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 night we stayed at Iruka hotel in Utoro just outside the park due to the bigger hotel inside the park was fully booked. The next morning our plan was to join a boat cruise along the northern shore (the ticket kiosk was close to the harbour), but the morning cruise to the eastern tip was already cancelled due to heavy fog. Instead, we booked an afternoon trip but were warned that it might just be cancelled as well. So, as an alternative we wanted to go back to do a morning guided hike at Five Lakes. On the way in we had another bear encounter, a mother bear with to cubs! Just fantastic! Arriving at the visitor centre we found out we were too late for a morning hike. It takes 3 hours and can’t be rushed (because it’s a guided group hike), and we wouldn’t be able to finish in time for our boat cruise. Our third option was driving further into the park to Kamuiwakka Hot Springs for an unguided hike. This was another joyful drive through the foggy terrain. We have a Norwegian expression called “trolsk” which means that it feels like a place the trolls could live, and this was how we felt. We had animal encounters all along the road (mostly deer), but unfortunately, the hiking area is closed from October 1. to July 1. - and “today” was June 30. 

Back in Utoro the boat cruise was still on, and we happily entered the vessel. We positioned us on the starboard side and quickly started enjoying the shoreline. It was even more “troll-like” near the water. Some 15-20 minutes later the vessel suddenly turned and started going back. A crewmember informed us that the trip was cancelled, and we would get a refund, but nobody tried to explain to us why they cancelled (probably because of the language barrier). 

Yet another return to Five Lakes and we found out that all the guided hikes for the afternoon were fully booked. Our remaining option was to repeat our first walk on the elevated boardwalk, and so we did, but this time without any bears. Yet we thrived in this environment and enjoyed every minute. It’s an enjoyable temperature for a northerner (as opposed to the rest of Japan) and its nice area for hiking even though we had only short hikes.

The following night we spent at the hotel inside the park, Chi na Hate. This hotel is traditional Japanese and recommendable. The nice ohnsen, the fantastic looks and taste of the fixed menu and the hotel itself is also enjoyable, although expensive.

The following day we crossed the core zone by car through Shiretoko Pass, north to south. Sadly, it was heavy fog at top of the pass, but less further down. This time of year, it is foggy – that’s part of the experience.

On the southeastern side we took the 24 km dead end road northeast along the peninsula. Along that shore there are inhabitants – fishermen villages, thus not so wild. The National Park starts at the steep hillside - impossible to enter and even almost impossible to see. The road itself is not included in the core zone. But in the end, we were very happy with our Shiretoko experience!

Getting there

Shiretoko is about a day drive from Sapporo to the park (round 400 km) and just a bit shorter from New Chitose Airport. There is a bus connection from Sapporo (which takes more than 7 hours) and an airport in Nakashibetsu southwest of the park but is a bit off.

On our way east we stopped at the town called Furano to enjoy the flowering ski slopes which was a nice break - it split the long drive in two.

### Randi & Svein Elias