Hamamatsu, where the highest temperature in Japan this summer was recorded at 41.1 degrees Celsius, is finally starting to feel the autumn breeze. “Autumn Festa 2020″ has begun at Hamanako Garden Park. This year’s period is approximately one month from September 26th (Saturday) to November 3rd (Tuesday/holiday). Along with 400,000 cosmos trees, there will be events that people of all ages can enjoy, such as nature yoga on the lawn, children’s sketching classes, and ground golf, so you can enjoy “autumn of art” and “autumn of sports” all at once. can.

Hamanako Garden Park hosted the Hamanako Flower Expo in 2004, and more than 5 million people visited in six months. Admission is free and parking is available, and it is a popular spot decorated with colorful flowers and trees each season. Although the park is crowded with people, the grounds are large so you can enjoy a walk without worrying about crowds.

Hamamatsu Craft Beer Festival is held every year at Solamo where you can enjoy unique craft beers from all over the country. This year (2020), in consideration of safety and security, the event at Solamo has been canceled and will be held online. Over the past few years, craft beer has become a common sight on the menu at restaurants, and it seems that there are many fans across the country. Many of you may be wondering how you can enjoy this year’s online event. I would like to introduce how to enjoy Hamamatsu Craft Beer Festival ONLINE 2020, which will be held this weekend. (This event has already ended)

The mornings and evenings are getting much cooler. It’s still hot during the day, but I think there are more and more people who want to go out but are worried about where they’re going and how they’re going to spend their time there.

This time, I would like to introduce a special plan that will make you feel like you are at a resort while eating fresh and delicious seafood caught at Lake Hamana in an environment that avoids crowds.

This year too, the delicious treasure grown in the forest, “Kicoro forest scented tea,” will be coming to town.

It is Kuromoji tea from Tenryu Forest, which was created with the idea of ​​being an “entrance to get people interested in the forest,” and is harvested only once a year in early spring.

I first encountered this tea four years ago. At a cafe in Tenryu Ward, a friend recommended it to me and said, “This Kuromoji tea is delicious. It’s made from wood.” When I asked her, “What is a tree? You mean the leaves on that tree?”, she answered that they were not actually leaves. When we think of tea, we think of green tea or herbal tea, which is made from soft materials such as leaves and flower petals. So when I was told that it was made from wood, I couldn’t imagine it.

What arrived on the table was a gentle pink tea with a very nice aroma that overturned the image of “wood”.

You may not be familiar with the “Kuromoji” tree, but you might know it as a sweet toothpick used to cut up Japanese sweets and bring them to your mouth.

Nowadays, many of them are made of plastic or other wood, but they were originally made from the Kuromoji tree, which has a pleasant aroma and antibacterial properties. It is well known that when Sen no Rikyu, a famous tea master, made tea for Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he offered them a freshly shaved fragrant toothpick from a branch of the Kuromoji tree in his garden. The scent of Kuromoji may have soothed the spirits of war-torn military commanders.

Japanese sweets and Kuromoji cutting sweets

Kuromoji is said to be an aromatic native to Japan, and its refreshing yet sweet scent is said to have antiviral and relaxing effects. It is said that it is also included in Chanel No. 5, and it is a tree that is like the savior of today’s times.

Kuromoji has been drunk for treatment and health since ancient times. A herbal medicine called Usho is made from the leaves and branches, and it is also brewed and drunk as a health tea. So, what is the difference between Tenryu no Mori’s Kuromoji tea and the health teas that have been drunk up until now?

The person who makes Tenryu Forest’s Kuromoji tea is Mr. Takeshi Maeda, who works as a “visible woodcutter” to connect the mountains and the city. Even though I don’t like the outdoors or the rain, I was selfish because I wanted to see the black moji tree. Then, on a rainy day at the start of the rainy season, Mr. Maeda showed me around Kikoro Forest in Tenryu.

