Dashi Utilized as Tasty Tourism Resource in Shikabe, Hokkaido; Tours Helping Revitalize Locality

By Atsuhito Takahashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

2:05 JST, February 23, 2025

SHIKABE, Hokkaido — The town of Shikabe in Hokkaido has a thriving fishing industry.

Facing Funka Bay — also called Uchiura Bay — on the east side of the Oshima Peninsula in the southern part of the prefecture, the town boasts local specialty Shirokuchihama kelp, which is the base of an elegant soup stock. Focusing on this top-quality kelp and other seafood that produces dashi broth, the Shikabe Hot Springs Tourism Association plans and operates tours under the title of “dashi tourism” to promote the attractiveness of the area’s fishing industry and food.

Tasuku Kanazawa, 43, a member of the association, took me to a work shed about 1 kilometer away from the Shikabe fishing port. Fisherman Hidekazu Iida, 59, was busy cutting kelp with his wife and son.

It was just before the kelp was shipped, and the seaweed had a strong flavor due to having been dried. The inside of the hut was filled with the aroma of condensed soup stock. “Visitors who come from far away are pleased most of all with the aroma,” Iida said. “I hope they will learn more about the sea and fishing through the tour.”

A cooking experience event was being held by Hama no Kasan (mothers of the beach) at a Michino-eki roadside rest area near the fishing port. Tokiko Yanagisawa, 65, and Asako Yanagisawa, 69, members of the women’s club of the Shikabe fisheries cooperative, were teaching four people from the Philippines — a trading company owner and his family — how to cook freshly landed cod.

“Hold the head and body of the fish with your hands and snap it off. Oh, OK, OK!” Tokiko said as she taught them how to handle the fish.

The menu for the day consisted of miso soup made from kelp stock with sandfish, simmered atka mackerel and cod with a starchy sauce.

“Dashi made from seafood is rare in the Philippines,” the Filipino company owner said. “It’s wonderful that they use dashi for many kinds of dishes in Japan.”

Tokiko said she and Asako enjoy the company of visitors.

In between cooking, Kanazawa took the four visitors outside to warm their manju buns in the steam of a hot spring. “Mt. Hokkaido-Komagatake, which borders the town, is an active volcano that provides blessings while also posing risk of a disaster,” he said. It is said that there are many rocks off the coast of Shikabe due to past eruptions, making it a good fishing ground plentiful with seaweed and fish.

Kanazawa was born in the neighboring city of Hakodate. After working for a resort facility management company in Kanagawa Prefecture, he moved to Shikabe and served as one of the local vitalization cooperators — people designated by the local government to help revitalize depopulated areas — for three years from 2013. He met local women, Hama no Kasan, there and was fascinated by their delicious food and their personalities. He devised a cooking experience to attract tourists, which he then developed into the Dashi Tourism Tour.

In September 2023, an international meeting was held in Hokkaido for “adventure travel,” a type of travel experience popular mainly among wealthy people in Europe and the United States in which small groups have extended stays. The Dashi Tourism Tour in Shikabe was selected as one of the tours to which overseas participants were invited.

Junior and high school students also take the tour on school trips. “The tour, which is rooted in the town’s industry, has been accepted by visitors, and the townspeople welcome communication with them,” Kanazawa said. “We hope the tours will be a catalyst for children to become future leaders in the fishing industry and other fields.”