Kushiro 釧路総合振興局

Populations are 2020 Census figures, the same figures used in each municipality's file.⁶

All eight lost more than 6% of their people between the 2020 and 2025 censuses. The steepest falls were in Akkeshi (11.6%), Teshikaga (10.2%) and Shibecha (9.9%). Tsurui, which had grown between 2015 and 2020, fell 6.2%.⁷

• Setting. The region is in eastern Hokkaido.¹

  • Its neighbors are Nemuro Subprefecture to the east across the hilly Konsen Plain, Tokachi to the west along the Chokubetsu River, and Okhotsk to the north along the Akan mountains of the Chishima volcanic belt.
  • The south is 235 km of Pacific coast, promoted as the North Pacific Seaside Line.
  • The Kushiro, Akan, Shoro and many smaller rivers cut the land into sections. Most of the soil is Mashu volcanic ash and peat.

• Forest. Forest covers 390,792 ha, about 65% of the region's area (calculated from the GSI total). It lies mostly around the Akan mountains. National forest makes up 47%, Hokkaido-owned forest 8% and private and municipal forest 45%. Todo fir and larch planted after the war are now ready to harvest.³

• Protected areas. Two national parks and one quasi-national park, the bureau says, are the core of the region's nature. Both national parks are working towards enlarging their areas.²

  Park	Designated	Area	Municipalities in this region
  Akan-Mashu National Park (阿寒摩周国立公園)	4 December 1934	91,413 ha	Kushiro, Shibecha, Teshikaga and Shiranuka. It also takes in seven towns in Okhotsk, Tokachi and Nemuro.16
  Kushiro Shitsugen National Park (釧路湿原国立公園)	31 July 1987	28,788 ha	Kushiro, Kushiro Town, Shibecha and Tsurui17
  Akkeshi-Kiritappu-Konbumori Quasi-National Park (厚岸霧多布昆布森国定公園)	30 March 2021	32,566 ha of land	Kushiro Town, Akkeshi, Hamanaka and Shibecha. It was first protected as a Hokkaido prefectural park in 1955.18 The bureau gives about 41,000 ha and calls it Hokkaido's newest natural park.2

• The Kushiro Marsh. Japan's largest wetland. The tourism association says Tokyo's 23 wards would fit inside it.¹³ It was sea about 6,000 years ago.¹⁹

• Ramsar sites. The region has four:²

  • the Kushiro Marsh: 7,863 ha, in Kushiro, Kushiro Town, Shibecha and Tsurui, listed on 17 June 1980. The Kushiro file gives 5,012 ha as the area first listed in 1980.
  • Lake Akkeshi and the Bekanbeushi Marsh: 5,277 ha in Akkeshi, listed on 10 June 1993. It is one of Japan's largest stopovers for whooper swans.
  • the Kiritappu Marsh: 2,504 ha in Hamanaka, listed on 10 June 1993.
  • Lake Akan: 1,318 ha in Kushiro, home of the marimo, listed on 8 November 2005.

• Lakes. Areas are from the GSI 2026 table.⁵

  • Lake Kussharo (79.54 km², Teshikaga) is Japan's sixth-largest lake and its largest caldera lake.⁵¹⁹
  • Lake Akkeshi (32.70 km²) is Japan's 16th-largest lake and Lake Mashu (19.22 km²) its 20th.
  • Lake Akan is 13.25 km² and Lake Tōro, in Shibecha, 6.27 km².

• Volcanoes. Meakan-dake, in Kushiro City, and Atosanupuri, in Teshikaga, are on the Japan Meteorological Agency's list of 50 volcanoes watched around the clock (nine of them in Hokkaido).¹⁵

• Wildlife. The region's nature supports rare species such as the red-crowned crane, Blakiston's fish owl, Steller's sea eagle, the Siberian salamander and the Sakhalin taimen (itō).²

  • Sika deer are a problem. They did about ¥1.1 billion of damage to farms and forests in the region in FY2024, mostly to pasture, and more than 33,000 were culled here that year.²

• Earthquakes and tsunami. The bureau calls the region one of Japan's most earthquake-prone areas. Under the national model of giant quakes along the Japan and Kuril trenches, published in April 2020, tsunamis of more than 20 m could hit parts of the coast.¹⁵

