A night to deepen love and bonds with one's hometown: The 2025 Sapporo Hokuryu Festival was held in grand style

Tuesday, July 9, 2025

The 2025 Sapporo Hokuryu Festival will be held in grand style

On Sunday, June 29th at 6:00 PM, the 2025 Sapporo Hokuryu Festival was held in grand style in the Gyokuyo Room on the second floor of Sapporo Sunplaza (Sapporo City).

The Sapporo Hokuryu-kai is a social gathering for people from Hokuryu Town. It was founded in 1968 with members who moved from Hokuryu Town to the Sapporo area and those with ties to the area.

They hold meetings to exchange information and deepen ties, and also hold activities such as supporting their hometown, Hokuryu Town.
This year, 23 people from Hokuryu Town, including council members and town hall staff, and a total of 58 members participated.

General MC: Kenji Miyawaki, Auditor (from Wakabata)

Chairman's greeting: Chairman Takashi Takebayashi

"Although it is June, Sapporo has been experiencing temperatures exceeding 30 degrees for the past two weeks. Today's maximum temperature reached 30.2 degrees, making it feel like summer has arrived.

I would like to express my gratitude to the people of Hokuryu Town and the members of the Hokuryu Association for taking the time to participate despite the current circumstances.

We were also joined by over 20 people from our hometown of Hokuryu Town, including Mayor Sasaki and Chairman Nakamura. Today is a Sunday, a day off. You have come from far away, and we are humbled to say that we are all contributing our own membership fees. Given the circumstances, all of us at the association would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you all for coming. Thank you very much.

I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to Mr. Okita, Mr. Yamada and all the other executives in the secretariat for their tremendous efforts in making today's meeting possible.

Well, Hokuryu Town has been featured quite a bit in the news this week. Yesterday, Hokuryu Town's sunflower watermelon, a small watermelon with yellow flesh and an extremely high sugar content, was featured in a 30-minute special on the HBC program "Agri Kingdom." Also, from Wednesday to Friday, the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper ran three consecutive articles titled "The 20-Year Story of the Revival of the Lost Kurosengoku Soybean." As someone from Hokuryu Town, I was very happy to watch them.

I believe our distinguished guests will be sharing the latest developments in Hokuryu Town later, but I would like to briefly touch on a few points in advance. This spring, the town's former mayor, Yutaka Sano, was honored with an award. Former Mayor Sano always cared about the Hokuryu Association and provided various forms of support. I would like to offer my congratulations.

In addition, in relation to the town hall, Mr. Yoshiki Tanaka was appointed as Superintendent of Education in January of this year. Mr. Tanaka and Mayor Sasaki were classmates in elementary, middle, and high school, and after serving as principal of a junior high school in the Sorachi area, he served on the Iwamizawa Board of Education. He was appointed this January. He truly has a wealth of experience and wisdom, so I hope that he will demonstrate his skills in the educational administration of Hokuryu Town. I would appreciate your continued support.

The Hokuryu-kai was established in 1968 with the aim of fostering friendship among people from Hokuryu Town and supporting their hometown. However, as the years have passed, the number of members has gradually increased and the number of members has decreased, and we currently have around 90 active members.

This time, we welcomed two new members, Harumitsu Ito and Toru Takebayashi. However, there are still many people from Hokuryu Town who are not familiar with the Hokuryu Association, so if you know anyone from the area, please do not hesitate to contact them.

"Although we have limited time today, I hope we can have a fun time discussing and getting to know each other while cherishing the bond we share in Hokuryu Town. I look forward to working with you today. Thank you very much," said Chairman Takebayashi.

Guest speech: Mayor Yasuhiro Sasaki of Hokuryu Town

"Today, 23 members of Hokuryu came to visit us.

I believe that the Sapporo Hokuryu-kai is a valuable place where I get to spend time with all 35 members, so I look forward to working with you all.

