Tobetsu Festivals

Hina Doll Festival

Around the end of February/beginning of March, all the shops in the town display hanging hand made Hina Dolls. The Hina Doll Festival, or to give it its full title "The Hina Dolls Awaiting Spring in the North" (春待つ北のひな飾り), is a quaint festival that sees the town transformed into a sea of dolls.

Midsommar

Tobetsu town's connection with Sweden stems from a Swedish Ambassador's remark as to the similarity in terrain and climate of the Tobetsu area to Sweden. On the very spot he remarked this, the construction of the Sweden Hills village began in 1984.

The residents take a great interest in Swedish culture, even learning Swedish language and doing Fika. However, the biggest event of the year is their Midsommar Festival (夏至祭) which is usually around June. Dressing up in traditional Swedish clothes, there is maypole dancing, and people from all over the Tobetsu area to witness and take part in the spectacle.

Flax Festival

With a local bus running regularly, festival goers can visit the beautiful fields of purple flax flowers, where there are lots of photo opportunities. There is also a popular singing competition of the Japanese song "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" (亜麻色の髪の乙女). You can also learn how to extract fibres from flax and use it to sew fabric.

Local Produce Festival

This festival is held in a square right next to the station. It is a showcase of all the local shops; they all have stalls and sell cheap and tasty food. It is a cheerful local festival and everyone gets involved; there is comedy, live music, and there are also funfair games for children.

There is a raffle, shaved ice, and everyone in the town comes out and sits chatting and enjoying the music and food. It is a classic Japanese countryside town festival and a great way to experience the town's community.

Tobetsu Fireworks Festival

On a warm summer evening, usually around early/mid August, friends, families and couples, gathering to drink cold beer and watch the fireworks. Last year there were over 4000 fireworks! It is a fun festival with chilled out but fun atmosphere.

It is one of the best fireworks shows in Hokkaido and the decision to combine it with beer stalls has only boosted its popularity. Highly recommend.

Tobetsu Shrine Festival

This is the big one! People carry floats in a procession and there are food and drinks stalls staffed by people from the temple. The August festival is celebrated over a few days, with the Fireworks festival marking the start of festivities.

Night Park

This Tobetsu Festival is rather simple: drinking some beers and eating outdoors. The streets are transformed with a festive buzz; there is entertainment like local magicians, comedians and music. The streets are filled with seating and stalls.

It is not a massive festival, but it is one all the locals look forward to as an excuse to spend an autumn dusk in good company.

Tobetsu Ekiden

An Ekiden is a multi-stage long-distance relay competition. The Tobetsu Ekiden goes all around the town and is very fun to watch and cheer on. Different schools and teams compete to win, so it's fun to pick a team to root for.

This usually takes place around the end of September, which is a great time to visit Hokkaido: neither too hot nor too cold. There are stalls selling food and drinks for spectators.

Tobetsu-Sweden Marathon

For those wanting to do a Marathon in Japan, or specifically a Hokkaido Marathon, the Tobetsu Marathon is perfect. It is a scenic route that goes through local mountains and nature reserves. For spectators, there are great food and drinks stalls to celebrate the occasion.

Because it is in October, it is a Marathon in which you can see the Momiji (red leaves of autumn) as you run. The route also goes round Tobetsu's very unique Sweden Hills area.

CornFest

This new Autumn festival takes place in late September and celebrates one of the town's biggest crops: corn. It features a corn eating competition (judged both based on speed of eating and whether there is any corn left on the cob), arts and crafts, and the opportunity to learn the different corn cooking methods favoured in Hokkaido (fried, boiled and, of course, BBQ corn).

This festival takes places on a local farm easily accessible by regular buses or by car. There will, of course, be lots of corn ice cream, Hokkaido's signature unique ice cream flavour.

St Lucia Festival

Led by the local Swedish Center Foundation in Sweden Hills, this Swedish traditional festival highlights the historic relationship between Tobetsu and Sweden. The festival features baked goods (like Swedish Fika), and processions of singing children.

It takes place around mid December.

Yuki Matsuri

The Tobetsu Snow Festival (あそ雪の広場) is, in our (biased) opinion, even better than the main Hokkaido Snow Festival, the Sapporo Yuki Matsuri. It is, admittedly a bit smaller scale, but it features great snow sculptures of Tobetsu's town emblem, the owl, snow slides, and, of course, lots of tasty local food stalls.

It is probably the most popular festival in Tobetsu, and people flock from across the country to experience Tobetsu's beautiful and powdery snow.