Japan Diaries 4: Day 299

Japan Diaries 4: Day 299

Day 299: August 27, 2022

Saturday – 8/27 Family Road Trip

It’s another weekend. It only means one thing, I’m off on another road trip with my family. For this adventure, we plan to go on another overnight camping to Sorachi Sub-prefecture.

One of the beautiful roads in Uryu


We left our home in Rumoi City at around 8AM. For this trip, we used the Rumoi Interchange for the first time. This also meant that we finally got to drive over the 50-speed limit for the first time. My wife seemed to have loved and hated it at the same time. She enjoyed driving faster but also hated the feeling that she was an inconvenience to other drivers because she still drives following the speed limit while others drive a little over that and tend to catch up to us. The funny thing was we had to pull over a few times so that they could overtake us.

Uryu Roadside Station

25th Anniversary standee of Uryu Roadside Station

Kyoun Tsujii Gallery


Our first destination is the town of Uryu (雨竜町). The town is famous for its rice. We did a stopover at the Uryu Roadside Station formally called Roadside Station Den-en-no-Sato Uryu. We were in luck as it was the 25th Anniversary of the roadside station. We received a 300-gram rice packet for free. We also didn’t miss playing with the claw machine inside the roadside station. What makes it unique is that instead of towns those who play can actually get a packet of premium rice. Luck was probably really on our side as my wife got to get a packet of rice.

Uryu Shrine Torii gate

Uryu Shrine

From there, we went to the Uryu Shrine to pay respects and offer some prayers. Part of the #Hokkaido179 objective is to visit the town shrine and also take a photo of the distinct manhole cover of the town, village, or city. That’s why after we visited the shrine, I walked around a bit to look for the unique manhole cover of Uryu before we headed to the next destination.
Shintotsukawa Shrine

Our next stop is the town of Shintotsukawa (新十津川町). Conveniently located along our route on the outskirts of the town was Shintotsukawa Shrine. My daughter and I went to pay respects and offer some personal prayers. 

We then continued to the town proper to visit the Shintotsukawa Town Museum. We learned a lot about the town's history from the museum displays.

 2nd Street Takikawa

 It's shopping time!

Ella's looking for some toys to "rescue"

We didn’t stay too long though, from there, we then drove to Takikawa City (滝川市) which was only a few kilometers away. Takikawa City was home to the 2nd Street Takikawa which is a branch of a popular 2nd hand store here in Japan. It was my wife’s happy time as she shopped for hours.

Takikawa Shrine torii gate

Takikawa Shrine

Back to 2nd Street Takikawa


While my wife was shopping, my daughter and I walked to Takikawa Shrine which was about 750 meters away. We offered some prayers and also paid respects. However, it suddenly rained so we immediately doubled back to 2nd Street Takikawa.

The Nemuro Line going to Takikawa JR Station

Takikawa Tourist Information Center

Inside the Takikawa Tourist Information Center

I got my first manhole cover card: The Takikawa manhole cover card

Takikawa JR Station

The glider display in front of Takikawa JR Station

Takikawa JR Station eki stamp

When the rain subsided, I told my wife that I’d be going to the Takikawa Tourist Information Center and Takikawa JR Station. I didn’t bring my daughter with me just in case it rains again.

Takikawa Roadside Station

Takikawa Nanohana Soft Cream
We tried the nanohana soft cream

My wife and daughter picked me up at Takikawa JR Station after about 30 minutes and then we drove to Takikawa Roadside Station where I got my roadside station stamp for my Hokkaido Roadside Station Stamp Rally.

Takikawa AEON


We bought KFC for dinner

We were planning to go camping in Chippubetsu after but because it rained and we were not ready for waterproofing our camp, we decided to cancel the plan and just drive back home. Before we did we first went to Takikawa AEON to buy and eat dinner as it has a KFC.

Overall, for today’s road trip, we managed to visit 2 new towns and one city. It was fulfilling a one-day road trip. Looking forward to the next road trip.


Location: Japan, 〒073-0031 Hokkaido, Takikawa, Sakaemachi, 4-chōme−9−１ たきかわ観光国際スクエア

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