JTB Monitor Tour course C : Konbu (kelp) Factory in Rausu, Hokkaido

Konbu farm under the Sea of Okhostk
(picture taken from Okhostk Ryuhyo Museum)

This is another post about one of the spots I visited during the JTB Monitor Tour course C to Shiretoko and Abashiri areas, Hokkaido.

If you are interested to read about the other spots, 

please check this link:

Kiyosato Shochu (japanese sake) Brewery, Hokkaido

Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum, Abashiri, Hokkaido

JTB, well-known Japanese travel agency and one of the largest travel agencies in the world, conducted 7 kinds of 2-3 days guided tour packages to various places around Hokkaido for foreigners, and they are like almost free. Foreigners who wanted to participate had to apply and choose for a course depending on where and when they wanted to go. There were a lot of people applied, of course, and I was quite lucky to get a place ! ^^

The website of JTB Hokkaido is here (sorry, it seems everything is in Japanese).

I was really looking forward into going to Shiretoko and Abashiri areas because I think I have been in most of Hokkaido's famous spots, except Shiretoko, Abashiri, and Wakkanai. Therefore, we chose one of the furthest courses, Shiretoko and Abashiri. Shiretoko national park is a UNESCO world heritage, and Abashiri area is famous for its drift ice and old prison. I always want to go there but the timing was always not right.

Anyway, this time we visited Konbu Factory in Rausu town.
It was a good experience going to this konbu farm. I didn't have any idea about konbu and how the real konbu might look like. Earlier I also thought konbu is the same with seaweed but it seems it is not. I remember during my spring trip to Hakodate I was offered to try dry konbu in Hakodate Fish Market but I thought it was dry seaweed. I was surprised that it really tastes like sea water and like so impossible to bite, hehe. 

Tons of konbu waiting to be sorted and packed

First of all, what is konbu?

Konbu, or kelp, is one of the sea vegetables widely consumed in Japan. It is one of the main basic dashi (basic japanese broth) ingredients that rich in iodine, a mineral that is very essential for growth and development. In addition, konbu is also rich of vitamins and dietary fiber. In Japan konbu is considered as a symbol for good luck from long time ago.


They said that one whole piece of konbu may worth 10000 yen (around USD 120 or 91 euros) in touristic places! So expensive huh ?! o.O When we left, they gave us some konbu as souvenirs. It still remains in my souvenir boxes because I still haven't had time to check on what to do with it and how to do it properly.

packed konbu ready for delivery

konbu waiting to be packed

It was surprising to see how big and long one piece of konbu is. If you see the picture of Javier holding the konbu below, you will believe that the average of konbu is longer than my height!
______ ______ !

Javier holding 20000 yen worth of konbu ^^

According to this very informative article about konbu, a total of 120,000 tons of konbu is produced every year within the country and 95% of that amount is gathered along the coastal lines of Hokkaido. There are 14 genus and 45 different species of Konbu in Japan, but the popular kinds sent to Kansai are Ma-konbu, Rishiri-konbu and Raus-konbu. Ma-konbu is gathered in southern Hokkaido along the cities of Hakodate to Muroran and rishiri-konbu in nothern Hokkaido along the coastal line of the Okhotsk Sea from Rishiri-Rebun Island to Abashiri, while raus-konbu is gathered in eastern Hokkaido along the Shiretoko Peninsula.

During our stay in this amazing Shiretoko Daiichi Hotel on the second day, I had the chance to try ume-konbu (japanese plum-konbu) tea since there were some tea bags provided in the room.

ume-konbu tea

Hm... I would say that it is not my favourite, hehe. It might be because I'm not used to tea with salty taste. It tasted a bit like soup to me.. hehe. However, it seems konbu tea is very popular in Japan. Being rich in trace minerals, konbu tea can also be used to add taste for cooking.