You are in a foreign country, driving your rental car through the hinterlands. You’re hungry, but you haven’t seen a restaurant or grocery store all day. In the small villages you pass, there don’t seem to be any restaurants, or if there are, you can’t easily spot them because you can’t read the local signs saying “Restaurant” or “Good Food Here”. In such cases, travelers must figure out where to purchase food that is safe to eat.
We recently visited Japan on our way to China to attend a conference and decided to see a part of the country that many tourists, and even some Japanese, have not seen. Hokkaido is Japan’s northernmost island with many natural areas, often remote and rugged. The best way to see Hokkaido is by car (in the summer only), but we’ve discovered that it’s not always easy to find places to eat while on the road. There are plenty of restaurants in the larger cities such as Sapporo or Kushiro, but the drive to some of the national parks and wilderness areas will pass through dense forests, farmland, and small towns with few options for dining.
You can always shop at a grocery store and carry the food in an ice chest. Also, you might find a small restaurant in towns with a tourist attraction. On our first day of driving, we ate at a great soba noodle place (Nabekyu) in Akan-Kohan, a village with several tourist attractions (gift shops, parks) on Lake Akan (known for strange algal balls that form in the lake). These were some of the best soba noodles we’ve tasted anywhere. The only problem was that the restaurant did not take credit cards, a situation we later encountered in a number of places. When the bill was presented to us at our table, Irv showed the man his credit card, which prompted a rapid shake of the head and a frown. We tallied up our cash, but it was about 200 yen ($2.00) short. Irv looked hopefully at the man, thinking he might accept this amount. But no such luck. No one in the place spoke English, so Irv indicated by pantomime that he would go to get some cash. I stayed behind, conspicuously seated at our table. The man (who seemed to be the owner) kept glancing at me. I fidgeted a while, then started reading a book on my iPhone so I wouldn’t have to look up. After about 20 minutes, I began to get worried. Would we have to wash dishes? Go beg on the street for a few coins? Finally, I spotted Irv through the window, walking toward the restaurant. I tried to determine by his body language whether he was successful or not. The first ATM he tried did not work, but after wandering around found an ATM at the post office (all post offices seem to have ATMs). We paid our bill and scuttled out.
Because finding a restaurant was hit or miss, we looked for alternatives. We found two.
The easiest way to eat on the road is to purchase food at a convenience store. I would never do this in the U.S. and some other countries, but in Japan, you can be sure the food is safe to eat. There are several chains, including 7-Eleven, Seicomart, and Lawsons. The 7-Eleven stores stock pre-made sandwiches and cold lunch boxes, and some offer hot items. All packaged foods have a sell-by date, making it easy to select something fresh. My favorite was a ham, cheese, and lettuce sandwich with wasab
i mayonnaise, carefully enclosed in a triangular, clear package that was easy to open via a pull tab. Judging by the numbers of cars that pulled up to these convenience stores while we shopped, they are very popular with locals.
The other option is to eat at a cafeteria. All of the national parks we visited had a visitor center and a cafeteria. Also, some rest areas had cafes. The procedure for ordering was at first quite mysterious to us. We could see the kitchen where the staff was preparing food and the area with tables and chairs for dining. But people did not seem to be going up to the counter to order. Finally, we noticed what looked like a vending machine with pictures of food and prices (see photos below). As we were standing there looking confused, an elderly couple came over and asked if we needed help. They walked us through the process. First, we picked our food selection from a poster with pictures (or descriptions in English) of the food items and prices. Each one had an order number associated with it. Next, we dropped coins into the vending machine and pushed the button corresponding to our selection. A ticket dropped into the tray. We took the ticket to the kitchen counter and handed it to one of the staff. Then we sat and waited for a few minutes.
Japanese vending machine used to order food in a cafeteria-style restaurant.
When our order was ready, the staff called out our number (which we didn’t understand). The elderly couple waved at us to go up and collect our food.
Once we figured out how to use these vending machines, we searched out places that had them because it made ordering much easier. Also, the service was much quicker; we usually had to wait no more than ten or fifteen minutes—great if you are in a hurry. Food choices were varied, with both hot and cold items. At the Shiretoko National Park, we had venison burgers and fries. At the Toya volcanic park, we had hot soba noodles in a clear broth and a pork and rice dish. At a rest stop on the way to Sapporo, we had cold soba noodles with tempura shrimp; there was also a great shop with delicious pastries, which we got for the road.
Rest stop on Hokkaido.
By the way, all of the toilets in rest areas and gas stations we stopped at were spotless with the usual high-tech commode and even a booster seat for small children to sit while the parent uses the facilities.
Toilet in a rest area on Hokkaido
Wines and Wetlands 