Hidaka 日高振興局

The 2020 Census figures above total 63,372.⁶ Each municipality's file gives its latest resident-register figure.

• Shape and neighbors: Hidaka lies in the south-center of Hokkaido. It is a rough rectangle between the Hidaka Mountains and a coastline that runs parallel to them. Across the mountains to the northeast are Kamikawa and Tokachi. Iburi is to the northwest, and the Pacific is to the south.¹

• The two Hidaka towns: Hidaka Town is split in two by Biratori. By road, its inland Hidaka district is 49 km from Biratori, and its coastal Monbetsu district another 17 km beyond, about 66 km in all.¹²

• Coast: The subprefecture has 167 km of coastline. The cold Oyashio and warm Kuroshio currents meet offshore, which makes these rich fishing grounds.¹⁵

• Hidaka Mountains: About 30 peaks run some 140 km from north to south. The highest is Mt. Poroshiri (幌尻岳, also romanized Horoshiri; 2,052 m). The range has glacial cirques and knife-edge ridges.¹ The mountains drop into the Pacific at Cape Erimo, and a line of reefs continues for about 2 km offshore.¹⁶

• National park: Hidaka-sanmyaku Erimo Tokachi National Park (日高山脈襟裳十勝国立公園) was designated on 25 June 2024. Its land area of 245,668 ha makes it Japan's largest national park on land.¹⁷¹ It takes in the Hidaka Mountains, the country around Mt. Apoi and the coast from Hiroo to Cape Erimo.¹ All seven Hidaka towns are in the park, together with Obihiro and five towns and villages of Tokachi.¹⁷

• Forest: Forest covers about 84% of the land, the highest share of any of Hokkaido's 14 subprefectures. The 401,657 ha of forest are about 7% of Hokkaido's total, and 57.7% of it is national forest. Hidaka holds about 10% of Hokkaido's standing stock of broadleaf timber.¹⁵ The subprefecture's land-use table, which uses tax categories, gives a lower figure of nearly 80%.¹

• Rivers: The Saru River (沙流川) is 104 km long and drains 1,350 km². It rises on Kumami-yama in the Hidaka Mountains, joins the Nukabira River in Biratori and reaches the sea at Tomikawa in Hidaka Town.¹⁸

• Mt. Apoi: Mt. Apoi (810 m)¹ in Samani is built of peridotite, and endemic alpine plants grow on its unusual soil. The Mt. Apoi Geopark became a Japanese Geopark in 2008 and a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2015.¹⁹ Its alpine plant community has been a Special Natural Monument since 1952.²⁰

• Cape Erimo: The cape in Erimo has about 1,000 harbor seals, the largest number anywhere in Japan.³

• Climate: Hidaka is fairly warm and snow-light for Hokkaido, but the coast and the interior differ. The coast has a maritime climate, with small changes between seasons and between day and night, and little snow but more rain. The interior is more continental, with bigger temperature swings and more snow.¹ The 1991–2020 normals show the contrast:

  • Urakawa: annual mean 8.2 °C (January −2.4 °C, August 19.9 °C), 1,118.3 mm of precipitation and 128 cm of snowfall a year²¹
  • Shizunai, in Shinhidaka: annual mean 8.2 °C, with 188 cm of snowfall and a normal deepest snow cover of 21 cm²²
  • Hidaka, in the inland Hidaka district: annual mean 6.3 °C (January −7.6 °C), 1,324.3 mm of precipitation, 495 cm of snowfall and a normal deepest snow cover of 84 cm²³
  • Erimo-misaki: annual mean 7.4 °C, with August at only 17.7 °C and a mean wind speed of 8.1 m/s²⁴

  In 2025 Urakawa averaged 10.0 °C with 83 cm of snowfall. The Erimo-misaki station recorded a peak gust of 50.6 m/s.¹

• Brown bears: The Hidaka–Yubari area had an estimated 4,060 brown bears at the end of 2023, about 35% of Hokkaido's estimated 11,550. The whole Hidaka range is bear habitat. In 2025 the subprefecture issued bear advisories for the Honchō and Nina districts of Biratori from 1 August to 30 September, and for the Ogifushi area of Urakawa from 22 October to 21 November.¹

