Exploring the Wonders of Hokkaido
From Sapporo via Kushiro to Shiretoko
For me personally, Hokkaido has always been the land of snow. I only stayed in Hokkaido for 3 days during winter five years ago when I was on my three-week-long Japan Rail Pass journey. But those three days were magical. I took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Hakodate, stayed there for one night and then traveled on to Sapporo for two nights and back again to Central Japan. It was already March but snow was still lying everywhere and the white fluffy carpet was only to be penetrated by those endless forests. My favorite part was simply taking the train and looking out of the window.
When I moved back to Japan in fall last year I already knew that summer in Tokyo would kill me. I have read and heard from many Japanese that the only tolerable place in Japan during summer would be Hokkaido. Everyone told me that temperatures rarely go above 25 degrees and even if, it wouldn’t be a problem as there is no humidity. And the food is supposed to be the best. I always loved Japanese food so I really wondered why it should be even better in Hokkaido. During the last couple of years I visited many cities and to be honest, city-sightseeing is not my favourite form of travel anymore. Nature it should be! So the idea of spending a week in Hokkaido with my husband to escape the Tokyo heat and explore the natural wonders of Hokkaido soon took shape in my head. I love browsing blogs and travel sites like japan-guide.com so the Shiretoko peninsula was on the top of my list. I feared it would be impossible to go there; so far away from Sapporo and basically known as the last wild place in Japan. But when I heard there is a Hot Spring Town called Utoro and public transport during the summer months of July and August I figured out that maybe it is not as hard to get there as previously assumed.
I researched travel blogs and guide books and the following plan emerged:
Sapporo (2 nights) — Kushiro (2 nights) including Kushiro Marshlands and Akan National Park — Shiretoko (3 nights)
From a Japanese point of view this holiday was pretty extensive: a one week holiday within Japan and we would even stay more than just one night at one place! My Japanese workmate was impressed and shocked at the same time (“we don’t do more than three nights for national trips!”) but after she recovered she recommended me about a dozen dishes I’d definitely have to try. Bless the Japanese people: they love food as much as I do and they can always recommend what to try where. Sometimes the Japanese’s obsession with food (Japanese TV, hello?) is a little bit too much for me but in this case I don’t mind.
On Saturday noon our plane left from Haneda airport after a delay of one hour but we booked an early flight in order to have some time left on Saturday. Once up in the air, the plane already started descending as it just takes around 1.5 hours. Getting from Shin-Chitose Airport to the center of Sapporo was also not too difficult. When we looked for accommodation for our Hokkaido trip, our biggest concern was Shiretoko as hotels are few but we were shocked when we found out that Sapporo was a much bigger problem. All the hotels were booked but luckily we found a central Airbnb accommodation. Apparently, we couldn’t have booked a better time, because Sapporo was just in the middle of its one-month-long summer festival with fireworks, beer gardens and performances.
We took it very slow during our two days in Sapporo, basically just walking through the Odori Park, having a fantastic (!) cup of coffee at at Tokumitsu, getting tipsy at the beer tasting at the Sapporo Museum and enjoying the beer festival that was taking place at the Odori Park. What struck me most was despite being 27 degrees hot, being outside was so pleasant. No humidity. We could finally breath and just enjoy the nice weather. Sapporo has a population of 2 mio people and still it didn’t feel like it. We later found out that a lot of the population just uses the underground walkways instead of walking the streets above. There is basically a whole underground city underneath the real city.
Oh, and let’s not forget the food. The food was indeed really good. Soup Curry looks like a mixture of Thai Curry and Japanese Curry. We tried our luck at Samurai and were not disappointed. The best part wasn’t the soup but the vegetables. I simply don’t know when the last time was I had such a sublime potato. I know, it sounds completely ridiculous to praise the potato above all else but believe me, the taste of the potato was unforgettable (the other vegetables were also really nice but that potato!). Next day we tried the famous Miso Ramen at Sumire and although my husband didn’t quite like it, I really did.