• Climate. From spring into summer, sea fog called jiri (じり) rolls in. It keeps summers cool and damp, which makes the region a natural summer retreat and keeps the marsh from drying out. Autumn and winter bring long runs of clear, dry, cold weather, and yearly sunshine is among the highest in Japan.¹

  • Kushiro, on the coast (JMA normals, 1991–2020): 6.7 °C for the year, −4.8 °C in January and 18.2 °C in August. Precipitation is 1,080.1 mm, sunshine 1,957.6 hours and snowfall only 127 cm a year. Fog is recorded on about 97 days a year, 16 of them in July.²⁰
  • Kawayu, inland in Teshikaga (1991–2020): 4.7 °C for the year, −8.9 °C in January and 18.2 °C in August. Snowfall is 505 cm a year.²¹
  • Records. Kushiro: 33.5 °C (31 July 2022) and −28.3 °C (28 January 1922).²² Kawayu: 36.6 °C (23 July 2025) and −34.0 °C (25 February 1978).²³ See the municipality files for local climate tables.

• Before the trading posts. People have lived here for thousands of years. National historic sites in the region include:¹⁵
  • the Harutori Plateau pit dwellings (1935), the Higashi-Kushiro Shell Mound (1970) and the Hokuto Site (1977), all in Kushiro;
  • the Kushiro River Basin Chashi Sites (釧路川流域チャシ跡群, 2015), Ainu fort sites in Kushiro, Kushiro Town, Shibecha and Teshikaga.
• Matsumae trading posts. The Matsumae domain opened the Kusuri post (today's Kushiro) and the Akkeshi post.⁹ The Akkeshi post dates from the Kan'ei era, in the early 17th century, and the bureau calls Akkeshi the first part of eastern Hokkaido to be opened up.¹⁰
  • A Kiitappu post (today's Hamanaka) was split from Akkeshi in 1701 and later rejoined it. The Shiranuka post was absorbed into Kusuri in 1802.⁹
  • During Shakushain's War in 1669, Japanese (wajin) were killed in the area too.⁹
• Shogunate rule.⁹
  • The shogunate took direct control of eastern Ezo in 1799. In 1800 Inō Tadataka surveyed the coast, and Hara Hanzaemon led 50 men of the Hachiōji Sennin Dōshin, a shogunal guard unit, to settle in the area. See Shiranuka for where they went.
  • Kokutaiji was founded at Akkeshi in 1804 as one of the three official Ezo temples. The bureau's Hokkaido Heritage page also gives 1804,¹⁵ but its Akkeshi profile gives 1805.¹⁰ The temple site (国泰寺跡) became a national historic site in 1973.¹⁵
  • After a return to Matsumae rule in 1821, the shogunate took the area back in 1855. The Sendai domain built a guard post (jinya) at Akkeshi.
  • Development of the Kushiro coalfield began in 1857 in today's Shiranuka.
• Meiji administration.⁹
  • Kushiro Province was created on 15 August 1869 with 7 districts and 36 villages.
  • From 1869 to 1871 it was split among domains. Saga held the Kushiro, Kawakami and Akkeshi districts, Fukuyama (at first the Ministry of War) held Ashoro, Shiranuka and Akan, and Hiroshima held Amishiri.
  • An 1872 count recorded 1,734 people in the province.
  • In 1881 Amishiri District was moved to Kitami Province, and in 1882 the area came under Nemuro Prefecture.
• The penal colony (1885). The main building of the Kushiro branch of the Hokkaido Shujikan (北海道集治監釧路分監) was built in 1885 in today's Shibecha. The prison isolated serious offenders, and its inmates worked the Atosanupuri sulfur mine and built some of Hokkaido's first infrastructure. The building is now Hokkaido Heritage.¹⁵
• The subprefecture. Hokkaido's subprefecture system began in 1872, and the 14-subprefecture structure took shape in 1910.¹ Milestones for Kushiro:¹²
  • November 1897: Kushiro Subprefecture (釧路支庁) was created.
  • August 1922: it was renamed Kushiro-no-kuni Subprefecture (釧路国支庁).
  • 20 October 1948: Ashoro and Rikubetsu villages were moved to Tokachi.
  • 1 April 1957: the name went back to Kushiro Subprefecture.
• Coal, paper and fish. The bureau names fishing and fish processing, paper, large-scale livestock farming, tourism and commerce as the region's main industries.³
  • Fishing peaked at 1.595 million t in 1987, and its value peaked at ¥91.6 billion in 1977.³
  • The resident population peaked in 1968. Mine closures then drove people away, and apart from brief upturns it has fallen since 1983.¹
• Saving the crane. Red-crowned cranes were thought to be extinct in Japan until 1924, when about a dozen were found by the Chiruwatsunai River in the marsh, in today's Tsurui. The next year the area was closed to hunting.²⁴
  • In 1952 "the cranes of Kushiro and their breeding grounds" became a Special Natural Monument. That year Hokkaido's first survey counted only 33 birds.²⁴
  • Winter feeding, first achieved by schoolchildren at Hororo in Tsurui and, at about the same time, by Yamazaki Sadajirō in Akan, helped the birds recover. The Hokkaido-wide count passed 1,000 for the first time in 2006.²⁴
  • In 2022 Japan's first case of highly pathogenic bird flu in a crane was found in Kushiro City. To spread the birds out, Tsurui is cutting the feed at its two main feeding grounds.²⁴
• The 2005 merger. Kushiro City, Akan Town and Onbetsu Town merged on 11 October 2005.²⁵ Shiranuka left the merger talks after a referendum rejected joining.²⁶ As a result, the 401.40 km² Onbetsu district is an exclave, separated from the rest of the city by Shiranuka.¹¹ See the Kushiro Town and Tsurui files for how those two stayed independent.
• The 2010 reorganization. On 1 April 2010 Hokkaido's 14 subprefectures became general subprefectural bureaus or subprefectural bureaus. Kushiro Subprefecture became the Kushiro General Subprefectural Bureau, with the same area.¹¹²
  • The ordinance that set up the new bureaus had planned a "Dōtō General Subprefectural Bureau" in Kushiro, with Nemuro as a subordinate branch. After protests against the downgrade, the ordinance was amended in March 2009: the name Kushiro was kept, and Nemuro was given equal legal status.¹²
  • Kushiro can still handle some work that is better done over a wide area inside Nemuro's territory.¹²
• Recent years.
  • In December 2024 the Dōtō Expressway opened between Akan IC and Kushiro-nishi IC, linking Kushiro and Sapporo by expressway all the way.¹⁵
  • The Kushiro Shitsugen Norokko sightseeing train, running since 1989, is being retired because its cars are old. Regular runs end on 4 October 2026, followed by farewell runs on 9 and 10 October.²⁷

