Chinese Tourists in Hokkaidō

choi

AnNa Fifield, In Japan, Chinese Tourists Are a Welcome boost — If a Loud, Messy One. Washington Post, Feb 20, 2015.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/asi ... f3918d4b_story.html

Quote:

"Chinese tourists come to Japan for the sushi and for the shopping. But increasingly, they’re also coming for one thing that money can’t buy: fresh air.

"in winter, about half the Chinese tourists visiting Japan go to Hokkaido

"One of the draws for Chinese tourists is the decline in value of the Japanese yen, which once made the country prohibitively expensive. 'The taxis and the food are a little bit more expensive than China — maybe 20 percent more expensive — but everything else is about the same,' said Yuan Xiang of Shanghai, who was spending all of his first visit to Japan in Hokkaidō, most of it skiing.


Note:
(1) "Over the previous two weeks, the Xu family [from Guangzhou] had been to outdoor hot springs, taken an ice-breaker ship along the frozen coast and spotted some of the island’s famous wild red-crowned cranes."
(a) The ice-breaker that doubles as a cruiser is Garinko-go-II (the second Garinko-go; Japanese: ガリンコ号II). Its official website (in Japanese only) is
www.garinko.com/
, where you click the blue round icon "Winter" and see drift ice 流氷, not solid ice.
(b) Monbetsu 紋別市, Hokkaidō
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monbetsu,_Hokkaido
(An icebreaker, the Garinko II, departs from nearby and makes regular sightseeing cruises through the drift ice during the winter)

(2) "He Wenfan, of the Japan Tourism Board’s Chinese-language Web site"

Japan Tourism Board is not a proper name, which should be Japan National Tourist Organization  国際観光振興機構
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_National_Tourism_Organization
(JNTO; a government agency o Japan)

(3) "Last week, they [Chinese tourists] came in droves to Sapporo, Hokkaido’s capital, for the city’s snow festival さっぽろ雪まつり, where Japan’s underemployed soldiers had built massive sculptures * * * out of blocks of ice. * * * Connie Tsoi and her husband came to Sapporo to see the snow festival. "
(a) underemployed (adj)
(i) : "having a job that does not use your skills" (simplified definition)
: "having less than full-time, regular, or adequate employment" (standard definition)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/underemployed
(ii) underemployed (adj): "(of a person) not having enough paid work or not doing work that makes full use of their skills and abilities"
www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/underemployed
(b) Tsoi
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsoi
(may also be an alternative spelling of Cai (surname), a Chinese surname, in Cantonese pronunciation)

"Choi" is almost identical to the Cantonese pronunciation--not "Tsoi."

(4) "Hokkaido’s ski resorts of Rusutsu and Niseko"
(a) Rusutsu, Abuta District, Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaidō  (北海道 後志総合振興局 虻田郡) 留寿都村

is the largest ski resort in Hokkaidō.
(i) A village whose 2014 population was 1,91, Rusutsu contains three mountains for skiing, the highest of which is 994m.
(ii) The entire Hokkaidō is a prefecture 県, one of 47 in Japan. "From April 2010, Hokkaido has 9 General Subprefectural Bureaus 総合振興局 and 5 Subprefectural Bureaus 振興局. [they are in parallel, together under the direct authority of governor 知事]"
Hokkaido
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkaido
(section 3 Sub prefectures: map)
(b) Niseko ニセコ(町)--also within 虻田郡
(c) The names Rusutsu and Niseko are Ainu language, each with its own meaning (according to ja.wikipedia.org).

(5) "Of all the visitors, the Japan Tourism Agency [(JTA) 観光庁; under Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism 国土交通省] estimates that Chinese tourists are the biggest spenders. * * * about $2,000 each.
(6) "Tokie SHIMOMURA 下村, a tourist desk volunteer in Sapporo"

(7) "In 'Ramen Alley,' a narrow strip of tiny restaurants here [Sapporo, were the news is dispatched], Chinese tourists come to slurp up bowls of Sapporo’s special noodle soup, which comes with a large square of butter sitting on top of a mound of corn."
(a) Ramen Alley  ラーメン横丁
plus.google.com/102668491306304895138/about?gl=us&hl=en
(i) ラーメン is katakana pronounced "ramen."
(ii) Japanese English dictionary
yokochō 横丁; 横町 【よこちょう】 (n): "bystreet; side street; back street; alley; lane"
The "yoko" is Japanese pronunciation of kanji 横--and chō, Chinese pronunciation of 丁.
(b) "Sapporo’s special noodle soup, which comes with a large square of butter sitting on top of a mound of corn"

Search images.google.com with (ラーメン横丁 buter corn)--mp quoattion marks--and you will see there is, in addition, a piece of pork and ramen noodle. Its Japanese name is just that: miso butter corn ramen 味噌バターコーンラーメン (often, but not always, preceded with miso, an ingredient)