December 5, 1999. "Let's enjoy the Manpuku Festival in the Cold!" From Obihiro City, Hokkaido. The "8th Hiroo Seafood and Mountain Food Manpuku Festival" was held at the Seaside Park Hiroo, 80km south from Obihiro City on the 5th of December. Just like the previous years, the boiled crab booth was so popular that there was a 60m queue already an hour before its opening. As it can be seen from the picture, live crabs are boiled in a huge pot about 2m across in diameter and sold immediately at the spot. This year, 2.5 tons of the crabs that are caught at Hiroo were used. To have them cooked completely, each crab takes 30 minutes of boiling. People come to buy them from far places like Sapporo and Kushiro by tourist buses. Boiled right at the seashore, the crabs taste completely different and unforgettable so that I too became in love with them and buy them every year. One thing to be noted is that you need to wrap yourself well in order to avoid catching cold when queuing for an hour. It's not just crabs that are being sold, but also nice oysters, smelts, tsubu, and some other seafood can be bought cheaply.

	Just-cooked crabs and the long line. It only took from 8:00 a.m. to afternoon for the crabs to be sold out.		Three large pots and, in front, are the live crabs waiting to be boiled.
	Grilled oysters. You can have the seafood you bought to be grilled right at the spot.		Inside the huge pot. Here, crab soup is being made. It is superb and warm you up quickly.