If you are in the city of Sapporo on Japan’s Hokkaido island and have a bit of a sweet tooth, you may be interested in visiting Shiroi Koibito Park. Known for their ‘European cookies’ of the same name, Shiroi Koibito are one of the typical gifts given for omiyage after visiting the city.
What is Shiroi Koibito and how did it start?
Shiroi Koibito is the name of what the Japanese call a ‘European cookie’ – a thin wafer of chocolate between two langue de chat biscuits. On one snowy day, the founder of Ishiya Co., Ltd came home after skiing and remarked that “it has started snowing white lovers”, which may refer to a 1968 film of the same name; The “white lovers” part in Japanese is Shiroi Koibito (白い恋人).
The biscuit is reminiscent of Hokkaido’s snowy landscapes; coupled with the blue and white snowy packaging and the fact that it is only sold in Hokkaido and you have the perfect recipe for the most recognisable omiyage in Japan. Shiroi Koibito has become synonymous with Hokkaido.
There are two types of Shiroi Koibito sold today: Shiroi Koibito White (made with white chocolate) and Shiroi Koibito Black (made with milk chocolate).
Shiroi Koibito Park
In Sapporo you can visit Shiroi Koibito Park, a combination of a fun garden-like park and the production facility for Shiroi Koibito. The garden is free to visit at any time, although it is most beautiful in the summer when the large rose garden is in bloom. It is said to be modelled after an English rose garden.
The production facility is open year round and you need to pay an entrance. This is a timed ticket that can be ordered up to 90 days in advance or purchased on the day. There are a limited number of tickets but if you go during non-peak days (e.g. not at popular times on the weekend in the summer), you should not have a problem buying some. The current price for tickets is ¥800 for adults and ¥400 for children.
Ticketed area
The ticketed area of the production facility includes:
History of chocolate production
The beginning of your mostly self-guided tour begins right after the ticket desk. You go up the stairs and come out into a room that has been done up to tell of the history of chocolate production worldwide and then also more recently Japan. There is a projector on the wall (see the video below) with a narrator that guides you through the history.
While the narrator speaks in Japanese, there are English and Chinese subtitles also projected on a panel near the projector screen.
Once you have finished, you move to a second room, which has a member of staff and an interactive presentation/exhibit/projection map about the nitty gritty of chocolate production, including about the history, the process, inventions and related information. I did not film this due to the nature of the presentation.
Chocolate artefacts
After the interactive presentation comes a hallway filled with artefacts such as china that was used to drink chocolate – the original form of what we know and love today. These artefacts tell about the history of consumption of chocolate in Europe and the luxury associated with it. Each piece has information about its history and how it fits into the narrative.
Production
The final area of the basic ticket is the production area. You go up a staircase and then emerge onto a floor that overlooks the factory floor. You can see where each of their products are made (e.g. Shiroi Koibito White, Shiroi Koibito Black, and the White Roll Cake). In addition to helpful placards and signs, there are also some explanations through interactive exhibits for children.
What I found most amazing was the counter of the number of products that had been made that day. I visited around the mid-morning and the production lines had already produced just over 180,000 Shiroi Koibito and over 300 baumkuchen (the White Roll Cake).
You can see this and more in the video below:
Additional events and classes
Shiroi Koibito Park also offers some special classes and tasting sessions, such as the Study Base CACAO POD, which teaches you about to go about tasting chocolate through projection mapping and then with actual chocolate at different stages to taste, and Sweets Workshop DREAM KITCHEN, which lets you make cookies and chocolate.
Both of these require an additional ticket and are only held at certain times. At the time of writing, the Study Base CACAO POD cost ¥500 and is held approximately once every 1.5 hours. The Sweets Workshop DREAM KITCHEN varies depending on the offer for the day and is between ¥1,500 and ¥2,000 and between 15 minutes and 1 hour.
Please enquire about what is available when you arrive at Shiroi Koibito Park.
The Garden
The garden is the only free park of Shiroi Koibito Park and is open to the public year round, although it is best enjoyed in the summer when the rose garden – a major feature – is in bloom.
In addition to the flowers, there are also shows that are put on in the garden, such as the bubble show which is done approximately once per hour on the hour, and the robot mannequins that play music which happens twice a day.
There is also a small railway where you take photos with the model steam train and carriages.
The times of each vary depending on the season. You can see more on the Shiroi Koibito website. Look to the mechanical clock tower for the robot mannequins.
Restaurants and Chocolate
Shiroi Koibito Park also hosts a wide range of restaurants and cafés, each of which has food as well as chocolate-based products and sweets to try. While the majority of these are found on the top floor past the ticketed area, there are a couple in the free area, including a couple in the garden (two of which have a food truck feeling), a sit-down café with food and desserts also in the garden, and a dessert café on the floor above the gift shop that is accessible either via the grand staircase from the garden or from the ticketed area.
Thoughts and IMpressions
On the whole I would say that I had a good time at Shiroi Koibito Park. I spent a good portion of the day there and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In addition to the garden, I also got the basic entrance ticket and also the Study Base CACAO POD class. I think the class was one of the best parts of the day as there were very few people who joined. As it was the summer, there were a lot of people in all other parts of the park, although not as many as it would have been had I gone at the weekend.
On the whole I find Japanese chocolate to be very sweet, almost on the level of American chocolate. My favourite type of chocolate is dark chocolate, which is not offered by Shiroi Koibito in any of its product and is not popular in Japan. I found that not only was the chocolate sweet but you could also taste the sugar in it, which is not something that I enjoy much.
I also really enjoyed the garden. While it is described as an “English” rose garden, that is more in reference to the fact that there are several types of roses in the same place. Japanese gardens typically only have a few types of flowers per garden.
Getting there and Admission to Shiroi Koibito Park
Shiroi Koibito Park is located in western Sapporo near Miyanosawa Fureai Park. The easiest way to get there from the city centre (e.g. Sapporo Station) is to take the yellow Tozai line to Miyanosawa station, which is the end of the line. It is then a 500-metre walk (Google estimates 7 minutes) to Shiroi Koibito Park.
Access to the garden is free. Access to the ticketed area costs ¥800 for adults and ¥400 for children. You can make a reservation in advance for timed tickets or purchase tickets on the day. The additional events and classes that are held at specific times vary in price; please talk to the reception desk when you arrive to see what is available.
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