On Monday we left for Kushiro and luckily that day was our only rainy one! There was a direct train to the city but I can’t say that the 4 hour journey took us through a particularly beautiful landscape. We reached Kushiro in the afternoon, made a brief stop at the tourist information center to get all the infos we needed and then exited the station. We were shocked, to say the least. The city has nearly 200.000 inhabitants so I clearly didn’t expect that nearly half of all the buildings were run-down and vacant. Kushiro is a port city and known for its fresh seafood, so I didn’t expect a fancy city. But walking through the streets in the evening was almost eery with basically no other people to be seen. We quickly found out that there were indeed a few people to be found, mostly inside restaurants and izakayas but as soon as we stepped outside — no one. Would have been the perfect stage for some weird Silent Hill/ Horror/ Zombie movie. The bread shop inside Kushiro station is strongly recommended though.
We soon realized there is not much to get in Kushiro except for some great horror story inspiration. Our goal was a different one anyway: to explore the close-by Kushiro Marshlands as well as Akan National Park.
The Kushiro Marsh- & Wetlands offer you the only chance to observe the endangered Japanese Crane in the wild and it is the biggest habitat of its kind in Japan. Most is off-limits to tourists and can only be enjoyed from viewing points but some parts of the marsh- and wetlands can be walked in short 1 to 2 hours tours from some of the viewing points. We asked the lovely Ojisan at the tourist information center what our best option is for exploring and he strongly urged us to rent a car. He gave us an origami paper crane as a goodbye and wished us all the best. My husband wasn’t exactly thrilled to rent a car because he never drove an automatic and then there was this thing with driving on the left lane…but he agreed with some grumbling that we had no other option. Renting the car at Toyota was super easy and the lady proudly told us that she rented a car to foreigners just yesterday. And even in English! I am sure she was less happy when my husband asked her how to drive an automatic though…the poor woman had to watch us leaving the parking lot and hitting the brakes abruptly several times because he wasn’t used to the gears yet.
Driving on Hokkaido streets was a piece of cake and we soon reached one of the viewing points. You first had to walk through the wetlands for a while to reach the viewing point but it was totally worth it.
During the 2 hours tour through the wetlands we were followed by angry Japanese bees and spotted some other pleasant and unpleasant insects and flowers. I guess, that’s what happens when you are in the nature. It was interesting how the level of humidity immediately rose once in the dense wetlands.
On we headed to Akan National Park. Akan National Park is located in eastern Hokkaido and consists of three lakes: Lake Akan, Lake Mashu and Lake Kussharo. Lake Akan is particularly famous for its Marimo algae; round algae balls that grow inside the lake and can have a diameter of over 30cm (Marimo can be found in other countries but nowhere as big as in Lake Akan). The lake and the algae are best explored through a lake cruise that takes a little bit over an hour and which stops at a tiny island in the middle of the lake where you get to see Marimo algae in a small exhibition room. As it is often the case in hot spring towns throughout Japan, the towns mostly have a somewhat idiosyncratic aged charm as tourists tend to spend their limited time inside the hotels and local shops and restaurants go bankrupt quite frequently. Lake Akan is not that much different and the town center doesn’t hold much except souvenir shops that sell the same products and a separate street with Ainu handicrafts. But Lake Akan itself is mesmerizing and one can enjoy the nature around the lake on several hiking paths. We only had time for the cruise and a desperate search for a cafe (which all shut down). The cruise was beautiful. The ship was maneuvered along the shore and we could already see some fall foliage (in August).
From Lake Akan on we went to Lake Mashu. We first thought about skipping this lake that is famous for the clearest water in the world. Looking up at the sky we only saw a grey mass and I already heard that the lake is also famous for being constantly covered in fog. But we still had time and since we planned to check out the other side of the marshlands, making a detour to Mashu wouldn’t cost us so much extra time. So we went and didn’t regret it. In fact, it was amazing. We drove up to the observation deck on the caldera and had the chance to actually see a completely fog-free lake! The sky itself was grey so unfortunately we couldn’t take one of those famous photos of the sky being mirrored in the lake but it was still very beautiful. More so, when we were standing on the deck, clouds suddenly started flowing over the caldera very slowly and we found ourselves standing in the middle of these seemingly liquid clouds.