Lately, when I’m walking or driving on the road, I’ve begun to often see people cycling in the Hamanako area. He looks very cool wearing sportswear and riding a special bicycle.

I wanted to try it too, but I just couldn’t take the first step. This is because of the impression of cycling and the height of the hurdles.

What kind of image do you have when you hear the word “cycling”? Prepare a special bicycle, wear special clothing, and ride the bicycle vigorously. There are probably rules such as roads you can run on and roads you shouldn’t run on. However, as a beginner, these impressions made me feel that it would be a difficult hurdle to start cycling on my own, and I had a hard time mustering up the courage to do so. I got information that a cycling tour around Lake Hamana was being held in such a place, so I decided to participate in the cycling tour.

“Is there a fireworks display somewhere today?” I often get asked when I’m wearing a yukata. This is probably because many people have an established image of it as something to wear when going to a fireworks display. They brightly color the Japanese summer, and just seeing them will instantly get you in the summer mood. In fact, yukata is a specialty product that Hamamatsu accounts for about half of the total amount handled, and boasts the highest amount of yukata in Japan.

The manufacturer of Hamamatsu-made yukata has begun a “new challenge” in order to preserve the area of ​​production and the skills of its craftsmen. What we will be talking about here is a yukata made using the traditional “Chusen-some” technique. In recent years, it has been introduced more and more in the news, and you may have come across this word more often. Chusen-some is a method of dyeing yukata and tenugui with colored patterns, and it got its name from the fact that the dye is poured over the folded fabric. Using traditional techniques found only in Japan, every step is made by hand by skilled craftsmen.

As I spend more time at home, I find myself worrying more about what to do, especially on holidays. At that time, I happened to look at SNS and saw an experience that an acquaintance had introduced saying that there was something like this. It is a kit called “Shokunin-san” by Ganyudo.

Ganyudo is a long-established traditional store that was founded in the Meiji era, and each of its Japanese sweets are carefully made by craftsmen, and from the appearance to the taste, each one is overflowing with a sense of happiness that cannot be expressed in words. Ganyudo sells a kit called “Shokunin-san” by mail order, which allows you to make Japanese sweets like a craftsman, but how can you look at the samples without actually having the craftsman nearby? I guess I can get some advice…

With this in mind, I opened the “Shokunin-san” kit I had purchased out of curiosity. I felt a sense of excitement, like opening a gift box. The box had a nice photo of Ganyudo’s Japanese sweets, giving off the atmosphere of a strict, long-established Japanese sweets shop.

During Golden Week, I received an envelope from a friend that smelled like jasmine.

When I opened it, I found an envelope full of small white flowers, along with a letter that began, “The mandarin oranges have begun to bloom in Mikkabi.” Maybe the scent that I thought was jasmine was actually Mikkabi mandarin orange flowers? I got excited all at once. Of course, I also know about Mikkabi Mikan, a brand that everyone who lives in Hamamatsu knows. It’s my favorite. However, I lived my life without knowing that tangerine flowers were so beautiful and had such a bright fragrance.

The letter continues, “The herb name for mandarin orange flowers is neroli. Neroli is…” I don’t know about tangerine flowers, but I do know about the aromatic neroli.

Aroma has recently become popular not only among women but also among men as a means of recovering from fatigue and maintaining the mind and body. There are many people who use aromatherapy to relax and refresh themselves. Among them, “Neroli” is popular as a natural tranquilizer and the strongest recovery aroma. To be more precise, neroli is extracted from the flowers of the bitter orange (Japanese name: orange), which is one of the many citrus fruits, and because it takes time to cultivate, it is considered one of the rare essential oils and is quite expensive. Neroli, which is said to be a natural tranquilizer, has the effect of balancing excitement and sedation, lifting depressed moods and making you positive, while also calming excitement. Now in May, the same citrus tree, the Mikkabi mandarin orange, is in full bloom in white at Lake Okuhamana, giving off a rare fragrance.

