikaho, a PR event for municipalities in Hokkaido organized by the Sapporo City Planning Division, Planning Department, City Planning Policy Bureau.

Boulevard Bisset

The Odori Bissé opened in 2010, and Hokuyo Bank implemented a plan to rent the first floor lobby free of charge to municipalities to promote tourism and other activities. The Bank attended as the publicity department of the Sunflower Tourist Association Association and conducted tourism PR by distributing Sunflower Festival flyers and 300g/200 bags of Sunflower Rice (purchased by the Tourist Association) free of charge to Sapporo citizens, as well as discount coupons for hot spring bath tickets.

Sapporo Beer Boulevard Beer Garden

The Sunflower Festival was promoted on the Hometown Stage at THE Sapporo Beer Garden. In addition to promoting the Sunflower Festival, the participants were given Sunflower Rice, Sunflower Melon, and Sunflower Watermelon, which are local products.

Mr. Kazuo Inoue, a full-time general manager of the Strategic Sales Department of Sapporo Beer Hokkaido Head Office (who previously served in the General Affairs Department of the Northern Area General Staff of the Ground Self-Defense Force and was awarded the Decoration of Honor in the fall of 1993) invited me to participate in the Sapporo Beer Garden Furusato Stage to promote the town of Hokuryu.

In addition, Sapporo Beer invited us to open a stall at the Sapporo Factory, where we promoted tourism and sold sunflower rice and Kuro Sengoku soybeans, a specialty of the brewery.

Sapporo Beer Garden (Shinseien Co., Ltd.)

Mr. Takamasa Hatta exhibited his Kumiki at the Sapporo Biergarten and became friends with Mr. Takinami, the manager of the Sapporo Biergarten, and they installed Sunflower Festival brochures and posters in the Biergarten. The wooden desk in the tourist center was given by the Beer Garden to be disposed of at the Beer Garden. The reception hut for the ostrich maze was also donated by the Sapporo Biergarten.

Hokuryu Town has taken approximately 50 sunflower planters to the Sapporo Beer Garden as tourism PR.

Garden Island Hokkaido (GIH)

In 2007, the "Hokkaido Garden" was established to promote the natural landscape, agricultural and rural landscapes, parks and gardens, and other outstanding natural and human resources (collectively referred to as "gardens") that have been nurtured through the nature, climate, and lifestyles of Hokkaido, as well as the people and information related to these resources. The purpose of the Garden is to promote the attractiveness of Hokkaido's flowers and gardens both domestically and internationally, and to stimulate urban development, tourism, environmental conservation, and economic activities.

Others (Asahikawa Western, JP01 Festival)

Mr. Kengo Kuma (Tourism Ambassador of Hokuryu Town)

On July 14, 2020, Professor Kengo Kuma of the University of Tokyo gave his final series of lectures, "What Comes After Industrial Society," at the University of Tokyo's Yasuda Auditorium.
The symposium featured Kenya Hara, professor at the University of Art and Design, Nagano, and Terutaka Suzuki, specially-appointed professor at Rissho University.

In this context, Mr. Kengo Kuma promoted Hokuryu Rice with his hand, and his guest, Mr. Terutaka Suzuki, introduced the view of Mr. Kuma holding the Sunflower Hokuryu Rice. Both of them cherished their connection with Hokuryu Town, which is truly unusual, even though they are tourism ambassadors of this town.

By the way, the amount of hometown tax payment at the time

• 2028 540 million yen
• 2021 2 years 610 million yen
• 2021 3 years, 390 million yen

1996 NHK drama series
Sunflower Village is used in the title background video for the theme song "Sunflower."

The theme song for "Sunflowers" (April to October 1996) was "Dreaming Girl" by Tatsuro Yamashita. The lively song was accompanied by images of sunflower fields in Hokkaido. The theme song of the morning drama was aired three times a day, plus a Saturday compilation, every day for six months, reaching approximately 20 million viewers, many of whom inquired where that sunflower field was.

2011 JR Healthy Walk King

August 6, 2011: About 300 people from all over Hokkaido participated in the "Hokuryu Town, Home of Sunflowers Walk" organized by JR. The tasting of mini-tomatoes in front of Kenichi Doi's house on the way was especially popular.

2011 CB Tours Bus Tour Planning

These are the plans for bus tours and regular sightseeing buses related to the Sunflower Festival, as described in this issue of the magazine's greeting letter and in "People, Things, and Things Tourism" by Mr. Yuo Tani, Deputy General Manager of the Tourism Business Promotion Division, Hokkaido Chuo Bus Co.

Visit the village of Mawari, which boasts the best sea urchin village in Japan, and enjoy limited-time "Uni-yoshi sushi kaiseki cuisine" and in-season fresh seafood hunting.