Protected local food
Tokachi Raclette
十勝ラクレット
A raclette cheese from the Tokachi plain in Hokkaido, Japan's largest raclette-making region. Nutty and hay-scented, but milder than Alpine versions.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 31 March 2023
- Region
- Hokkaido
- Official name in Japanese
- 十勝ラクレット
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 北海道帯広市、河東郡音更町、士幌町、上士幌町、鹿追町、上川郡新得町、清水町、河西郡芽室町、中札内村、更別村、広尾郡大樹町、広尾町、中川郡幕別町、池田町、豊頃町、本別町、足寄郡足寄町、陸別町及び十勝郡浦幌町
Japan's dairy heartland
Tokachi in eastern Hokkaido is a land of wide farms and cool air, ideal for dairy cows and for making and storing cheese. It has become the largest raclette-producing region in Japan.
Milder than the Alps
If you know Swiss or French raclette, expect the same nutty, hay-like, ripe aroma with fresh milky notes, but with less of the sharp smell. Makers wash the rind with Tokachi's soft water, and the result is a cleaner taste suited to Japanese palates.
How to eat it
Melted and scraped over potatoes, as in the Alps, or over vegetables and bread. Some Tokachi farms and restaurants serve it straight from the wheel.
Good to know
- Tokachi is also famous for potatoes and Tokachi Kawanishi Nagaimo. Melted raclette on local potatoes is the classic match.
- On a Hokkaido trip, also try Yubari melon in summer.
Questions travellers ask
Is it like Swiss raclette?
Yes, it is the same style of cheese, with a similar nutty aroma but a milder smell.
Where is it made?
On the Tokachi plain around Obihiro, in eastern Hokkaido.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Coal, steel and port: Hokkaido's northern industrial revolution
- Esashi: the herring town that outshone Edo
- Gyoda: the town of tabi storehouses
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Masuda: a medieval masterpiece of Japan
- Otaru, the heart of Hokkaido: a merchant city saved by its people
- Sacred land of salmon: 10,000 years on the Nemuro Strait
- Takaoka: the castle town that became a merchant town
- The Kamikawa Ainu: living with the kamuy of Daisetsuzan
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.