Japan in Motion---Pro-web casting from across Japan.

Furano

Located within Hokkaido’s Daisetsuzan National Park, the city of Furano is about as far inland as you can get in Japan. In fact, showing the same civic pluck that drives cities across the country to forge a unique identity, Furano has dubbed itself Heso no Machi, or the Belly Button Town, a name deriving from its situation in the very geographic center of Hokkaido. Each summer, locals file through the streets during the Belly Button Festival on July 28-29 with comical faces painted on their bellies.

Not packing your bags yet? Well, fortunately there’s more going on here than bared bellies. Just a short drive from some of Hokkaido’s best-loved mountain scenery, Furano is also home to one of the island’s hottest ski resorts. The permanent population of around 25,000 hosts incredible crowds of skiers each winter, including thousands of Australians who come to escape the summer heat back home and enjoy the resort’s deep snow and long, well-groomed runs.

For summer visitors, Furano makes the most of its natural surroundings by offering a dizzying variety of outdoor pursuits, ranging from horseback riding and rafting to mountain biking and hot air balloon rides. The city is also famous, largely because of its appearance in a well-loved Japanese TV drama, for its fields of lavender, which stain the hillsides purple from mid-July to early August. And when you’re ready to wind down at the end of the day the local wine industry, started in the early 70’s, offers a welcome respite from Hokkaido’s better-known beers.

>>Access
Asahikawa Airport====(45 min. by car)====Farm Tomita in Furano

>>Website
Farm Tomita (English, Korean, Chinese)

-Matt Mangham

>>Hotels and Ryokans in Furano Area
>>Tours in Hokkaido