Kayaking Wild Hokkaido - a Travel Journal
- Cathy@zusetsu
- Jun 23
- 15 min read
We've sailed on the sea for a long time, and we love the opportunity to explore rocky coasts and quiet rivers by kayak. We're birdwatchers, nature lovers, and we love the unspoiled watery places.
And so Hokkaido held many attractions for us.
The Info
We flew Air China to Japan, and we were both allowed to bring two cases each, which was great for us. Our kayaks pack down into portable backpacks, and in the backpacks we can also stow lifejackets, paddles and small keels (skegs). Each kayak fitted within the size and weight allowance, and each kayak acted as one of our cases.
In our main cases we brought clothes for nice evenings out in Tokyo and an Hokkaido onsen. We also brought outdoor wear, kayak shoes, and waterproofs for kayaking (the waterproofs make kayaking the inflatables more comfortable, as they have no dry shelter, and you do get wet!).
Amongst all this was also cooler gear for the heat of Beijing, as well as a spare kayak pump, a spare collapsible paddle, and wildlife-spotting binoculars!
For our kayak routes we relied on a great website called The Hokkaido Wilds.
We also found our final route by luck when we were searching Hokkaido bird identification!
As soon as we headed out into Hokkaido from Sapporo airport we were struck by the greenery: many different varieties of tree covers the landscape, all in varying shades of green creating a wonderful needlepoint effect.
Flowering cherry trees splashed the hillside forests, just as I recall the cherry trees splashing the hillsides around Arashiyama's Daikakuji near Kyoto. But that was in early April, and here we were in Hokkaido in early June. The sakura was flowering here two months later!
We stopped at a layby where a lady was selling Hokkaido soft-serve sofutokuri-mu icecream in flower-like cones.
I thought a lot about the Japanese morning drama Natsuzora on this trip, as Natsu's story begins in Hokkaido when she is given a home by a pioneering dairy farmer and his family.
Hokkaido today is largely a dairy farming, agricultural, forestry, and fishing community outside of the Sapporo area. The milk truly is delicious, and that icecream was the first of many!
Tokachigawa Moor Onsen Seijakubou
Our first stop was an enormous treat. It was our first ever stay at an onsen: an incredibly relaxing and restful place of calm, kind, attentive service, delicious food, and hot springs.
Ladies dressed in kimono lined up to welcome us into the Tokachigawa Moor Onsen.
Our large room was awash with luxury. From the white waffle kimono dressing gowns, to the mochi sweets and tea and gifts. Outside in a private enclosed area was our very own hot spring pool. It was bliss!
The food was amazing, and we ate seated opposite each other in kimono-style pyjamas and tabi socks!
We were guided to a private banquette overlooking the central courtyard raked gravel garden, so that we could sit and drink tea and eat the exquisite sweets.
That night, there was a single star over the hot tub.
The beds were enormous and so comfortable!
Breakfast was so vast a map was provided. It was delicious with many different dishes including fish, and miso, creamy Hokkaido yoghurt, and neatly rolled omelette, pickles and plum.
The onsen was an oasis for becoming rested: relaxing hot spring baths, delicious sweets to eat, warm robes to wear, kind smiling ladies to help, lots and lots of delicious food, and quiet, private corners to sit.
A group of very warm, kindly ladies dressed in kimono helped us with our cases out to our car. And they all stood waving as we drove away.
Bekanbeushi Marshes
We left behind the once-in-a-lifetime luxury of the onsen and prepared ourselves for a different pace!
We had planned our Hokkaido kayaking trips over the long winter, and so it was with a great sense of excitement that we launched our kayaks at the Akkeshi Waterfowl Observation Centre, and paddled on to the winding river.
The day was perfect: vivid blue skies and soft breezes that murmured through the reedbeds.
We paddled deeper and deeper into the wetlands, amazed at the loud, melodic birdcalls emanating from the reedbeds.
We saw reed buntings and amur stonechats, and overhead black kites swung in the gentle air. Purple-brown herons flew low across the marshes, as well as a cuckoo - the first one I'd seen for a long time. Sika deer accompanied us on our paddle into the marshes too.
Birdwatching House in Poroto
We stayed in a gorgeous wooden chalet-style house near Poroto, which had an amazing lake with lots of birdlife, just across the way. We ate breakfast in the house able to watch cranes down by the lake. The air was full of birdsong.
'Japanese robin!' said the kindly owner. He was a nice man, who lives there with his black labrador. He's a bird artist, and the house is full of his keenly studied bird paintings. It must be paradise to be a bird painter and live in that wild location by the lake.
What I especially loved about the house was the roaring woodburner that greeted us after a day out on the marshes in the kayaks. The house had a common room, with the woodburner, a telescope and binoculars, and lots of Japanese bird guides. As we were the only guests staying, we had the room to ourselves.