There are 23 members of parliament and organization leaders here, and I would like each of you to sit together at the same table and hear about the situation in Kitaryū.

Mr. Takashi Takebayashi has been the chairman since last year and is a former Director General of the Agricultural Policy Department, and I think his speech was wonderful and flawless.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for knowing so much about the recent developments in Hokuryu, which suggests that you are always concerned about the situation.

After this, with Director Minami as the moderator, I think each of the people from Hokuryu Town will give a few words. I would like to hear a little bit about each organization and how they are doing.

This year's Sunflower Festival will be held from July 20th to August 18th. We have introduced this year's poster.
Also, I think we distributed this flyer, which was an A4 sheet folded in half.

This year, the Cabinet Office doubled the amount of grants it will provide to promote its new regional revitalization policy, "Regional Revitalization 2.0," from 100 billion yen to 200 billion yen.
I hope that my hometown, Hokuryu, a small local government, will once again support Japan. The local revitalization grant has been increased because this small local government is believed to be a source of vitality for Japan. The town of Hokuryu came together, and the town hall staff made a thorough application.
We applied for a whopping 2 billion yen and were awarded 50% of that amount.

All 1,747 local governments across Japan applied for this grant at the same time, and this is the largest amount in Japan.

Thanks to the efforts of our staff, the support of the town council, and the expectations of the townspeople, we were able to secure a large grant.

In the midst of all this, I would like to ask the people of my hometown, where this day began, and the members of the Sapporo Hokuryu Association who helped create this hometown, to please keep an eye on me as we move forward, striving to make Hokuryu a town that can shine once again, a small but shining town.

I would like to do my best to bring a breath of fresh air to the city, so I hope you will continue to support me from Sapporo.

This time, the main focus of this large grant is related population, and one of the reasons is that we will cherish these relationships with people in our hometowns.

I truly believe that today's Sapporo Hokuryu-kai is the origin of the organization that exists for regional revitalization. I look forward to working with you.

I am able to meet with you all twice a year, but the 22 people from Hokuryu Town only meet once a year. I believe I will be able to speak to each of you in a way that will reach your hearts, so I look forward to your cooperation.

Thank you so much, Toru Takebayashi. It's been a long time.

"People with ties to the association" are those close to the members, so we hope that you will spread the word and that we will see an increase in the number of diverse members.

"I'm grateful to have been invited here today. I look forward to discussing various topics and having fun, so I hope you'll join us. Thank you very much for joining us today," said Mayor Sasaki.

Introducing the guests: Introducing the participants from Hokuryu Town

Introduction by: General Affairs Division Manager Hajime Nanba

Mayor of Hokuryu Town Yasuhiro Sasaki, Chairman of the Hokuryu Town Council Shoichi Nakamura, Honorary Resident Ryoji Kikura, Representative Director of the Hokuryu District of JA Kitasorachi Nagai Minoru, Chairman of the Hokuryu Land Improvement District Junichi Fukase, Chairman of the Hokuryu Town Chamber of Commerce Masahito Fujii, Vice-Chairman of the Hokuryu Town Council Keiko Ozaki, Hokuryu Town Council Member Minoru Sato, Hokuryu Town Council Member Nobuaki Teragaki, Hokuryu Town Council Member Kazuo Kimura, Hokuryu Town Council Member Masato Sawada, Hokuryu Town Council Member Yoshiko Hayashi, Hokuryu Town Council Member Manabu Okino, Deputy Mayor Masaaki Okuda, Superintendent of Education Yoshiki Tanaka, Counselor of the Hokuryu Town Children and Life Support Division Yoshinori Mori, Director of the Hokuryu Town Industry Division Junichi Iguchi, Secretary General of the Hokuryu Town Council Mr. Ikuo Hase, Ms. Chiaki Mori, Advisor, Town Future Strategy Division, Hokuryu Town, Ms. Keiko Banda, Assistant Director, General Affairs Division, Hokuryu Town, Ms. Noboru and Ikuko Terauchi, Hokuryu Town Community Supporters and Hokuryu Town Portal Site Administrators

Nakamura Shoichi, Assembly Speaker

“This marks my second year as Chairman since last December, and I am extremely pleased to have been invited here today.

