Last month I wrote about the road trip to the Shiretoko National Park (知床国立公園), and I spoke about making a stop at Kushiro (釧路) to break up the long self drive journey. You could drive all the way south after stopping by Shiretoko pass to reach Kushiro. After spending a day here, you could continue west towards Chitose.

Kushiro is situated in the south eastern part of Hokkaido, facing the Pacific Ocean. This coastal city has flourished as a port city and today is one of the big cargo ports in Japan. The city itself  is enclosed by the Pacific Ocean in the south and the Kushiro Marsh in the north. However, the Kushiro sub-prefecture stretches all the way to Lake Akan to the north. Most of the interesting places are located away from the central city area so a self drive trip is necessary if you want to explore these places at your own pace.

Here are 4 interesting place to visit while you are in Kushiro.

1. Kushiro Fishermen’s Wharf

If you are spending the night in Kushiro, you will probably find lodging in the central city area, which is where the Kushiro train station is also located. Near the central city area, you will also find Kushiro Fishermen’s Wharf MOO, a very popular place for both the local people and visitors.

You could do some general shopping or souvenir shopping if you need to bring some gifts home. Otherwise, you could just relax and stroll along the Kushiro riverside or take a boat cruise along the river.

If you are feeling hungry, there are some places for a meal within the complex itself or you could explore the surrounding restaurants.

 

2. Kushiro-shitsugen National Park

To the north of Kushiro city, you have Kushiro-Shitsugen National Park (釧路湿原国立公), Japan’s largest marshland. It was designated a national park in 1987 and is home to the endangered Japanese Cranes. Some activities to do here include bird watching, nature viewing and trail walking.

You could start your trip by heading to the Kushiro Marsh Observatory (釧路市湿原展望台, Tel: 0154-56-2424). There is a big car park just beside the Observatory. Parking is free but there are admission fees to enter the Observatory. Once inside, you can get an excellent view of the Kushiro-Shitsugen Wetland from the third floor observation area. The scale model of the wetland area within should give you a good overview of the surrounds. Furthermore, there are also various displays and information regarding the flowers, plants and wild life that you can find in the marshland.

No biggie if you want to give the Observatory a miss and proceed straight to the boardwalk trails to see the real stuff. You should be able to complete the 2.5km loop in around an hour, much like a nature walk giving you a good view of the marshland.

Other places to observe the marshland include:

• Hosooka Viewpoint (Hosooka Visitor’s Lounge, Tel: 0154-40-4455)
• Hokuto Viewpoint
• Kottaro Marsh Viewpoints
• Onnenai Boardwalk (Onnenai Visitor Center, Tel: 0154-65-2323)
• Sarubo Viewpoint

 

3. Kushiro Tancho Nature Park (Japanese Crane Reserve)

To the south west of Kushiro Marsh Observatory, you will find the Kushiro Tancho Nature Park (釧路市丹頂鶴自然公園, Tel: 0154-56-2219) or sometimes referred to as the Japanese Crane Reserve. The reserve was opened in 1958 and since 2000 has been under the management of the Kushiro Zoo where there is a more concerted effort to promote the protection of the Japanese crane. Do note that admission tickets are required to enter the reserve.

While this is a great place to get up close to observe the birds, it is a relatively small facility. So some might not find it worthwhile in a standalone trip. It would be good to combine this with the Observatory trip.

 

In addition to the Japanese Crane Reserve, you will also be able to find cranes at the Akan International Crane Centre (Tel: 0154-66-4011) and Tsurui Ito Tancho Crane Sanctuary (Tel: 0154-66-4011, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays). The Akan International Crane Center is a research facility and the adjoining Akan Crane Observation Center is a feed site. As the Hokkaido winter is very harsh, the cranes are unable to find enough food. Feed sites such as this help them survive. During the winter months, feeding time is scheduled for 2:00pm every day at the Center.

Can cranes dance? If you are visiting between February and March, you will be able to observe the dazzling displays of courtship as this is the breeding season for the cranes, turning the fields into their dance floor. Later in the May to June period, you might just get to see some crane chicks.

 

4. Lake Akan

All the way towards the north end of Kushiro sub-prefecture, you have Lake Akan (阿寒湖, mapcode 739 401 785*14) located in the Akan National Park. Rather than lumping this with the rest of the Kushiro stops on the way back from Shiretoko, I would suggest that you stop by Lake Akan on your way towards Shiretoko instead. The lake is along Route 241, which brings you heading NE towards Shiretoko.

Lake Akan is one of the 3 caldera lakes found in the Akan National Park, the other two being Lake Kussharo (屈斜路湖) and Laku Mashu (摩周湖). A caldera is a volcanic crater that could be formed by either an explosive volcanic eruption (explosive caldera) or the collapse of the magma chamber (collapse caldera).

Here you will find Marimo (毬藻), which is a rare algae species that grows into beautiful green balls, a feature unique to Lake Akan. There are only a few places in the world where you can find Marimo, even fewer when you are looking for large colonies of Marimo. They thrive under the unique conditions found here in Lake Akan. When you leave Lake Akan, you will carry with you the memory of this Marimo encounter more than anything else.

You could visit the Lake Akan Tourist Information Center (Tel: 0154-67-3200) to get brouchures, maps and other sight seeing information. They are also offering a bike rental service.

So have fun as you rest along your way towards (or back from) Shiretoko!

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