Things to do in Hokkaido, Japan: The Best National Parks

Daisetsuzan National Park is Japan’s largest mountain park, located in the central part of Hokkaido. Daisetsuzan is a mountain group featuring Hokkaido’s highest mountain “Asahidake” as its main peak, including the source areas of Hokkaido’s representative rivers: Ishikawa River and Tokachi River. Daisetsuzan is called “the Roof of Hokkaido.” This mighty presence of massive mountains and deep canyons overwhelms people. The Tokachi Mountain Range area is a volcanic group with an active volcano, Mt. Tokachi, in the center. The famous views of Biei’s wide fields at the mountain foot and the ridgelines and valleys of the mountain range across agricultural fields and forests far from the Kamifurano area are spectacular.

Shiretoko, which originated from the Ainu word, “Shiri Etoku” which means “far corner of the earth” is exactly located at the northernmost tip of Japan (excluding the Northern Territories). Shiretoko National Park is characterized by the rugged grand landscape formed by volcanic activities and drift ice as well as abundant wildlife. In particular, large mammals such as brown bears and killer whales as well as a number of large endangered raptors inhabit the park. With them at the top of the hierarchy, a variety of wild animals strongly cohabit together. Such biodiversity and the link between ecosystems of the sea, river, and forest were highly valued, and Shiretoko was registered as a World Natural Heritage site in July 2005.

Located in the eastern part of Hokkaido, Akan-mashu National Park is one of the longest established parks in Hokkaido. Most of the park area is covered in natural forest comprising mainly subarctic mixed coniferous forest that is said to be some of the most primeval forests of all the national parks in Japan. The foundation for Akan-mashu National Park comprises three caldera landforms --the Akan Caldera, Kussharo Caldera, and Mashu Caldera --which were formed by the volcanic activity of the Chishima Volcanic Zone. With several volcano-lake pairs in close proximity within a narrow space, the area is nationally valuable.

Kushiro-Shitsugen National Park consists of the Kushiro River that flows through the eastern part of Hokkaido, Japan’s largest Kushiro-Shitsugen that envelops the river’s tributaries and surrounding hilly terrain. The best appeal of this area is the unspoiled grand horizontal landscape. In addition, this is a valuable habitat for a number of wildlife species including the Japanese crane, the Special Natural Monument of Japan. Kushiro-Shitsugen used to be thought of useless since it was difficult to develop; however, agricultural land development due to the food shortage after the war, urban development, and logging of hilly areas shrank the wetland and promoted its aridification. Meanwhile, local researchers and conservation organizations continued to campaign to reconsider the value of the wetland.

Shiretoko National Park Nature Center is located at the entrance of the Shiretoko National Park, Hokkaido, Japan. It not only serves as an information center for the park visitors but also facilitates your enjoyable stay in Shiretoko.

The Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park is Japan’s northernmost national park boasting its varied landscape such as mountains, flower fields, sea cliffs, wetlands, and coastal sand dunes. Mt. Rishiri is a beautiful konide-type mountain, also known as Rishiri Fuji, which is a symbolic presence of the park. On the Rebun Island, alpine-flower fields, including valuable plants such as large-flowered cypripediums can be appreciated in low-lying areas. Along the coast of Bakkai and Wakasakanai, lakes and wetlands are scattered between rows of belt-like sand dunes, and they present rare scenery, together with dune forests of Quercus crispula Blume and Abies sachalinensis. Sarobetsu-genya has Japan’s largest high moor spreading on a mire, and it is also an important stopover site of migratory birds such as geese and ducks.

Shikotsu-Toya National Park is located in the southwestern part of Hokkaido. In addition to Lake Shikotsu and Lake Toya (the two largest caldera lakes) visitors can see diverse types of volcanoes and volcanic topography such as Mt. Yotei, Mt.Usu and Mt.Tarumae. Visitors can also see many volcanic activities such as various hot springs and jigoku ("hell") phenomena (blowing out of sulfur). The park can truly be called a "Living Volcano Museum". One of the benefits of this volcanic activity are the popular and bustling hot springs tourism areas that are representative of the Hokkaido Prefecture. These include Noboribetsu, Lake Toya, and Jozankei. The breathtaking landscape created by combining various elements of lakes, forests, and volcanoes soothes peoples’ hearts and minds. Lake Shikotsu is famous for being the northernmost ice-free lake in Japan, it's distinctive deep blue colored water surface is also highly appealing to park visitors.