What Does It Say? Discover the Hidden "Cow Pattern" Letters in Hokkaido's Dairy Town|Domingo

What Does It Say? Discover the Hidden "Cow Pattern" Letters in Hokkaido's Dairy Town

About 40km south of Japan's northernmost JR station, Wakkanai, along the Soya Main Line, lies the town of Toyotomi, the focus of our story. Surrounded by the Sarobetsu Plain, one of Japan's three major wetlands, this town is famous for Toyotomi Onsen, selected as one of Japan's 100 best hot springs. X user Mizutama (@hanatama0415) introduced a "little mystery" on the pedestrian overpass at JR Toyotomi Station. Can you solve this puzzle?

The pedestrian overpass at Toyotomi Station...
...Can you see it?

The words "Toyotomi" and "Sarobetsu"
are written in a cow pattern...

Pedestrian overpass with a cow pattern Pedestrian overpass with a cow pattern

From a post by @hanatama0415

Cow Pattern Lettering Unique to a Dairy Town

It's hard to notice at first glance, but if you look closely at the cow pattern, you can indeed see the words "とよとみ" (Toyotomi) and "さろべつ" (Sarobetsu)! Toyotomi is a town whose key industry is dairy farming. Pasture-based dairy farming is practiced on 13,000 hectares of grassland. The milk sold at Seicomart is also from Toyotomi. This explains the deep connection to dairy farming and cows. We asked Mizutama, who posted about it, for their thoughts!

QWhen did you notice that it said "Toyotomi" and "Sarobetsu"?

I happened to notice it last month when I used Toyotomi Station. I thought maybe it was a subtle promotion, but I also felt they could have promoted it more enthusiastically.

QWhen you think of Toyotomi, you think of milk. What's your favorite?

I buy Seicomart's Toyotomi Milk! I put it in my coffee every day to make café au lait.

QWhat do you recommend about Toyotomi?

I recommend Toyotomi Onsen and the Sarobetsu Venison's deer meat jingisukan (grilled meat dish)! You can even eat the deer meat jingisukan at some of the day-trip onsen facilities, so please give it a try!

Onsen, Deer Meat Jingisukan, and More!

Toyotomi Onsen

Toyotomi Onsen, also known as Japan's northernmost hot spring village, is so famous that people come from all over Japan and even from overseas for its unique, oily water, which is said to have healing properties. With its deer meat jingisukan and Seicomart's Toyotomi Milk, Toyotomi Town has so much to offer. We hope you'll visit!

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