Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [487]
SIGHTSEEING TRAIN
Running concurrently with the Aurora is the Ryūhyō Norokko-gō (; admission ¥810), which putters along twice a day from Abashiri to Shari through a field of utter white snow. Stare out at this frozen landscape while eating toasted surume (squid) and nursing a can of Sapporo lager.
SKIING & SNOWBOARDING
If you’re looking to spend a day on the slopes, you’ll find powder at Kamui Ski Links (; 72-2311; www.kamui-skilinks.com, in Japanese; lift ticket ¥3000; 9am-5pm Dec-Apr). This top-rated resort is the site of several snowboarding competitions and has an even mix of beginner, intermediate and advanced slopes, including one of Japan’s longest – 3500m. Eight lifts and 10 courses help to keep crowds down. There’s no night skiing here, but Kamui is less pricey than some of its southern competitors, and much less crowded than any of the resorts outside Sapporo.
MUSEUMS
A ¥900 ticket gives all-day entry on a tourist-loop bus, which connects the bus and train stations to the various museums.
Abashiri Prison Museum (; 45-2411; www.kangoku.jp/world/index.htm; admission ¥1050; 8am-6pm Apr-Oct, 9am-5pm Nov-Mar) details many of the reasons that this prison was so feared. Inmates braved brutally cold winters with thin bedding and very little heat: one lone pipe ran the length of the corridors, providing almost no heat for cell-bound prisoners.
Abashiri Prison (), across the river, and still a working penitentiary, has a gift shop and tiny museum (43-3167; 9am-4pm) where crafts made by inmates can be purchased. It’s also possible to walk around outside the prison walls, though further entry and photographs are prohibited.
Near the prison museum is the unique Okhotsk Ryūhyō Museum (; Museum of Ice Floes; 43-5951; www.ryuhyokan.com, in Japanese; admission ¥520; 8am-6pm Apr-Oct, 9am-4.30pm Nov-Mar) has odd ice-related exhibits. One of the more interesting is a display relating to the tiny kurione (Sea Angels), a funky relative of the sea slug, which is sort of an Abashiri mascot.
A few minutes’ walk downhill from the summit of Tento-zan is the Museum of Northern Peoples (;45-3888; www.hoppohm.org/english/index.htm; admission ¥450; 9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sun). This is a state-of-the-art place with numerous exhibits of Ainu culture, as well as of Native American, Aleutian and other indigenous peoples.
CORAL-GRASS VIEWING
Known as salt pickle or glasswort in other parts of the world, this humble marsh plant gets its 15 minutes of fame in mid-September, when it turns bright red. Busloads of tourists flock to a few boardwalk-viewing spots. Nature lovers will enjoy the bird life, as the marshes attract not only seagulls, but curlews, terns, egrets, herons and more.
DIVING
If you want to see what is beneath the ice, and possibly come face to face with the odd mollusc that is the kurione, Tartaruga (; 61-5201; www.tar2uga.co.jp; 2 dives ¥30,000) offers blood-pumping scuba dives in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Festivals & Events
Orochon-no-hi () A fire festival held on the last Saturday in July, derived from the shamanistic rites of the indigenous Gilyak people, who once lived in the Abashiri area.
Come Back Salmon Night () A welcome to the lake’s most famous (and delicious!) fish. Each year (mid-October to mid-December, depending on the fishes’ schedule) the salmon run upstream, greeted by bright spotlights that illuminate the fish as they pass into Abashiri Lake. Nearby grilling stations serve sanma (a dark, oily and delicious seasonal fish that’s distantly related to mackerel, but smaller), scallops, squid and venison, often with free tastes. Salmon – the guest of honour – is not served…not that night anyway.
Sleeping
Abashiri Gensei-kaen Youth Hostel (; 46-2630; http://sapporo.cool.ne.jp/genseikaen, in Japanese; dm per person incl breakfast from ¥4600; closed Nov-Jan; ) This rural farmhouse turned youth hostel is located in the middle of the Wakka