Bookmark the gentle moments of Furano in Hokkaido – Morino Tokei Café

Text & Photography by Li Xinyi

 

Walk along a snowy forest path to visit the renowned Furano coffee cottage “Morino Tokei.” At minus five degrees, moisture condenses into snowflakes drifting through the woods. Were it not for the falling snow, time in the forest would seem to freeze, suspended together with Hokkaido’s signature powder snow. Within moments of entering the woods, a chimneyed wooden house blanketed in snow gradually emerges from the trees — this is “Morino Tokei,” the filming location of the Japanese drama "Gentle Time."

 

 

The Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani’s series “From the Northern Country” was entirely filmed in Furano. Years later, the highly acclaimed “Gentle Time” was also produced here. The café built for the drama — “Morino Tokei” — is located in the forest of the New Furano Prince Hotel.