In the mornings we looked out of the window at blush-chested shrikes and and black-capped marsh tits in the trees, as grebes dove and ducks dabbled on the lake.
Birds were everywhere here. It was a birdwatcher's dream!
Kiritappu and the Cranes
At Kiritappu, sea fog kindled with the hot spring marsh steam and clung to the fishing boats.
We parked up to one side of a road-bridge near to the Kiritappu Wetland Centre. The early morning drizzly cold fog was not inviting. Nor was the road-sign which indicated that a bear had been seen in the area six days before.
I'm nervous about bears, but across the road I could see two cranes on the marsh. They were very animated, chiding a deer by running with their John Cleese legs after it and clapping their pointy beaks. They spurred me to get into my boat! I had a spectacular view through my binoculars from my kayak of these feisty cranes.
The marsh became narrower and narrower - too narrow for a kayak paddle, so we turned around, retracing our way and headed out towards the sea. But the fog rolled in in skeins, drifting past us, over the estuary mud and reedbeds. The tide was flowing out with us, and the depth became so shallow at one point we climbed out of our boats and stood in the mud to remove the skegs (keels) so that we wouldn't run aground.
The fog made us laugh that it was like something out of a Stephen King novel! Wild bird calls surrounded us, and shovelers, stonechats, sandpipers, and sea eagles flew around us. It was eery and beautiful, and we felt very alone out there in the tidal wilderness!
East Hokkaido and the Boardwalk
East Hokkaido was sea fog and strange, like you could slip off the end of the world and disappear.
We walked along a boardwalk into a pine forest graveyard, as cranes and sea eagles tussled in the estuary.
The Pacific Ocean made a fine place to wash the Kiritappu mud off our boats.
We began to notice that the roadside plants were so different: kamchatka trillium white flower, violets, skunk cabbage, and a white lily-type plant.
Everywhere grew burdock, which I later ate tempura'd! It made me think of the new year tea ceremony I went to in Kyoto with Mai, with the half-moon blushed mochi and the sweet-and-savoury strip of burdock inside. It was one of the most delicious sweets I've ever tasted!
As we drove back to our birdwatching home, we were astonished to see a huge brown sea eagle sitting alone on a beach staring out to sea. But then we drove slowly past the next beach and another sea eagle was sat in exactly the same way: sat on a driftwood log, staring out to sea. And then we saw another sea eagle in exactly the same pose on the next beach! There they were, staring out into the fog like old men of the sea.
And the deer routinely walked on the empty roads, so that they loomed out of the thick rolling fog. The villages appeared half abandoned with perhaps a Seicomart. Thank goodness for the friendly host and the blazing woodburner welcome back at the Poroto house!
Lake Akan and the Shrine Island
The drive across to Lake Akan was wonderful. The sun came out shining brilliantly on the farmland and mountains.
At Lake Akan we found a small track leading down to the shore of the lake where we could easily launch our boats. We were alone apart from one or two fishermen who had waded into the shallows. It was heaven to drift out into the lake under the magnificent shadow of a volcano.
Close to the shore, the pine forests scented the air, mingling with the stone-like air of the water.
Down to the far western end of the lake grow the unique little algae 'moss balls' called marimo for which Akanko is famous.
Around the shore we saw golden plover and snipe, as well as a bird for which we had no reference. It was extraordinary, with black pointed hawk-like wings and a long, graceful chestnut tail.
It was only later in the week that we discovered what this bird was, thanks to a bird identification poster in the Mount Meakan observation centre!
It was a long-tailed jaeger!
Yatai-tou is a gorgeous little island in the lake. I'm sure it would take only moments to walk completely around it! We paddled up to the makeshift plywood pontoon, which was held together with knotted sweatshirts and old drainage pipes and towels. It was wonderful sitting on the pontoon as the kayaks swayed on the water just below our feet.
The day was glorious - warm sun, light and cool airy breeze, and the views across the lake with the volcanic mountains in the background was very heaven. What makes Akan such a joy to kayak on is the purity of the water. Everything is fresh and clear.
The island has a small shrine and wooden torii for the Hakuryū - the white dragon god. The primordial, pristine forest surrounding the lake was echoed on the tiny island. It was easy to believe that the kami lived here. Hokkaido is so reminiscent of the forests of Ghibli's Princess Mononoke.
We loved the drive to Lake Akan so much, where kitakitsune northern foxes and deer amble in the roads, and the mountains and forest are breathtakingly beautiful, that we brought the kayaks here twice. The second time was a windier ride, with waves on the lake and water shipping into our easy-drain kayaks, but it was still a wonderful experience.
We saw chestnut oriental turtle doves, and a black squirrel in the woods. Wildlife is everywhere in this beautiful place. There is so much leafy cover for the birds and animals, and cries and warbling calls echo from shrubs and forests.
