Shiretoko

Visit date(s): September 25 & 26, 2024

Nearby sites on trip: Jomon prehistoric sites, although they are not very close. We saw our first one 3 days later.

Overnight location: Utoro

Location(s): Shiretoko National Park: Goko lakes hike, Furepe waterfall hike, Cape Shiretoko sightseeing boat, Shiretoko pass drive, Rausu Kanketsusen Geyser (photo)

Travel method(s): Car, foot, boat

Travel duration: Less than 10 minute drive to the park. Less than 2 hour drive to the furthest point on the other side of the peninsula. We reentered the park at the field house on the north side.

Visit duration: 2 days

OUV: We saw lots of deer, birds and a fox. The bears are given priority over humans in areas where they like to feed, so it appears that the ecosystem is being protected. It is a wild and beautiful place.

Best of: Sightseeing boat trip to the cape. It was good light and although there were waves, the Aurora was very stable. There were a few waterfalls, intriguing rock formations and some abandoned buildings. We were also, separately, thrilled to see a small geyser that I hadn’t read about beforehand!

Worst of: There were not a lot of food options in Utoro in the evening and they closed early. We did have some excellent food, but it was work to find it.

It has been a long, hot summer in Japan this year. It still affected Hokkaido’s Shiretoko NP when I visited in early September – with daily temperatures of about 26 degrees, it wasn’t what I had expected. No mist and clouds, and it looked more like Central Sweden during Midsummer than a place notorious for its seasonal sea ice. 

Before going, it is important to understand which of the ‘seasons’ you’re in: this strongly affects which activities you can do and what animals you might see. There’s the ‘Drift Ice Season’ (mid-January to early March), the ‘Bear Active Season’ (May-July) and the ‘Eco Preservation Awareness Season’ (August to mid-November). Outside these tourist months, everything will be closed and roads are impassable due to snow. I flew into Memanbetsu Airport and rented a car from there (it’s a 1.5h drive). You can also get around on public transport but there aren’t many buses a day.

In September, the main trail at the Shiretoko Five Lakes can be walked independently (in ‘Bear Active Season’ you may not). You do need to get a permit though at the Shiretoko Goko Field House (costing a nominal 250 yen) and they make you attend a 13-minute presentation about the do’s and don’ts in the forest, and especially how to behave around bears (Don’t run!). The 3km long hike mostly follows a trail through the forest, which occasionally opens up for each of the five lakes. Several of the Japanese hikers that …

Shiretoko National Park is the northeastern most WHS in Japan. It’s a bit off the beaten track, but a few visitors from this community have managed to tick it off. We managed to visit in late June ‘23.

The nature in the park is wild and unspoilt and animal encounters are common. Somehow, we could connect to this Nordic environment, but then again – it’s far from the nature of northern Europe. On our two-nights visit we had encounters with bears, deer, and foxes. Meeting wild animals in their natural habitat is magnificent.

The weather was rather nice on arrival, and we chose to drive directly into the park to the area called Five Lakes. It was impossible to know how the weather would turn out the following days. Five Lakes has a visitor centre and some options for hiking the area. Even though we arrived late (all visitors were leaving the place) the parking officer granted us a quick visit just so we could hike to the nearest lake. We were happy with that and strolled on to the elevated boardwalk which is about 800 m long through an open area, winding its way to the lake. While enjoying the beautiful nature both close and distant, we had our first bear encounter halfway, just 10 m from the secured boardwalk. Minding its own business, it totally ignored us. As it turned out this evening in fact, we had the best visibility on our visit.

The first …

Shiretoko has a lot to offer, at a price. You can technically get here with public transportation but getting around seems a little difficult. I drove in Hokkaido for the entire duration and it was well worth it to explore not only the north of Japan but also the Shiretoko area itself. I stayed at a luxurious hotel (Daiichi, which has a five star buffet if you ask me) which is unusual for me but seemed to match the trip. The hotel (as third party) offers a boat cruise but the weather in October wasn't good enough for the boat to ever depart so I never got to see the northern tip of Shiretoko NP (Mountain) from the boat and there is no other way to get there. The road at the western side enables you to see some wildlife, especially deer, which was great in itself but doesn't really "go" anywhere. There is a famous pass (see pic) as you get over to the east side and there is another road going north which is very similar for both content and views. There are many onsen (hotsprings) around the area but the hotel already offered that so I didn't need to waste exploring time on that.

The easiest and one of the better ones to enjoy is the boardwalk along the Shiretoko Five Lakes. It's easy, very green, very fresh and lots of info to read about. You would usually see migratory birds here but I was already …

Eastern Hokkaido is an unusual image of Japan; the area is a large unspoiled rural region with the scenery similar to northern Sweden with Japanese signs! I started my trip at Kushiro; the city was famous for its seafood. Then I took a train to Shari, this rail line was quite well known in Japan as it run thru two famous Hokkaido attraction, the Kushiro Marshland and Lake Mashu. The marshland was really surprising when I unexpectedly spotted the Japanese cranes which I heard really hard to see outside reserve area. I reached Shari/Shiretoko station before noon, the lovely designed station really reminded me last year Hiraizumi train station, the connecting bus to Shiretoko National Park was conveniently parking just outside the station. Along the way was beautiful view of mountain, waterfalls and sea coast with protective wire fence separating national park and outside word.

My destination was Utoro, a small tourist town just outside Shiretoko National Park, after hotel check-in, it was a time to explore Shiretoko. I was the only tourist on the bus to Shiretoko Five Lake, when the bus crossed the bridge outside Utoro; the driver welcomed me with broken English to Shiretoko and pointed to the direction of a herd of cute deer on the hill next to the road. They were everywhere on the very steep hill and behind them was the view of the whole town of Utoro and the Okhotsk Sea below! Shiretoko gave me the first "WOW". After deer surprise, the …

To view the Shiretoko Peninsular I took a cruise on the tourist ship 'Aurora' and sailed along the north coast of the peninsular. I boarded the vessel in the port of Utoro, which I reached by bus from outside Shiretoko Shari station.

The voyage provided a panoramic view of the bush clad peninsular, including its waterfalls, rock formations and steam rising from thermal vents along the ridge.

At Cape Shiretoko where a lonely lighthouse stands looking out towards the Russian Kurile Islands, clearly visible just a few kilometers away, the vessel turned to return to Utoro. This popular 4 hour cruise cost 6500 yen.

I visited Shiretoko in October 2008. We went to see the fall foliage, which was beautiful. One thing to keep in mind is that Hokkaido is very cold starting in early October and many of the sites in Shiretoko are closed starting in the end of September. We only saw the sites close to the visitor center and along the roads in the park. The weather was rainy and cloudy and a lot of mist covered the mountains. It made the scenery very dramatic and showed the raw nature of the park. Of course so did watching for deer and bears on the road as we drove through rain and snow up at the top of the mountain pass. I plan on going back this summer so that I can enjoy another aspect of this fantastic place.

I visited Shiretoko this past summer vacation. It is beautiful. Stayed at a crowded, but cheap campsite in Utoro. Not to be missed are the hotsprings kamuiwakka and Iwaobetsu. Both are incredible. Rausu hotspring is unbearably hot. Also the 5 lakes of Shiretoko are amazing especially on a sunny day when you can see the reflection of the mountain range. Wild deer are everywhere. If you have the energy, the hike up to Mt. Rausu is very nice. Stunning views. Overall a really great place with so much wildlife. I highly recommend Shiretoko.