• Earthquakes: The Urakawa-oki earthquake of 21 March 1982 (M7.1) brought seismic intensity 6 to Urakawa and injured 167 people.²⁵

• Ainu homeland: The subprefecture's own chronology begins with the Ainu. It says they lived here from long ago because the summers are cool, the winters mild with little snow, and food from the sea and mountains plentiful.¹³
• Trading posts: In the Edo period the Matsumae domain opened seven trading posts (basho) in the area: Saru, Niikappu, Shizunai, Mitsuishi, Urakawa, Shamani and Horoizumi. Each later became a district of Hidaka Province.¹⁰ The subprefecture's chronology dates the Matsumae family's rule over Ezo to 1590, and the start of the basho system, with Hidaka opened as fishing grounds of East Ezo, to 1599.¹³
• Shakushain's War (1669): Two Ainu groups, the Menashikur and the Shumkur, fought for years over fishing and hunting rights in the Shibechari area, the basin of today's Shizunai River.¹⁰ In 1669 the Menashikur chief Shakushain called on Ainu across much of Hokkaido to rise against the Matsumae domain, and 356 Japanese (wajin) were killed. Shakushain accepted peace talks and was killed at the peace banquet at Pipok, in today's Niikappu, on 16 November 1669. His fort, the Shibechari chashi, fell the next day.²⁶ The Shibechari River chashi group in Shinhidaka and the Appetsu chashi in Hidaka became a National Historic Site on 2 December 1997.²⁰
• Shogunate rule and roads: The shogunate took direct control of the area in 1799 to guard against Russia. It returned the area to Matsumae from 1821 to 1854.¹³ From 1799 officials had mountain roads cut around difficult stretches of coast. These included the Samani Mountain Path and the Saruru Mountain Road, forerunners of National Route 336. Inō Tadataka surveyed the coast in 1800.¹⁰ Both roads became National Historic Sites on 13 February 2018.²⁰
• Tōju-in (1804): In 1804 the shogunate founded three government temples in Ezo, one of them Tōju-in in Samani. They held funerals for Japanese who died in Ezo and preached Buddhism to the Ainu. They also showed the shogunate's control of Ezo as part of its policy toward Russia.³ Tōju-in's records became a national Important Cultural Property in 2005.²⁰
• Hidaka Province (1869): The province was created on the 15th day of the 8th month of Meiji 2 (1869), with seven districts and 79 villages. Its name came from the explorer Matsuura Takeshirō, who linked the area with Hitakami no kuni (日高見国), a land of the Emishi in the Nihon Shoki. From 1869 to 1871 parts of the province were handed to domains to settle, including Sendai, Hikone, Tokushima and Kagoshima. The 1872 count found 6,574 people.¹⁰
• Administration: The Kaitakushi (Hokkaido Development Commission) opened an Urakawa branch office in 1872, but closed it in 1874. A district office for the area opened in Urakawa in 1879. When the Kaitakushi was abolished in 1882, Hidaka became part of Sapporo Prefecture. The Hokkaido Agency followed in 1886.¹³ The Urakawa Subprefecture (浦河支庁) was set up on 5 November 1897 and renamed the Hidaka Subprefecture (日高支庁) on 15 August 1932.¹¹¹³ Japanese Wikipedia's article on the present bureau gives the renaming as 1922, but the subprefecture's own chronology and the article on the old subprefecture both give 1932.⁹¹³¹¹