Teshikaga Stay
From Lake Akan, we drove down through the beautiful mountains back into the flatter lands where there are ploughed arable fields and pastures full of tanpopo - dandelions!
Here we saw small birds: wagtails and nuthatch.
The oldest farm buildings were wooden clapperboard, and the rooves look European. There was much that made us think of Europe in the landscape. Could it be a hint of a Russian landscape, I wondered, as we were so close? Certainly it was a surprise to see Japanese temples and shrines.
It was clear some of the villages we passed through were suffering from depopulation. Farms could be rundown too. It takes a very special sort of person to live so far from the modern comforts we take so much for granted. But for someone who loves adventure and wilderness, nature-watching and beautiful landscapes, this would be an ideal place to be.
Many people love the remote primordial beauty of this wild island.
Teshikaga was a happening place, with a lovely river, and good shops and restaurants, nestled between Lakes Mashu and Kussharo in the stunning Akan-Mashu National Park.
We stayed at a chalet-style wooden lodge deep in the Teshikaga countryside. It was perfect for us!
This was a land of volcanoes, sulphur pits, and natural hot springs. They were everywhere!
At Sunayu we dug pits in the beach with a kayak paddle to reach the hot water below the sand. The sand was hot on our bare feet as the piles accumulated!
At Ikenoyu (literally: hot water pond) we lay in the warm steaming water watching the sun drop behind the mountains across the lake, and got dressed in the little huts nearby!
And, talking of volcanoes, we experienced our first earthquakes here. Measured at 6.1, we were sat in our car up at the Lake Mashu observation point and the car shook and then began to wobble! Later that night as we were all playing cards, we felt a charge shoot through the floor, and in bed that night the ground tremored again (from an earthquake!). There was a lot of volcanic activity in the area, I think!
Shiretoko National Park and Whale Watching from Rausu
Hokkaido was already spectacular - an island where nature dominated and humanity seemed to be tolerated slightly! But our daytrip up to the Shiretoko National Park was extraordinary. I've never known a day for wildlife like it.
Our day began in Rausu, a cute fishing port set below the spectacular icy mountains of Shiretoko. Across a short stretch of ocean was Russia.
Our mission was to see orcas, and the whale-watching boat that we sailed out to sea on was efficient at finding us wonderful sealife. Beautiful brown Murphy's petrels led us out onto the ocean towards the Russian sea border. Dall's porpoises barrelled through the steely waves. The icy air breathed down from the mountains as we watched the enormous spongy fluke of a rare hump-backed whale rise up above the ocean surface. We saw an extravagantly whiskered seal.
But there were no orcas, and the ship turned around and began to head back to port.
But then things got exciting! Something was happening over where one or two other boats had gathered. Our boat gathered pace to try and reach them. And then I heard two words over the tannoy in Japanese that made my heart leap! Migi...shachi!!
And there they were - orcas to our right. And I confess I was so utterly shocked at how unimaginably beautiful and wild they were that my eyes filled with tears! These huge, dark, graceful animals with their incredible carbon-fibre-sail-like dorsal fins that soared above the waves, were so moving and overwhelming in their grace. I was not prepared for that. I was stunned by them, and they were so close, and there were several of these dark barrel-like animals, a yellow flash somewhere behind the eyes. There were even young ones.
So I would highly recommend a trip out to sea with the Rausu whale watching boats. They were very informed, and did their very best to help us to see these beautiful wild animals.
Afterwards, we warmed up in a very cute apple cafe for delicious apple pie and hot chocolate. Let me just say that, just like Hokkaido dairy, Hokkaido apples are incredibly delicious!
And then we drove up and over the pass into the snowy mountains, dominated by ice-capped volcano Mount Io. We stopped here and looked out across the hillsides to the sea where we had just been, with views across to the islands.
The indigenous Ainu people knew it here as the end of the earth. It's a spectacular landscape, and it does feel like it could be where the world stops. There are short, stubby pine trees and slipped-off snow, and hoopoes calling in the distance.
From here, it's easy to imagine a line drawn straight across the Pacific which would reach perhaps that other remote place where we have loved to kayak and whale-watch: Vancouver Island, just off the edge of Canada.
And just before the Shiretoko National Park Nature Centre, a brown bear ambled across the road in front of our car and lumbered down into the forest.
We were aiming to go for a walk at the Nature Centre, so I asked the ranger if it was ok, given that we'd just seen a bear a few metres up the road. Immediately, rangers sprung into action and several gathered to hasten the bear away.
Surprisingly, we still did our walk down to a beautiful waterfall on the coast. But we talked loudly all the way, just in case!
On the other side of the Shiretoko peninsula is a little gateway town, and we stopped here because we saw it had a hot spring footbath! Nice!
I loved the washing-line contraptions for air-drying fish. They looked like spinning kippers!
