[Suetsugu Shokai in Kyowa] Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake with More than 110 Years Old Is Slightly Sweet and Very Soft

Suetsugu Shokai

Hakuyoken Suetsugu Shokai (伯洋軒 末次商会) is a long-establsihed Japanese confectionery store near Kozawa Station (小沢駅) in Kozawa, Kyowa town, Niseko rooted in Shakotan Peninsula, and is famous for selling Kozawa's local specialty "Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake (トンネル餅)". The Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake is made in commemoration of the completion of Inaho Tunnel (稲穂トンネル) for Hakodate Main Line with great difficulty construction by Mr. Kyutaro Nishimura (西村久太郎), the founder, in 1904. This is the longtime seller Japanese confectionery with more than 110 years. By the way, a son of Mr. Kyutaro Nishimura is Mr. Keiyu Nishimura (西村計雄), a Japanese painter, and Keiyu Nishimura Memory Museum (西村計雄記念美術館) is also built in the Kyowa town.

The store with an atomosphere such as a cafe is not large. Counter seats and table seats are provided at the store, but I guess that they do not serve meals. By the way, the store is used as a shooting place for It's Tough Being a Man Bokyo version (男はつらいよ 望郷編).

Shakotan Peninsula

Shakotan Peninsula (積丹半島) is a peninsula located in the northwestern part of Otaru city, and has been designated as Niseko-Shakotan-Otaru Kaigan Quasi-National Park (ニセコ積丹小樽海岸国定公園) because of a precious complicated coastline with steep cliffs. The sea of the Shakotan is very beautiful, and looks clear blue, so everybody call Shakotan Blue (シャコタンブルー). A traffic used to be inconvenient in the old days, and tourists rarely visited here. People are easy to access the Shakotan Peninsula as well as Shiretoko Peninsula (知床半島) at present, but it is called an unexplored region because it would not develop very much. Read More

NISEKO

Niseko (ニセコ) is the general term for towns and villages around Mt. Yotei (羊蹄山) in the southwestern part of Sapporo city, and contains Niseko town (ニセコ町), Kutchan town (倶知安町), Kyogoku town (京極町), Makkari village (真狩村), Kimobetsu town (喜茂別町), Kyowa town (共和町), Rankoshi town (蘭越町) and Iwanai town (岩内町). The Niseko means "A river in a gorge" in Ainu language, and the origin of the word is Niseko Anbetsu River (ニセコアンベツ川). In a winter, skiing and snowboarding can be enjoyed, and rafting along Shiribetsu River (尻別川) can be enjoyed in a summer. It is one of the features that the Niseko has various nature such as the Mt. Yotei, Shinsen-numa Swamp (神仙沼) and Oyunuma Pond (大湯沼). In addition, tasty water from the Mt. Yotei and tasty ingredients are abundant. In a spring, cherry blossoms can be enjoyed, summer activities and nature can be enjoyed in a summer, fall foliage can be enjoyed in an autumn, and winter activities can be enjoyed in a winter, so tourists can enjoy the nature of Hokkaido including various onsen and tasty foods in Niseko throughout the year. Read More

Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake

I visited here around 14:00 on a weekday. 6 Tunnel-mochi Rice Cakes piled up on a counter were sold for JPY 400 per a pack. Except the Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake, something like snacks and key rings of Kozawa Station were sold. An owner and his mother were at the store, and I chatted with them, and they were very kind.

I bought a pack of the Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake. Since I was there, I decided to move to Kozawa Station related to the Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake to eat those. 8 beautiful white Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake were in a box with thin sheet of woods. I supposed that those mochi cakes did not stay good for more days without using food additive and food preservative.

A sliced of the Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake with light green and light pink lines was slightly sweet, and was very soft. This was not an ordinary rice cake, and I felt the texture like a thin skin rice cake of Yukimi Daifuku (雪見だいふく), a famosu mochi ice cream, and it was very tasty! The sweetness was not too much, so I ate those up soon. Thanks for the tasty Tunnel-mochi Rice Cake!

List of Accommodations

Refer to following websites for the accommodations in the Kyowa. You can get information regarding online reviews and photos.