The wild territory of Shiretoko in Hokkaido

2019年 08月14日


Located at the extreme northeastern tip of Hokkaido, the Shiretoko Peninsula is perhaps the most remote territory in Japan, as no road has been built in the national park, the area is quite difficult to access. "Shiretoko" is derived from "sir etok" or "sir-etoko", the Ainu language, who are the native inhabitants in Hokkaido, and means place where poke through the ground.

The peninsula is made up of steep mountains at an altitude of around 1500 meters, large lakes, swamps, gigantic cliffs overlooking the sea, virgin rivers and forests. Shiretoko National Park is registered the World National Heritage in 2005, is an area of over 70,000 hectares offering a wide variety of landscapes to explore.

Shiretako 5 lakes area in winter
 
Shiretoko is also the largest reserve of brown bears in the world and an excursion often requires the presence of an experienced guide, mainly between May and July, the most active period in the bear. Visiting Shiretoko's 5 lakes region (https://www.goko.go.jp/multilingual_eng/ground_pathway.html) in the north is often subject to strict safety rules, and will only be possible in a very small area. , limited to a small number of visitors and will be closed in case of bears.
Shiretoko brown bear
 
Note that the area of the 5 lakes can be visited also in winter, to observe in particular rare species such as stellers'S sea eagle, one of the largest raptors in the world living only visible in the regions of the world located near the Bering Strait .

Easier to access, the southwest of the peninsula is made up of a totally different landscape. The sites of interest are located by the sea or steep cliffs that can rise to over 200 meters are surrounded by a panorama similar to the Nordic countries such as Iceland or the Faroe Islands. A must see in these placesis Furape no taki (Furape waterfall, the icefalls), which in winter form magnificent columns of ice on the frozen sea.

Ezo deer near Furepe Waterfall ENSO ANGO

North of the peninsula stands one of Japan's 100 most famous mountains, Mount Rausu, a volcano with an altitude of more than 1,600 meters. You can enjoy hiking around the mountain, there beautiful treks surrounded (requires certain physical actibity level) as well as admiring the virgin forest and a different mountain flora each season near the Rausu lake.

Comme dans d'autres régions du nord du Japon (Aomori, Akita), Shiretoko possède son propre nebuta matsuri durant lequel on fait défilé de gigantesques lanternes à travers les rues de la ville à la nuit tombée. 
 

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