It was mesmerizing but we had to hurry. We still wanted to see the Kushiro Marshlands from the other side of the park and it would soon be getting dark. We also weren’t really looking forward to driving around in the darkness, so one more reason to hurry. We made it just in time to the Marshlands and as soon as we stopped the car in the parking lot, we ran up the hill to the observation deck to let our eyes wander, one last time, over the Marshlands.
Next day we left for Shiretoko Peninsula. The train from Kushiro to Shari only took about two hours and then another hour via bus to Utoro where we booked a room for three nights. Utoro is known as one of the two towns inside the Shiretoko National Park and is a little bit more touristy as Shari on the other side. But “touristy” is still light years away from what you would normally consider as touristy. A few simple restaurants, a few hot spring hotels and that’s about it. When we arrived in the small town, the first thing we did was getting tickets for a peninsula cruise. It was a little bit expensive (around 8,000 Yen for three hours) but my favourite activity of the whole trip. A big part of the Shiretoko Peninsula cannot be accessed so the only way to see the northern part of it is by boat. Moreover, Shiretoko is home to the biggest brown bear population in Japan and chances are good you can spot them from a boat when they hang out at the beach. The cruise took us all the way up the top, passing waterfalls, seals hanging out on the cliffs and yes, brown bears!
The next was spent exploring the typical “tourist spots”; a walk around the Five Lakes and a trip to the Kamuiwakka Hot Spring Waterfall. The little one to two hours hike around the Five Lakes was a relaxing walk that got spiced up a little bit by the warning that we could encounter a brown bear anytime. In fact, before even entering the park, you have to watch a film about what to do when facing a bear as the park is not surrounded by any fences. We didn’t get to see a bear but the little Japanese girl in our group was scared to death and didn’t stop crying for a while. The film about angry bears attacking hikers and the message “once you’re attacked, just pray” didn’t really assure her everything is going to be OK.
The Kamuiwakka Falls are a short bus ride away from the Five Lakes and during the summer months, the public transport within the park is actually quite good. Kamuiwakka is both waterfall and a hot spring — it cannot get much better than that. People used to be able to walk the whole waterfall up but due to falling rocks, only a limited section is now open to the public. The further up you go, the warmer the water gets and shortly before the open section ends, you will find a few natural basins you can actually bath in. It’s best to bring your swimming clothes though, as you won’t be alone.
The buses stop running at around 5pm so we were back at our hotel quite early. Just in time for a breathtaking sunset from our hotel room. After the sunset, we headed out for a closeby restaurant to indulge ourselves in Sashimi and Hiraki Hokke (all fish caught around Utoro)
As we pretty much explored the Utoro side of Shiretoko, we decided to rent a car for the following day to drive over the Mount Rausu Pass to the even smaller town of Rausu. The pass is closed for many months in the winter but in summer the road is very pleasant to drive. On the highest point of the pass you can park your car and enjoy the beautiful view on Mount Rausu (if not hidden by clouds).
Our main purpose of renting the car was to go on a second cruise, but this time for whale watching! We heard that chances are pretty good of actually seeing whales on the Rausu side and we were hoping for the best. The weather wasn’t too good and we couldn’t even really make out Kunashiri Island close to the peninsula. People on the boat were getting more and more frustrated as we only saw two fins from far away that disappeared quickly as we tried to approach a little bit closer. After two hours the boat captain had to break it down to us that we had to give up — there was nothing in sight. We made our way back and could already see the port when a huge minke whale appeared in front of our boat. It was an amazing experience. The minke whale was up for a few minutes to get air before it gracefully dived back in the depth of the ocean. Observing a whale from up close is really something.
Shiretoko was unbelievable. The nature was completely unspoilt; we saw brown bears, whales, deers, foxes and seals and people were kind and talkative. It was always a dream of mine to visit Shiretoko. Probably because it it so far off and even for Japanese people, Shiretoko seems to be “wild”.
Hokkaido — what a truly beautiful place you are. I will come back, in winter, and once more marvel at your white beauty. And who knows, maybe next time I will be able to see the drift ice in Shiretoko or Nemuro.
