Milkland Hokkaido Tokyo

Milkland Hokkaido's goal is to bring product from up north, and deliver their "deliciousness" to the Japanese populace. For those who normally don't bother choosing a type of milk, cheese, or butter, they would ask "how about you try out being more particular to Hokkaido-made products today?" (今日から北海道産にこだわってみませんか, kyō kara hokkaidō san ni kodawatte mimasen ka).

Due to Hokkaido's cool climate and wide fields, as well as the loving attitude of dairy farmers there, Hokkaido's milk has become known as a top-class dairy product. Hokkaido farmers aim to create the best environment for their cows, and are proud of how Hokkaido-produced milk is always fresh and tasty.

Mikland Hokkaido → Tokyo's concept comes in three parts: To Eat, To Learn, and To Buy.

For "To Eat" (食べる, taberu), the goal was to create entirely new recipes and dishes using Hokkaido milk and dairy products.

For "To Learn" (学ぶ, manabu), the goal was to organise all sorts of events and release learning materials to the community about the attractiveness of Hokkaido's dairy industry. In the shop, you will find all sorts of monitors playing videos about the ins and outs of Hokkaido's dairy industry. Furthermore, there are workshops where parents and kids can participate in cooking their own products using Hokkaido milk and dairy products, or even take a quiz on Hokkaido's dairy industry.

Lastly, "To Buy" (買う, kau), the shop's retail section offers a wide range of products not just from the major manufacturers in Hokkaido, but also smaller farmers who usually wouldn't be able to sell their produce in Tokyo. Currently, they sell over 10 types of milk, and some of these can't be found anywhere else in Tokyo. Furthermore, they also offer natural cheese from cheese makers in Hokkaido, and there are over a 100 different types of cheeses on offer. Besides just dairy products, there are all sorts of other Hokkaido-made products on offer in the shop.

We absolutely love Milkland Hokkaido, because it feels like a showcase of the Japanese dedication to agriculture and taste. To many people, milk is milk, and all milk tastes the same, but Milkland Hokkaido is here to dispel those notions. We can't recommend the milk tasting platter enough, because you can choose three different types of milk from different farms to compare them. If you drank all of them separately, you might not be able to identify the difference well, but having them all together you can taste the subtle differences in richness, sweetness, and texture. We've also found that different people have different definitions of what they consider as "good milk". For some of us, it's having a good creaminess, sweetness, and milky taste, while for others, it's to have a clean aftertaste.

Not many places in Japan let you experience Hokkaido milk as much as Milkland Hokkaido does, and especially as tourists, you aren't going to go to a supermarket to buy a carton of milk to try it. So Milkland Hokkaido lets you try out these brand-name high-quality milk for yourself.

Our personal favourite is also to stop by and get some milk soft serve. Milk ice cream is a pretty common thing in Japan, but we feel like we don't see it much elsewhere around the world. If you've never tried it before, it really takes the creaminess and milk taste, and ups it to another level in the form of a soft-serve. While it looks like vanilla ice cream, it definitely doesn't taste like it, instead bringing out the natural taste of the milk used to make it.

Bonus tip: If you're looking for lunch, we recommend checking out the restaurant upstairs. There are a lot of milk-based dishes, and if you have kids, you can also let them run about and have fun in the playground there. Of particular note is the Double Cream Pancake in a Skillet, which is a massive pancake served in a skillet with a dollop of fresh cream on top, and a sweetened cream filling on the inside. If you love Japanese milk products, then you should definitely give this a try. We recommend sharing one among two people though, as it is really massive.

Milkland Hokkaido was started in 2006 by Hokkaido dairy farmers to increase the consumption of Hokkaido milk and dairy products across Japan. Dairy farming is one of the cornerstones of Hokkaido's industries, existing in every part of Hokkaido, and also forming a key part of the community in each region.

In addition, Hokkaido's dairy products accounted for more than 50% of Japan's national consumption, and as a stable supply of milk and dairy products for the nation, and is thus treated as an important national industry. Hokkaido's fresh milk is seen as a top-class product, and goes by the slogan "a cup that we can be proud of in front of the world" (世界に誇る一杯を, sekai ni hokoru ippai wo), and Milkland Hokkaido hopes to that it will continue to be a well-loved product.