The other day, after the self-restraint period ended, I asked a friend who had sent me a letter to take me to a farm.

I don’t think there is anyone who lives in this area who doesn’t know about Lake Hamana. I think everyone has at least once gone out to collect clams, go fishing, or go for a drive along the shore of Lake Hamana. Lake Hamana is a very familiar place to us.

What would you say if someone asked you again, “What kind of place is Lake Hamana?” You probably won’t be able to give a good answer like, “Hmm. There’s nothing special about it…” I want to know more about Lake Hamana. With this in mind, I began creating this “Sea Lake Textbook”.

This book was originally based on a poster titled “50 Amazing Things in Hamamatsu and Lake Hamana”. This poster is intended to convey that there are many wonderful things to see in the Hamamatsu/Lake Hamana area. The “Lake of the Sea Textbook” is an even more in-depth study. Both were created for local elementary and junior high school students, and were produced as part of the “Lake Hamana Tourism Area” project, which is working to create a tourist area that encompasses Hamamatsu City and Kosai City. Normally, when we think of tourism, we think of inviting visitors from outside, but why local elementary and junior high school students? There is a reason for this.

Have you ever heard of the term civic pride? It means that citizens have pride and attachment to their region. In the field of tourism, there is now a need to foster this civic pride. So why does fostering civic pride lead to tourism?

When you feel pride and attachment to your region, you can’t help but want to share it with others. “Lake Hamana is an amazing place, so come and visit us!” When residents say these words one after another, they attract people from outside, and the residents want to convey the goodness of Lake Hamana to people who come from outside. It will be. And the goodness of Lake Hamana is passed on from person to person. This is the ideal form.

So what can we do to help residents feel civic pride? First of all, let’s let people know that Lake Hamana is amazing! With that in mind, I created 50 amazing posters. The first thing you need to do is stop and look at the poster. After that, I decided to create a textbook that would be more accessible and readable. First, by getting elementary and junior high school students interested, the children will pass it on to their parents, and the parents will also become interested. I want to create something that will lead to understanding the richness of Lake Hamana.

How was Lake Hamana formed?

When did it become connected to the sea?

What kind of creatures do the fish and shellfish live in?

It’s connected to the sea, but is it salty?

How deep is it?

Did you know that Hamamatsu ranks first among the 20 largest cities in Japan in terms of the percentage of households that own a pet dog? Since there are many dog ​​lovers, there are naturally many facilities that welcome dogs and other pets. This time, I would like to introduce spots around Hamamatsu and Lake Hamana where you can easily go and play with your dog.

This time we will be traveling with Mr. Iijima’s family who live in Hamamatsu City. My beloved dogs are Siberian Huskies “Ritaro-kun” (left) and “Kotaro-kun” (right).

Ritarou is a gentle and friendly dog ​​who plays well with all dogs. He loves chasing other dogs at the dog park and digging holes.

Kotaro is a spoiled and lonely dog ​​who gets angry and howls when his owner interacts with children. Even though he’s a Siberian Husky, he doesn’t really like walking and is sensitive to the cold.

By the way, both of them love bread.

Next, Jenne and her friends came to Nicoe, which is also located in Hamakita. This facility opened in July 2014 and is operated by Shunkado, famous for its eel pie. Based on the concept of “Hamakita Sweets Community, transmitting a new culture and style of sweets,” it is a facility that everyone from children to adults can enjoy. Of course, they also sell eel pies, and you can purchase most of the sweets made by Shunkado. That’s not all. There is also a different blend called Gokokuya, and there are also sweets that can only be purchased at Nicoe in Hamamatsu City.

On this day, Sea Lake HAMANA Jenne came to Hamakita Ward, Hamamatsu City. Hamakita Ward, which functions as Hamamatsu City’s sub-center and has a large population, has forest parks and rice fields, giving the impression of a lush cityscape. This area has the image of being more of a residential area and restaurants than a tourist destination, but there are many attractive spots.