Sapporo Winter Sports Museum

Before

After

A friend of mine came to visit me for a few days last week, and I decided to show him the Sapporo Winter Museum, this is located on top of Mt Okurayama which over looks Sapporo City offering great views of the city ( night or day).

The museum itself was created to commemorate the Sapporo Winter Olympics held here in 1972, inside is lots of winter sporting memorabilia, dating back to the beginning of the Winter Olympics.

Once you have worked you way through the interesting museum you can head downstairs to the state-of-the-art simulators, which helps you gain some understanding of the events. There are a number of simulators one for the ski jump, bobsled, ice hockey, cross country skiing, shooting, and my favorite the ice skating simulator.

The ice skating simulator is very enjoyable (if you haven't eaten too much before taking a ride), you start spinning and the straighter you stand the faster you spin to slow down you push your arms straight and you will slow down.

This place is very enjoyable for me as coming from New Zealand winter sports like these are not played (Ice hockey is a very small sport in New Zealand). Out side of the museum they had snow rides organized for kids and a faster ride which involved walking a small way up the ski jump landing ramp and sliding down in tractor tyre inner tubes, you can gather quite a bit of speed.

Entry to the museum is 600¥ and it is open from 9.30am to 5.00pm all year round. 

New Zealand Cafe Kia Ora ( In Sapporo, Japan)

In the weekend I went and visited a friend of mine ( Mr Kubo Masashi ) who has recently opened a Hokey Pokey Ice Cream shop/cafe. The top photo is my favorite mix it is New Zealand Hokey Pokey covered with cashew nuts, sliced banana, and chocolate sauce. He has other toppings also such as mango, wild berries, and honey.

The shop is only open on Saturday and Sunday from 10.30am - 5.00pm, he is also starting to sell sandwiches, everything is very reasonably priced the ice cream shown above costs 350¥ , and if you have young children or would like a smaller serving he is more than happy to help.

He offers a very friendly service and it is great to get a taste from back home, I am a regular visitor in the summer with my family. If you have time and enjoy Ice cream I recommend you make a visit. It is located right beside the Teine police station off route 5

Below is a link to the New Zealand Kiaora Cafe

札幌市手稲区富丘1条4丁目2　手稲警察署横

土曜祝日のみ営業　10:30-17:00

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sapporo+japan,++teine+koban&sll=43.099667,141.26431&sspn=0.016294,0.032959&ie=UTF8&ll=43.108162,141.252374&spn=0.002193,0.005037&z=18

今週末、私は最近オープンしたホーキーポーキーアイスとカフェの店を経営する友人のクボマサシさんのお店を訪問してきました。
トップの写真は、ニュージーランドホーキーポーキーアイスにスライスしたバナナを乗せ、チョコレートソースとカシューナッツをかけた私のお気に入りのミックスです。
他にも、マンゴー・ワイルドベリー・ハチミツなどのトッピングもあります。
このお店は、土曜日と日曜日と祝日の午前10時30分から午後5時まで開店しています。アイスクリームのお値段も350円とお手ごろで、サンドイッチも販売しています。
小さいお子さんにはサービスもしてくれます。
彼は素晴らしい家庭的な味と、とてもフレンドリーなサービスを提供しています。
私は、毎年夏には必ず家族と訪れています。
みなさんもお時間があればKia Ora（キアオラ）を訪れ、アイスクリームを食べる事をお勧めします。
お店は手稲警察署の右横にあります。
下のリンクはニュージーランドカフェKiaOra（キアオラ）へのアクセスです。

Big and Small Honey Jars

When you are eating honey regularly or have found your favorite flavor, this requires that you have enough to get you through the week. This is why we have two different sized jars one is 120g which is suitable for a cup of tea or coffee every once in a while, cooking purposes, cheese and crackers etc. The next size up is 450g which is great for honey on toast at breakfast time and regular honey eaters or people with children  as I find with two kids we go through a lot of honey in one week.

In Japan people don't usually eat a lot of honey at breakfast time or in large amounts during the day, normally it is eaten or added as a sweetener to yogurt (which is very tasty) or a marinade to meat etc.

In New Zealand our family quite often had honey on toast for breakfast and being one of four children and each one having a couple of slices of toast each it made sense to buy a larger jar of honey.

At Twenty-Twenty Imports we sell large jars of Pohutukawa, Rewarewa, Manuka, Kamahi you can find these at our website:  http://www.twenty-twenty-imports.com

みなさんがハチミツをとても好きで、毎日食べると120gの小さい瓶だとすぐになくなってしまいますので、120gと450gの大きいサイズの二種類があります。120gのサイズはたまに紅茶やコーヒー、料理、チーズやクラッカーに使う方に向いています。
450gのビンは毎朝トーストにハチミツを使う方やハチミツが好きな方、お子さんがおられる方に向いています。
私は二人の子供がいるので、私たちの家庭ではこの大きい瓶が一週間ほどでなくなってしまいます。
日本の方々は朝食であまりたくさんのハチミツを食べないので、そんなにすぐにはなくならないでしょう。
普通、ハチミツはヨーグルトに甘味として加えたり、肉をマリネにする時などに使うと、とてもおいしいです。
ニュージーランドで、私の家族は四人の兄弟姉妹それぞれが朝食でハチミツをつけたパンを二枚ずつ重ねてたべていましたので、
いつも大きいビンのハチミツを買わなければいけませんでした。
Twenty-Twenty Imports のウェブサイトでは、ポフツカワ・レワレワ・マヌカ・カマヒの大きいサイズのビンも販売しております。

