Before coming to this town, the only thing I knew about Ogawara (大河原町) is that it’s famous for the cherry blossom sightseeing in April. It is said that only 40 minutes by train south from Sendai Station, cherry blossom festival in Ogawara is one of the best kept secrets of Tohoku area.
Since it is raining heavily today, and the season is too early for the cherry blossom, I didn’t expect to see anything interesting in Ogawara. But Tohoku area never fail to surprise me, I found many wonderful things in Ogawara -machi.
Ogawara is located in south-central Miyagi Prefecture. The Shiroishi River runs through the town. The town was established in 1889 with the establishment of the municipalities system. Today’s Ogawara was part of ancient Mutsu Province.
Because Ogawara is so famous for cheery blossom, the elements of sakura can be seen everywhere in Ogarawa.
とんとんの丘 もちぶた館 – The No.1 Recommended Place in Ogawara
The Tonton Nooka Fun Farm (とんとんの丘) of Hill’s Enterprise is the No.1 recommended place in Ogawara. Although it’s called a farm, this place is much much more than just a farm.
The Tonton Nooka Fun Farm has the best hot spring in Ogawara. In its facility called “Iiyu (いい湯)”, there are several different kinds of hot spring.
The Iiyu SPA Resort is a top grade healthy SPA with history: over the past hundreds of years, it is the most favorite relaxing place for local people.
The interior decoration is quite luxury, so is their intimate service.
When you get near the Iiyu SPA Resort, you can actually smell the Sulphur in the air. This is because the Iiyu has the best source of hot spring water directly from underground.
The hot spring outside is very unique, and it’s extremely delightful to enjoy the hot spring in cold rain.
The Tonton Nooka Fun Farm also has a large Animal Amusement Park, where you get to see all kinds of animals and experience out-door activities.
Those rabbits are very cute, when I get near, they all gather around me as if I am part of them.
This horse seems to be quite lonely. As I walked by, he stared at me using his special “solitary” eye expressions.
The antelope area is also quite fun, today I watched two antelopes fight with each other.There are other kinds of cute animals, in fact, the Animal Amusement Park inside the Tonton Nooka Fun Farm is better than most of the zoo I have been to.
Tonton Nooka Fun Farm is also famous for its fresh meat.
People can buy fresh-cut meat from the farm, and enjoy an in-door barbeque just near the shop.
After enjoying Ramen and Soba for lunch for so many days, the barbeque at Tonton Nooka Fun Farm is really quite unforgettable.
The address of とんとんの丘 is as follows.
中央通り商店街 and the Neighborhoods – A Paradise of Hand-Made Art Crafts
The Ogawara Central Commercial Street and its surrounding streets are famous for the hand-made artworks.
You can find different sorts of diaphanous exquisite Japanese craftworks and cloths here.
This woolen-made rabbit is quite interesting. It reminds me of the rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Most of those craft shops have a history of more than 100 years.
There are also many Tatami workshops in Ogarawa. Among them the 曡屋道场 is the best of the best.
The Tatami is so meticulously made that it can hold water on the surface.
Ogawara’s 菓子工房 – The Taste of Cheery Blossoms
Ogawara has many pastry shops, it is so common that you can easily find one on the street, but they all have different products with totally different tastes.
The pastry products are usually cute in appearance and they are very colorful.
Just like the craftworks in Ogawara, most pastry dishes are hand-made inside the pastry shop.
The pastry maker has to be not only skillful, but also artistic.
I decide to go to Ogawara again in cherry seasons, not just to see the Sakura, but to experience many other things I don’t have enough time to experience within one rainy day.
In a nutshell, walking in Ogawara is fun for the entire neighborhoods of Ogawara are artistic and have the atmosphere of humanism.