• Horses and the imperial ranch: The Kaitakushi's chief Kuroda Kiyotaka proposed a ranch to breed larger Japanese horses. The Niikappu Imperial Ranch that followed covered land in Shizunai and Niikappu. The 7 km Nijukken Road was built inside it in 1903.³ In 1916 the Ainu community at Anesaru, in today's Niikappu, was forcibly moved to Kami-Nukibetsu in Biratori because of the ranch, and its school moved with it.²⁷
• Railway: The Tomakomai Light Railway reached Sarufuto, now Tomikawa in Hidaka Town, on 1 October 1913. It and the Hidaka Takushoku Railway were nationalized in 1927 as the Hidaka Line, which reached Samani on 10 August 1937.²⁸
• The Nibutani Dam case (1997): On 27 March 1997 the Sapporo District Court ruled that taking Ainu land for the Nibutani Dam in Biratori had been illegal. It was the first time an organ of the Japanese state recognized the Ainu as an indigenous people. The same year, the Ainu Culture Promotion Act replaced the old Hokkaido Former Natives Protection Act.²⁹ One of the two plaintiffs, Kayano Shigeru of Nibutani, was the first Ainu member of the National Diet, serving in the House of Councillors from 1994 to 1998.³⁰
• Roads: The Tenma Kaidō (National Route 236) opened throughout on 25 September 1997. Its 4,232 m Nozuka Tunnel runs under the Hidaka Mountains and cut the trip from Hidaka to Tokachi by about 30 km and 50 minutes.³¹ The first section of the Hidaka Expressway in the subprefecture, to Hidaka-Tomikawa IC, opened in March 2006.¹²
• 2003 floods: Typhoon No. 10 in August 2003 caused the heavy rain known as the "Hidaka downpour" (日高豪雨).²⁹
• 2006 mergers: Hidaka Town and Monbetsu Town merged as a new Hidaka Town on 1 March 2006. Shizunai and Mitsuishi merged as Shinhidaka on 31 March 2006, in the new Hidaka District.¹¹
• The 2010 reorganization: On 28 June 2008 the Hokkaido Assembly passed an ordinance to reorganize the 14 subprefectures. Under it, Hidaka would have become a subordinate bureau of a "Nittan General Subprefectural Bureau" (日胆総合振興局), formed from Iburi. Subprefectures that were to be absorbed objected, and on 31 March 2009 the Assembly amended the ordinance.¹¹ The five smaller bureaus, Hidaka among them, got the same legal status as the general bureaus. The neighboring Iburi bureau may still handle some work that is best done over a wider area.⁹ The Hidaka Subprefectural Bureau (日高振興局) replaced the Hidaka Subprefecture on 1 April 2010, with the same seven towns.¹¹³²
• Loss of the railway (2015–2021): High waves damaged the Hidaka Line in January 2015, and trains never ran south of Mukawa again. The 116.0 km from Mukawa to Samani was abolished on 1 April 2021 and replaced by buses.²⁸ Hidaka, Hiyama and Rumoi are now the only subprefectures of Hokkaido with no railway.⁹
• 2021 red tide: A red tide off the Pacific coast of eastern Hokkaido in September 2021 sharply cut catches of whelks and other species.¹⁵
• 2024–2026: The national park was designated on 25 June 2024.¹⁷ Shinhidaka opened its Ainu Culture Exchange Center on 1 May 2025.³³ The Hidaka Expressway reached Niikappu IC on 28 February 2026, when a 9.1 km toll-free section opened. It is planned to link Tomakomai with Urakawa.³⁴ With that section, 29.1 km of the expressway was open.¹²