New Zealand Wild Honey In Japan: New Zealands Largest Pohutukawa Tree

New Zealand Wild Honey In Japan: New Zealands Largest Pohutukawa Tree

New Zealands Largest Pohutukawa Tree

This Pohutukawa tree is located in a small town called Te Araroa and it is said to be the largest in New Zealand it has 22 trunks and is estimated at over 600 years old.

Te Araroa ( means long pathway in english) is located on the most Easterly point of the North Island, 175Km North of Gisborne. This place is very close to the International Dateline so if you are able to see the sunrise here you will be one of the first people to see the sun rise for that particular day.

This photo of the tree was taken by Sarah Dwyer she graduated from the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland ( Marine Biology )

The pohutukawa tree was used as a decoration by early settlers to New Zealand, when the pohutukawa tree blossomed it was used to decorate their home at Christmas time, regarding it as a New Zealand replacement for holly, which lead to the name of Christmas tree.

The pohutukawa tree was also utilized as timber for ship building as the wood is extremely hard ( scientific name Metrosideros Excelsa , from the Greek word, meaning ironwood). In the early days of New Zealands coloniztion boatloads of pohutukawa timber were exported, which drastically depleted the magnificent trees .

The leaves and bark of the pohutukawa tree were used for a variety of medicinal purposes by the maori people, also early settlers drank a concoction of inner bark of the pohutukawa tree to cure dysentry.

Now this beautiful tree is also used to produce beautiful honey, you can purchase some at

http://twenty-twenty-imports.com

Tiki

The Tiki is a symbol from the Maori people of New Zealand, there are many stories about the tiki it is respected as the teacher of all things and the wearer of this symbol is therefore seen to possess clarity of thought, loyalty, great inner knowledge and strength of character.

The tilted head symbolizes thinking, the hand is strength, the mouth is communication, the heart is love and the loins are fertility.

This tiki is carved from Greenstone or Jade ( Maori name is Ponaumu ). Jade is normally found in the  crystal clear rivers of the South Island in New Zealand . It is extremely hard (nephrite jade). The Tiki is often given as a gift and in the past was used to seal important agreements. 

TIKI（ティキ）

 

ティキとはマオリ族のシンボルとされ、多くの伝説が残されているものです。

ティキは明快さ・忠誠心・内なる叡智・力を備えた導師のようなキャラクターです。

かしげた首は思考、手は強さ、口はコミュニケーション、心臓は愛、腰は肥沃を象徴します。

ティキはジェイド（マオリ語でポナウム）から彫られます。

通常、ジェイドはニュージーランド南島のとても綺麗な川で見つけられます。ネフライトジェイドとも呼ばれ、とても硬度の高い石としても知られています。

ティキはプレゼントとしてもよく贈られ、過去には重要な協定を結ぶ際に使用されました。

 

ジェイド　翡翠

Tokyu Department Demonstration

Hello everyone,  merry christmas and a happy new year to you all.

On Friday the 16th of January I had the opportunity to do a display in Tokyu Department Store in the Health Department on B1 on the Food Floor. Tokyu is Celebrating it's 35th year of Business and is one of the Major Department stores in Sapporo.

As my Japanese is not very good I needed some help , my work mate Yoko kindly helped me out for the day.

The food hall was pretty busy, with lots of interest in the honey display and plenty of people tried my New Zealand Wild Honey, many people were impressed with the different creamy types of honey.

The Tokyu Department Food Hall is very different to what you see  in other European countries, the variety of sea food is amazing along with other traditional Japanese snacks and everyday food. The reason people shop in these department stores is because of the great variety, high quality products, and a high level of service which makes for an enjoyable shopping experience.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to sell my product in Tokyu department store as the customers who shop here are looking to buy quality products which I believe New Zealand Wild Honey is.

みなさん、こんにちは。　メリークリスマスそして新年明けましておめでとうございます。

１月１６日の金曜日に東急百貨店の地下にある健康食品コーナーのフロアで催事を行いました。

東急百貨店は、今年35周年を迎える札幌の主要なデパートの一つです。

私は日本語があまり得意ではありませんので、今回は仕事仲間の洋子さんに催事を手伝ってもらいました。

健康食品のホールではハチミツへの関心がとても高く、たくさんの人々にクリーミーなワイルドハニーを試食していただきました。

東急百貨店はヨーロッパの国々のデパートとは品揃えがまったく異なり、海の幸や日本の伝統的なスナック類の多さに驚かされました。

東急百貨店は顧客に質の高い製品とサービスを提供するレベルの高いデパートとして知られています。

私は東急百貨店のお客様にニュージーランドのワイルドハニーを提供できたことに感謝しています。