Japan's Extreme North in Hokkaido is home to some super frigid towns like Kitami, Rikubetsu, and Abashiri. In the middle of winter, at night, one town has a massive meat festival -- and it's outdoors in below zero temperatures. It's the world's coldest BBQ festival with over 2,000 people attending together to grill Kitami's famous pork short rib cuts called Karubi and other meat like wagyu, horumon and sausages.
I drove north from Sapporo to experience it and eat as much local barbecue as my stomach could hold.
On the way, I stopped in Rikubetsu and spent a night at the town's roadhouse where temperatures dropped to -27C / -16.6F at 11pm. The coldest record night here is -38.4 Celsius or -37.1 Fahrenheit on February 7, 2019.
Note: The coldest temperature recorded in Japan was -41 degrees Celsius (-42 degrees Fahrenheit) in Asahikawa in January 1902.
The Kitami Extreme Cold Yakiniku Festival 北見厳寒の焼き肉まつり is held annually in February, tickets are 2000 yen but sell out fast. Book in advance online.
URL: kitamikanko.jp/event/event15.html
The event was suspended in 2021 but plans to resume is 2022 are underway.
★ My Noboribetsu Nakedman Festival experience the day before is here: • Japanese Ice Festival ...
00:00 Start
00:53 Driving Hokkaido in Winter
01:48 Where are we going?
02:46 BBQ Event Arrival
03:26 Why do they hold this event?
04:28 Rikubetsu, Japan's Coldest Town
05:08 Abashiri Ice Breaker Cruise
05:52 People love meat here!
06:26 Bag of meat for event
07:10 What is Yakiniku?
07:58 Horumon-yaki, grilled organ meat
08:17 Kitami Yakiniku History
09:21 Cooking my meat
10:58 Crazy guy eats Ice Cream at -20C
11:08 Conclusion
★ The ONLY in JAPAN Animated Opening was created for John by D'ART Shtajio dartshtajio.com/
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John Daub has been a reporter for NHK World TV since 2008 and KZfaq creator & producer of the ONLY in JAPAN series building a community of over 1.6M. Thanks for watching!
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