• Structure: At the 2020 Census Hidaka had 9,798 workers in primary industry, 4,418 in secondary industry and 19,274 in services.³⁵ Primary industry was about 29% of these, against about 7% for Hokkaido (calculated from the same table). Unemployment was 3.7%, against 4.2% for Hokkaido.³⁵
• Racehorses: Hidaka bred 6,242 of Japan's 7,925 light-horse foals in 2024 (78.8%). Iburi bred most of the rest (1,476, or 18.6%).²
  • The number of farms keeping broodmares peaked around 1975 and has fallen since. Farms have grown larger, though, and mare and foal numbers have risen again since about 2015.²
  • Shinhidaka has about 30% of Hidaka's output. The town says its yearly thoroughbred production is the largest of any municipality in Japan.¹⁴
  • The Hokkaido Market (北海道市場) in Shinhidaka is run jointly by the light-horse breeders' cooperatives of Hidaka, Iburi and Tokachi. It holds auctions from May to October, lists more than 2,000 horses a year, and is the largest horse market in Japan. Sales topped ¥10 billion every year from 2017 to 2025.²
  • The JRA Hidaka Training and Research Center in Urakawa has a 1,000 m indoor straight and a 1,000 m indoor uphill track.³
  • Shizunai Agricultural High School in Shinhidaka is, according to the subprefecture, the only school in Japan that teaches its own subjects on raising and using horses (馬学 and 馬利用学).²⁰
  • Monbetsu Racecourse in Hidaka is the home of Hokkaido Keiba, the prefecture's local racing, and the subprefecture calls it the only racecourse in Japan inside a horse-breeding area.² The 2026 season runs for 85 days, from 15 April to 12 November, with night racing.³⁶
• Farming: Estimated farm output was ¥76.95 billion in 2023. Livestock made up 91% of it, and "other livestock", which includes light horses, 77%.² Hidaka is Hokkaido's largest producer of tomatoes, green peppers, delphiniums and cold-sweetened spinach, and it also grows many summer strawberries and mini tomatoes. In 2025 sales were about ¥4.31 billion for tomatoes, ¥1.41 billion for green peppers, ¥460 million for summer strawberries and ¥760 million for flowers, including delphiniums.² The tomato crop was about 10,233 t and the pepper crop about 2,450 t.³
• Fisheries: The 2024 catch was 22,897 t, worth about ¥9.9 billion (2.1% of Hokkaido's catch by volume and 3.5% by value).¹⁵
  • Kombu brought in ¥3.12 billion, 31.4% of the total and 17.9% of Hokkaido's kombu value.¹⁵
  • Salmon brought in ¥641 million, only 1.3% of Hokkaido's salmon value.¹⁵
  • Hidaka landed 82 t of matsukawa flounder in 2024, 44.6% of Hokkaido's catch.³ From 2008, 1 million young fish a year were released along the Pacific coast west of Erimo. From 2025 the plan is 500,000 a year, 168,000 of them in Hidaka.¹⁵
  • Sea urchin and salmon are also raised and released to rebuild stocks.¹⁵
• Forestry: Larch and Todo fir planted after the war are now ready to harvest. Local timber goes into public buildings and town housing, and offcuts are used for biomass power and heating.¹⁵
• Industry and commerce: Most factories process local resources: food, cement and aggregate products, and wood. The 2021 Economic Census counted 63 plants with four or more workers, employing 1,006 people and shipping ¥33.3 billion of goods.³⁷³⁵ It also counted 703 wholesale and retail businesses with ¥101.1 billion of sales.³⁷
• Regional strategy: Hokkaido's plan for the area, the "Nanairo Hidaka" (seven-colored Hidaka) projects, names its regional brands as Biratori wagyu, Mitsuishi beef, Hidaka kombu, Ginsei salmon and Ōchō (matsukawa flounder). One of its targets is to keep racehorse production at about 6,250 a year.³⁸

