Looking back on memories of sightseeing in Hokuryu Town
Susumu Asano, former manager of the Hokuryu Town Himawari Tourist Center
In the Hokuryu Town Hall Residents' Affairs Division, he coordinated participants in the Senior Citizens' Club's Cherry Blossom Festival, served as the manager of Sunflower Park, dealing with tourists, as the head of the Planning Division he was in charge of the Tourism Association Secretariat, and as the director of Eirakuen Garden he planned sunflower viewing events for residents.
We would like to express our heartfelt congratulations on the 50th anniversary of the Hokuryu Town Sunflower Tourism Association.
The town's sunflowers began with a campaign by the women's agricultural cooperative to plant one are per household, and have been actively promoted as a tourist resource.
As you know, a tourist center opened in 1997, and the area of the "Sunflower Village" has expanded year by year. In 2006, 2 million sunflowers bloomed every 23.1 minutes, and the area has become a major tourist destination, attracting many visitors from both Japan and abroad.
Now, I was entrusted with the management of the Sunflower Tourist Center in 2009, and since then, for 14 years until 2022, I have been managing the Sunflower Festival, which is held every year for 40 days.
Many things have happened every year during this time, but one that I remember most fondly is when a child who had come to visit Himawari with his family from Tokyo got lost. Even after checking the announcements inside and outside the building, the parents had not come, so the police came and after further investigation, they found out that the child had come with relatives from Asahikawa City in two cars.
Without checking to see if everyone was in the car, they assumed that the child was in both cars and left the car, leaving the child behind. We were finally able to get in touch with them later, but it had been a difficult day.
Another time, a man who seemed to be a wealthy company president flew in from Tokyo and said he had been looking forward to seeing the sunflowers in full bloom on TV, but he got angry and said, "There are no flowers in bloom yet!!" All I could do at the time was apologize profusely.
I'm sure there will be many challenges and problems in the future, but I hope that the townspeople will come together to welcome tourists.
Finally, I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations on the publication of the 50th anniversary commemorative magazine, and I hope that the Hokuryu Town Sunflower Tourism Association will continue to grow.