What a day for wildlife! I never would have believed we would see orcas and a bear!
Lake Kussharo and the Hot Springs
The following day we were back in our inflatable kayaks, paddling on to beautiful Lake Kussharo. Kussharo is wonderfully wild, unspoiled, and pristine.
I expected it to be a lot more geared for holidays, but apart from a discreet campsite and a paddle-board rental hut, we really had the lake all to ourselves.
It was another lovely day - warm with light winds. We paddled under the fresh, shady leaves in the dappled light, navigating the Wakoto Peninsula. The wind got up as we turned back on the peninsula on the far side, and we had some epic paddling to reach the uncanny hot springs and lemon yellow sulphur pits which were part of its shore.
We tied up the boats to a rock, and spent a blissful time sitting on hot rocks with our feet in hot water! It more than made up for the buffeting winds!
Lake Kussharo and the Kushiro River
And then by chance, we discovered that there was river route from Lake Kussharo which could take kayaks down to Teshikaga and onwards to the sea.
We thought it wise to take a look at the river before we attempted this, and what we quickly learned was that the current was swift on the river Kushiro!
We drove down to Teshikaga to see the widened river there, but there were signs up warning of obstructions under the water - clearly, you would have to lift boats out here and put them back in further downstream.
We decided to opt for a pull-out spot at Biruwahashi, which would give us a 9.5km run with the current.
The lake was exquisite on the morning of our kayak. It was a halcyon day, with air like champagne! Warm sun, cool air, and pure water glittering in the sunlight.
We enjoyed Lake Kussharo for a while, and then began to feel the pull of the current as we began to approach the river exit.
The clear rolling water swept us along its meander, twisting us around corners as we dodged both overhanging branches and sunken trees.
The bird whoops and warbles echoed across the water, and the cicadas in the forests were so loud!
It was difficult to photo because it was near impossible to stop! It was one long technical rollercoaster, dipping a paddle here to sharply turn at a submerged log, or folding forward as a low branch rainbowed overhead. It was so much fun!
Only once did the strong current slam me against a bunch of branches in the water, and I felt the jeopardy as my kayak is inflatable! I was sure that it would be punctured against the branches, and even shipped water trying to escape the tree. I managed to drag the boat forward and it slipped away back in the flow of the current. And on we travelled down the glittering stream.
I followed a kingfisher around curves of the river. My husband saw woodpeckers. We stopped on a shallow beach of shingle as fluffy puffs of willow stuff floated in the air around us. And then we were off again!
There was even a stretch of white water which we had to commit to - there was no choice! No turning back on this wild current, we pitched in and laughed, it was great fun!
All this, and an urgent pull-out point at the bridge, so that we didn't get swept on by the rolling water.
The Train that Goes Nowhere
From time to time we would see a single carriage train ambling along a track in the woods. Where did it go? Was anyone on it? I imagined No Face to be on it, and that it was heading to a lake where the tracks crossed the water, just like in Ghibli's Spirited Away!
Daisetsuzan National Park
We'd had a fantastic time in the lodge in Teshikaga, but it was time to begin our homeward travel, so we drove west across Hokkaido and up into the Daisetsuzan National Park, where we stayed at a cute onsen called Oyado Shikishima Sou on the Asahidake mountain.
The onsen is right next to a tumbling mountain river, and we had a lovely tatami room near to it, where we were lulled to sleep by the sound.
The Asahidake mountain is a wonderful place for wildflowers, and the visitor centre is beautifully set up with books to help identify them. Certainly, I could become very interested in the mountain flowers if I could stay longer!
It's a beautiful area with snow, marsh marigolds, butterbur and fragrant lilies.
The Hill of the Buddha
South of Sapporo is an interesting artwork by Japanese architect Tadao Ando.
The Hill of the Buddha is a serene space, occupied by a beautifully carved large Buddha, set in a hall beneath a sea of mauve lavender. The fields of scented lavender blend into the blue sky, and skylarks ascend and fall along with their gorgeous song, and the whole creates a feeling of uplift and otherworldliness.
The entrance to the worship hall is beyond a mirror-like pool, on which breaths of wind ruffle the surface reflections of sky and clouds.
It really is an astonishing work of worship and art. It's a new representation of Buddha for the modern age, engaging all of the senses with the extraordinary play of light, sound, and scent.
Here ended our 2000km Hokkaido journey! I hope there is something of interest for you in this travel journal.
My overwhelming impression of Hokkaido is a pristine landscape where the wild things are still wild. It's a beautiful place inhabited by extraordinary animals and birds. It's a place where the rock still trembles with volcanic activity, and where the earth steams and pools are warm. It's a place of ice-capped mountains, orcas and bears, and it's special. Very special. As the Ainu so wisely said, it's the end of the earth.
Thank you to The Hokkaido Wilds for the route maps!
What an adventure, thank you so much for sharing!