Regional brands and specialties

Festival calendar (selected)

The attendance figures are for FY2025, from the subprefecture's tourism survey.⁴²

Samani's sea urchin festival in May is suspended for now.¹³ Some events are cancelled in poor years, so check the municipality files before planning a trip around one, for example Hidaka for the Monbetsu Shishamo Festival.

Hokkaido Heritage: Hokkaido has 74 Hokkaido Heritage items. The subprefecture features six of them in Hidaka:³

• the cherry avenue on the Shizunai Nijukken Road
• Hokkaido's horse culture, which includes Hidaka's thoroughbreds
• Ainu place names
• Ainu patterns
• Ainu oral literature
• the three government temples of Ezo, including Tōju-in in Samani

Settler and local performing arts: Town-designated folk arts include the Erimo Koma-odori (horse dance) and Erimo Kagura in Erimo, and the Awaji Hōnen Masu-odori and Utafue Echizen-odori in the Mitsuishi district of Shinhidaka.²⁰ The names of the last two recall the old provinces of Awaji and Echizen.

Ainu heritage

• A living culture: The subprefecture describes Hidaka as one of the regions of Hokkaido where many Ainu people live, and says distinctive customs are passed on throughout the area.³ The Ainu Association of Hokkaido has eight local branches in Hidaka, covering all seven towns: Biratori, Urakawa, Samani, Niikappu, Mitsuishi, Shinhidaka, Erimo and Hidaka.⁴⁶

• Traditional dance: Ainu traditional dance (アイヌ古式舞踊) is a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. The subprefecture's list of cultural properties gives six towns as its locations: Biratori, Shinhidaka, Urakawa, Hidaka, Niikappu and Samani.²⁰

• Nibutani:

  • The "Ainu household tools collection of Nibutani and the surrounding area" became a national Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property in 2002.²⁰
  • The subprefecture lists the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum's collection of 20,000 items among Hidaka's "Hokkaido number ones".³ The museum had 23,300 visitors in FY2025.⁴²
  • The Saru River basin became an Important Cultural Landscape in 2007, with additions in 2016 and 2018. Its full name refers to "Ainu tradition and modern settlement".²⁰
  • Biratori also designated the making of attus and ita as town intangible cultural properties in 2023.²⁰
  • See Biratori for the museums, craft studios and Kayano Shigeru.

• Pirika Noka: Three places in Hidaka are part of Pirika Noka (ピリカノカ, "beautiful form"), a national Place of Scenic Beauty for landscapes tied to Ainu stories, prayers and place names.⁴⁷ They are:²⁰

  • Cape Erimo (Onne-enrum, "big old cape"), designated in August 2010⁴⁷
  • Mt. Poroshiri, in Biratori and Niikappu, designated in October 2013
  • Okikurmi's chashi and Muinoka in Biratori, designated in March 2014

  At Cape Erimo, kombu fishers still use the Ainu names of the reef rocks to say where they are working.⁴⁷

• Shakushain: The Shibechari chashi above the Shizunai River is part of a National Historic Site (see History).²⁰ Shinhidaka's Ainu Culture Exchange Center, at 7-1 Shizunai-Mauta, opened on 1 May 2025. It combines the Shakushain Memorial Hall, an Ainu folk museum and a multi-purpose hall. Entry is free, and it is open 9:00–17:00, closed on Mondays, the day after public holidays, over the New Year and on collection-maintenance days.³³

• Ceremonies: The subprefecture lists these Ainu ceremonies and performances, some of which the public can attend or join:⁴⁸

  • the Chipsanke boat-launching ceremony in Biratori
  • the Shakushain memorial ceremony in Shinhidaka
  • Icharpa ancestor memorials in Samani and Niikappu
  • the Kamuy Chashi festival on Mt. Kannon in Samani
  • Repun Kamuy in Erimo
  • traditional dance in Samani, Niikappu and Shinhidaka

• History on the ground: At Anesaru in Niikappu, the site of an Ainu school recalls the forced move of the community in 1916 (see History).²⁷ The "Isabella Bird Road" is a footpath of about 15 km from Tomikawa in Hidaka to Biratori. It follows the route the English traveler is said to have taken to the Ainu village at Biratori in the Meiji era.⁴⁹