The produce is growing well. Recently, it has been midsummer weather even though it is only June, which is a bit worrying. I think it is better than being cold. I hope you will eat lots of sunflower rice.

Chairman Takebayashi mentioned yesterday's broadcast on Agri Kingdom and the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, but there's one more piece of news. Yesterday, Tetsuro Degawa came from Rumoi and went to Takikawa. He asked if he could recharge in Iwamura, so the Iwamura area accommodated him. Afterwards, he apparently ate at the Himawari restaurant. TV Tokyo's Saturday night show "Tetsuro Degawa's Charge Me Up, Please?" will be broadcast in August. I hope you'll tune in.

I'm so glad you're here today and in good spirits, and I hope you have a great time today.

I hope that the Hokuryu-kai will continue to grow in the future, and I ask for your continued support for Hokuryu. I would also like to propose a toast to the health and happiness of all those participating today.

"Cheers to the Sapporo Hokuryu Festival! Thank you very much," said Chairman Nakamura.

Greetings from new member Toru Takebayashi

"I graduated from Hokuryu Junior High School in 1975. At the time, I had two classes with about 80 classmates, and I am grateful for all the help I received. I look forward to your continued support in the future.

"I used to be a teacher at Hokuryu Junior High School, and I'm very sorry for the trouble I caused everyone at Hokuryu. I was lacking in some areas when teaching social studies, so I would like to take this opportunity to apologize. I look forward to your continued support," said Takebayashi.

Banquets and social gatherings

Food

• Menu
• Assorted sashimi
• Grilled Spanish mackerel in oil and with Japanese pepper
• Boiled gyoza with gomoku bean paste
• Chicken and Romanesque cream sauce
• Scallop and Kinpira Chirashi Sushi
• Yuzu sorbet

entertainment

The event was a great success, with a variety of sumptuous dishes and entertainment including "karaoke bragging," "stunt chorus singing exchange," "bingo game," and "raffle for special prizes."

1. Karaoke Proud Hosted by: Shiro Fuse and Yoichi Fujita

2. Singing exchange and stunt chorus Host: Isamu Okita

The team splits into Team A and Team B, and they sing different songs at the same time. The game involves matching songs with similar chord progressions to create a beautiful sound.

Songs: "Momotaro" & "Kintaro", "Snow" & "Spring Has Come", "Dendenmushi" & "Shojoji no Tanukibayashi", Te "Shoes are Crying" & Te "Yuyake Koyake", etc.

3. Bingo game: Hosted by Masaaki Nozawa and Isamu Okita

4. Special Prize Drawing

• Prizes from Hokuryu Town: Mayor Sasaki will draw prizes to give to members of the Hokuryu Association

  

  

  

• Prizes from Sapporo Hokuryu-kai: Chikurin-kai Town will draw prizes and give them to the people of Hokuryu-cho
  　
  

  

A gift of "Hima Ring" from Takada Yukio, Chairman of the Kurosengoku Business Cooperative Association!!!

Closing ceremony: A toast by Harumitsu Ito, Class of 1971!

This marked the end of the grand Sapporo Hokuryu Festival.

57 years have passed since the Sapporo Hokuryu-kai was founded, and the noble spirit of Hokuryu Town continues to be passed down...

With boundless love, gratitude, and prayers, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the members of the Sapporo Hokuryu Association who love their hometown of Hokuryu, share with us the "spirit of harmony" and "spirit of compassion" that are the frontier spirit that has been passed down through the generations, and watch over and support us.

YouTube videos

Other photos

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◇ Photography, editing, and website management: Noboru Terauchi Writer: Ikuko Terauchi