Japanese Listening Practice Vlog | Bike & Walk through Furano, Hokkaido | 🚲自転車と散歩で巡る北海道・富良野

Japanese Listening Practice Vlog | Bike & Walk through Furano, Hokkaido | 🚲自転車と散歩で巡る北海道・富良野

Okay, what do you think this is? This is an entire field of onions. Onions! Onion farming is very active in Hokkaido. Today, I’m riding a bike again. Today’s bike is… a rental bike—800 yen for 5 hours. It’s a regular bike with 3 gears. There are so many dragonflies flying around right now. Look! Green on this side, and green on this side too (lol). Yep… Surrounded by nature. Whoa! Oh no! Onions in boxes? I think they’re getting ready to be shipped. These will go to the market, then to supermarkets. Wow… But it’s really interesting. After onions, it’s rice. Rice fields. Ahh… this is so nice. Onions! Maybe Furano is famous for onions? I’ve arrived at “Farm Tomita.” This place is famous for its lavender fields. But lavender season is already over, so other flowers are blooming now. By the way, lavender season is in July. July. But it’s still lovely even without lavender. There are mopeds inside the grounds. All the scooters are lavender-colored. Ah! Even the cars are cute! Now I’m… Heading into… maybe a greenhouse? Let’s go in. Oooh—so pretty! Just a feeling… but I think I can smell lavender. Time for a little break… I found some delicious-looking sliced melon! Let’s dig in! It was so good, I’m going to have another slice. And now we’re back on the bike again… Amazing! There are also some really nice-looking cottages. So cute! Wow, what a view. Amazing. “Are you here for work?” “Yeah, I’m weeding the lavender garden.” “Oh, I see.” “Lavender season is in July, right?” “So now you’re doing the weeding…” “You get to see this view every day—so lucky!” “But you’re tired of it?” “Totally tired of it!” “Because I’m a local.” “I see (lol).” Now I’ve come into the forest. I found something super cute, so I’m going to take a look. Is that a penguin? An octopus? I have no idea. Wow, amazing. I love it. Ahh… this is so nice. Feels great. This looks like… a cycling route or something. Google is telling me to go this way, but… is this really okay? Let’s give it a try. The road is so bumpy… (lol) This is super fun! Look! Behind me—it looks like this. Wow… Hokkaido is HUGE-kaido! Look! Such a cute house. Sunflowers are blooming. Hokkaido is honestly amazing. Ahh… So beautiful! I want to try that! I bought a melon at a farm stand. It’s pretty heavy. Let me tell you why Furano melons are so delicious. Furano is warm during the day and cool at night. Because of this big temperature difference, they grow sweet melons. Melon season is from June to October. Itadakimasu! Mmm… Super sweet! Now I’m heading to an onsen. But before that… I want to eat something. I’m really tired though. This is the Sorachi River. It runs right alongside the road like this. Yeah, it’s nice. There are people fishing too. Hokkaido’s nature really is amazing. “Furano-Ashibetsu Prefectural Natural Park” This is such a nice park. There’s nothing particularly special about it, but you can see the mountains, and there are lots of trees, grassy areas, and a river flows through it. I think it’s a really nice park. Kids are running around freely and playing. It’s a bit hot, so I’ve come into the shade. I think this is usually a road for cars, but today it’s hot, so… Isn’t the greenery just beautiful? This side is really nice too. There are lots of tall trees. Some cute flowers are blooming too. Is that a bee? Mr. Bee is hard at work. Did it rain yesterday? Things are a little… wet. This place is called “Asahigaoka Park.” “Asahigaoka Park Namako Mountain Walking Course” 60 minutes—about one hour. Okay… I’m walking through the forest now. This is nice. Do you all like butterflies? I think they’re beautiful, but… Honestly, I don’t want to see them too close. What’s the actual difference between butterflies and moths? If anyone knows, please tell me. Ahh… this is so lovely. Doing things like forest bathing and walking in the woods— honestly, you can do that even outside of Hokkaido. But… I don’t know… Every time I travel, I find myself wanting to walk through forests. The plants that grow there are different, the sounds of insects, the shape of the leaves, sometimes I even run into animals, and all of that is different too. So I want to walk in different places. That’s why, even when I travel, and I go to tourist spots, more than sightseeing… I really just love walking in forests. There are lots of interesting tourist spots too. But I’m not really a fan of overly commercialized places. When it comes to food, touristy places often tend to be expensive and not that tasty. And sometimes, the service isn’t that great either. Like the place I went today… So I prefer to find spots where the locals go. That’s where I want to go. That’s my way of traveling. Of course, there are lots of travel styles. Everyone has their own way of traveling. Some people like staying in luxury hotels, enjoying the view, eating good food, and soaking in hot springs. It really depends on your mood. And who you’re traveling with. Whether you’re traveling alone, or with a partner or family— your trip will change depending on that. This time, I’m traveling solo, so I just go where I personally feel like going. Yesterday, I went to a luxury hotel’s hot spring. But it was just a day trip. A “day trip” means… I just used the hot spring without staying overnight. It was really nice. I could see the stars from the hot spring—it was beautiful. There’s a map here. I saw a great spotted woodpecker! It was beautiful! What’s that over there? A squirrel? Yep, it’s a squirrel. Aww, so cute! You don’t see squirrels very often in Shikoku. When I lived in Canada, I saw them all the time. Apparently, there are also statues from the “Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage” here? That’s what I heard. That’s really interesting. So if you want to do all 88 stops in one day, this is the place to come. There are actually a lot of these mini 88 pilgrimage routes. Even on Shodoshima, which I know about. Shodoshima is an island in Kagawa Prefecture. They have one there too. I think I’m at the summit now? It says “Namako Mountain.” I think this is the peak. It’s not very high though— just 290.3 meters. Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is the summit. Now I’ve come near a river. I was thinking of crossing here, but it looks a bit tricky. So I’ll take that bridge instead. The water is so clear—it’s beautiful. The current is a little fast, which is kinda scary. I was going to cross there, but it’s a bit scary… So… I’ll cross the bridge instead. This view is just amazing. Hokkaido is seriously incredible. My Furano trip was so much fun. See you in the next video! Bye-bye!

Join me on a solo trip to Furano, Hokkaido 🚴‍♀️✨
I cycled through onion fields, visited Farm Tomita, met locals, walked in the forest, and of course… ate delicious Furano melon! 🍈

📍 For Japanese learners
This vlog is spoken in natural, everyday Japanese.
It’s great for practicing listening comprehension, especially with vocabulary related to 🌳nature, travel, and food😋

🐧Check out our transcripts, video podcasts, and Japanese learning resources at⁠⁠: ⁠https://sayurisaying.com/furano-hokkaido-travel-vlog/
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✦ Furano melons are sweet because of the big difference between day and night temperatures.
✦ Lavender season in Furano is in July 🌸

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