• Visitor numbers: Hidaka counted 1,758,600 tourist visits in FY2025. That was 1.2% more than the year before and 98.1% of the FY2019 level.⁴²
  • 80.5% of visits were by people from within Hokkaido.
  • 91.8% were day trips, and overnight guests numbered 144,900.
  • April to September accounted for 1,222,700 visits, about 70% of the total.
  • Foreign overnight guests numbered 1,660, with 2,485 guest-nights.
  • The second half of the year grew by 15%. The subprefecture credits the opening of Niikappu IC, a TV drama and TV features.⁴²
• By town (FY2025): Hidaka had 389,500 visits, Niikappu 342,500, Shinhidaka 281,700, Erimo 241,700, Urakawa 218,800, Biratori 217,900 and Samani 66,500.⁴² In FY2024 Hidaka's 1,737,400 visits were about 1.1% of Hokkaido's total (calculated).³⁵
• Busiest sites (FY2025): Michi-no-Eki Thoroughbred Road Niikappu had 223,100 users and Jukai Road Hidaka 222,400. Cape Erimo had 202,500 visitors, Michi-no-Eki Mitsuishi 171,000, AERU in Urakawa 132,100 and the Kurazō kombu hot spring at Mitsuishi 104,000.⁴²
• Horses: Horse viewing, riding and horse trekking at the region's farms and riding centers draw visitors from inside and outside Hokkaido.³⁷ Stud farms are working businesses, so ask about visits at the Racehorse Hometown Information Office (競走馬のふるさと案内所) in Shizunai. It is inside the Hokkaido Market grounds at 175-2 Shizunai-Kamimori. In summer (21 April to 20 October) it is open 9:00–17:00 and closed on Tuesdays. In winter it is open on weekdays only.⁵⁰
• Cherry blossoms: The Nijukken Road in Shinhidaka is one of Japan's 100 Best Roads and 100 Best Cherry Blossom Sites, and a Hokkaido Heritage site. The Yushun Sakura Road in Urakawa is lit up at night during the blossom.³⁷ The Nijukken Road runs straight for about 7 km, lined with more than 2,000 Ezo mountain cherries and other trees, many of them about 100 years old.³
• Hot springs and baths: The subprefecture lists these main hot springs and baths, by town:³⁷
  • Hidaka Kōgen-sō and Tonekko-no-Yu in Hidaka
  • Biratori Onsen Yukara in Biratori
  • Re-Cord no Yu in Niikappu
  • Shizunai Onsen and Mitsuishi Kombu Onsen Kurazō in Shinhidaka
  • AERU in Urakawa
  • Hotel Apoi Sansō in Samani
• Wind: At Kaze-no-Yakata on Cape Erimo you can stand in a 25 m/s wind.³
• Longest tunnel: On the Golden Road in Erimo, the 4,941 m Erimo Ōgon Tunnel is the longest road tunnel in Hokkaido.³
• Getting information: The subprefecture promotes the seven towns together as "Nanairo Hidaka" (seven-colored Hidaka).⁵³⁸ Its tourism site is Hokkaido Hidaka Kankō Navi (北海道ひだか観光ナビ).⁵¹

Suggested routes

1. Horse country on Route 235 (1–2 days from New Chitose Airport):
   • Start at Monbetsu Racecourse in Hidaka for evening racing (April to November).³⁶
   • Stop at Michi-no-Eki Thoroughbred Road Niikappu and the Record Hall in Niikappu. Niikappu IC on the Hidaka Expressway is close by.⁵²³⁴
   • In Shinhidaka, drive the Nijukken Road past the stud farms, and ask about farm visits at the information office in Shizunai.³⁵⁰
   • Soak in the kombu bath at the Kurazō hot spring, part of Michi-no-Eki Mitsuishi.⁴¹
   • End in Urakawa, at the Urakawa Yushun Village AERU, the horse museum and the JRA Hidaka training complex.¹³
2. Ainu culture on the Saru and Shizunai rivers (1–2 days):
   • Walk part of the Isabella Bird Road from Tomikawa in Hidaka toward Biratori.⁴⁹
   • Spend a day in Nibutani in Biratori, at the museums and craft studios. The Chipsanke boat-launching ceremony is held below Nibutani Dam every August, so check its date.¹³⁴⁸⁵³
   • Either continue up Route 237 to Michi-no-Eki Jukai Road Hidaka and the Hidaka Mountains Museum,⁵⁴ or return to the coast.
   • In Shinhidaka, visit the Shibechari chashi and the Ainu Culture Exchange Center at Mauta. The center is closed on Mondays.²⁰³³
3. Mt. Apoi and Cape Erimo (2 days, with a return over the mountains):
   • Start at Michi-no-Eki Mitsuishi in Shinhidaka and follow Route 235 through Urakawa.¹²
   • In Samani, explore the Mt. Apoi Geopark and see the Oyako-iwa rocks.¹⁹¹³
   • Continue on Route 336 to Cape Erimo, Hyakunin-hama and Lake Toyoni in Erimo.¹²¹³
   • From there, either follow Route 336 and its Erimo Ōgon Tunnel north toward Hiroo in Tokachi, or return to Urakawa and cross the Hidaka Mountains on the Tenma Kaidō (Route 236) toward Taiki and Obihiro.¹²³¹
   • On the Tenma Kaidō, fill up in Urakawa. It is about 62.5 km from the last gas station on the Urakawa side to the next one in Hiroo.³¹

Three Michi-no-Eki are registered in Hidaka. They are listed here from north to south.⁵⁵

Biratori, Urakawa, Samani and Erimo have no Michi-no-Eki.⁵⁵ Each of those files suggests other stops. The nearest stations over the borders are Mukawa Shiki no Yakata in Mukawa (Iburi), Shizen Taikan Shimukappu in Shimukappu (Kamikawa) and Cosmall Taiki in Taiki (Tokachi).⁵⁵

• Rail: No trains run in Hidaka.⁹ The JR Hidaka Line now ends at Mukawa in Mukawa, reached from Tomakomai.²⁸ For the inland Hidaka district, see Hidaka for the bus link to Shimukappu Station on the Sekishō Line.

