If you check the map of Hokkaido that I posted in the `Sister` City entry, you will see that Obihiro City is just east of Kushiro. Two weeks ago we visited a very interesting resident of Obihiro - the owner of Rancho El Paso Mexican Restaurant.
This want-to-be-Latin Japanese man (I will call him El Paso) has been running a Mexican restaurant in Obihiro for 30 years!
El Paso has a lot of pork items on his menu, so five years ago he and his wife decided to start raising their own pigs. We were lucky enough to have a tour of his 500 strong pig farm. The most fascinating part of El Paso's farming style is that the pigs are allowed to roam around. Yes...it is a free-range pig farm! If you look at the photo above, you will see Farmer El Paso walking down a lane. Two pigs are coming up to greet him.
When the pigs are babes they are kept in a warm enclosure and when they get a little bigger they move to a small barn and fenced area. When the swines reach adult age and are able to behave themselves, they move to a larger enclosure where they can frolic in the forest and even swim in the river.
'Charlotte's Web' lovers will be sad to know that after a few years in nirvana...these little piggies move on to the sausage farm.
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