• Roads:¹²

  • National Route 235 runs along the coast from Monbetsu to Urakawa, and Route 336 from Urakawa to Erimo. These two roads link the coastal towns in a single line.
  • Route 237 links the Hidaka district of Hidaka Town with Monbetsu, and Route 236 links Urakawa with Hiroo.
  • The Hidaka Expressway (E63) was open for 29.1 km to Niikappu IC as of February 2026.

• Tenma Kaidō: Route 236 runs 139 km from Obihiro to Urakawa through the Nozuka Tunnel under the Hidaka Mountains.³¹

• Driving distances and times:¹²

  To	From Sapporo	From New Chitose Airport	From Obihiro
  Biratori	99 km, 1 h 27 min	65 km, 57 min	151 km, 2 h 22 min
  Hidaka (Monbetsu)	97 km, 1 h 24 min	64 km, 54 min	168 km, 2 h 39 min
  Hidaka (Hidaka district)	122 km, 1 h 57 min	106 km, 1 h 37 min	99 km, 1 h 38 min
  Niikappu	123 km, 1 h 50 min	89 km, 1 h 20 min	194 km, 3 h 05 min
  Shinhidaka (Shizunai)	129 km, 1 h 59 min	96 km, 1 h 29 min	200 km, 3 h 14 min
  Urakawa	172 km, 2 h 49 min	138 km, 2 h 19 min	139 km, 2 h 34 min
  Samani	185 km, 3 h 07 min	151 km, 2 h 37 min	141 km, 2 h 36 min
  Erimo	210 km, 3 h 35 min	176 km, 3 h 05 min	131 km, 2 h 26 min

  These are the subprefecture's estimates.

• Express buses: Book ahead. The Kōsoku Erimo and the Tokkyū Tomamo run by reservation only.⁵⁷⁵⁸

  • Dōnan Bus's Kōsoku Pegasus (高速ペガサス号) runs between Sapporo, Shizunai and Urakawa.⁵⁹
  • JR Hokkaido Bus's Kōsoku Erimo (高速えりも号) runs once a day each way between Sapporo and Erimo, via Shizunai, Urakawa and Samani. It takes about 4 h 15–22 min, and the fare from Sapporo to Erimo is ¥4,500.⁵⁷
  • JR Hokkaido Bus's Tokkyū Tomamo (特急とまも号) runs between Tomakomai and Erimo by the Hidaka Expressway, on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays only. It leaves Tomakomai Station at 14:00 and reaches Shizunai at 15:45, Urakawa at 16:49 and Erimo at 17:50.⁵⁸

• Local buses: Japanese Wikipedia lists these routes. Check the operators' current timetables before you travel.⁹

  • Dōnan Bus runs Tomakomai–Mukawa–Monbetsu–Shizunai, Tomakomai–Tomikawa–Biratori and Biratori–Furenai–Hidaka Terminal.
  • Dōnan Bus and JR Hokkaido Bus run jointly between Shizunai, Mitsuishi and Urakawa.
  • JR Hokkaido Bus runs from Urakawa through Samani and Erimo to Hiroo.

• Airport shuttle: From 4 August to 30 November 2026, the reservation-only Nanapaka-gō (ナナパカ号) shared ride links New Chitose Airport with the towns of Hidaka. Bookings go through Nikkō Hire.⁶⁰

• Sea: Urakawa and Erimo are local ports, used mainly as fishing bases and harbors of refuge.¹² Ferries from Honshu arrive at Tomakomai (see Iburi).

• Getting around: The coast is long and buses are few, so a car is the easiest way to link the towns. The three Michi-no-Eki and the town tourist centers make useful stops.