• Structure.³
  • Fishing and fish processing and paper-making are on the Pacific coast. Large livestock farms and national-park tourism are inland, and commerce ties the region together.
  • At the 2020 Census the region had 99,185 workers. The primary sector employed 8.2%, against 6.7% for Hokkaido. Fishing alone employed 3.4%, against 1.2%.
  • Fishing and lodging also make up a larger share of businesses than in Hokkaido as a whole.
• Dairy. Farm output was ¥89.24 billion in 2023, and livestock was more than 90% of it.³

  • In 2024 the region kept about 128,000 dairy cattle and produced about 523,000 t of raw milk. It also had about 46,000 beef cattle, mostly Holsteins.³

  • About 30% of the milk is shipped every day from Kushiro Port to the Kantō region, on freighters such as the Hokuren Maru.³

  • Milk handled by each farm co-op in 2024:³

    • JA Shibecha: 156,918 t from 42,094 dairy cattle
    • JA Kushiro Tanchō: 108,208 t from 21,042
    • JA Hamanaka and Hamanaka Rakuno: 95,322 t from 25,129
    • JA Kushiro Ōta: 65,617 t from 11,856
    • JA Mashūko: 56,020 t from 12,406
    • JA Akan: 40,578 t from 9,832

    See the municipality files for the areas each co-op covers.

  • Inland farms also grow potatoes, sugar beet and buckwheat, and the cool climate suits daikon, spinach and cabbage.³

• Fishing. In FY2024 the region caught 194,000 t, 18% of Hokkaido's catch, worth ¥26.5 billion (9%).³
  • That is about 13% of the peak volume and about 29% of the peak value.
  • Changes in the sea, including warming, have cut catches of autumn salmon, saury and squid, while sardine catches have risen sharply.
  • The bureau supports resource management for pollock, hairy crab and shishamo, and the farming of sea urchins and oysters.
  • Most fish is landed at Kushiro Port. It was Japan's top fishing port by volume in 2023, for the first time in 32 years, and again in 2024. It came second, behind Chōshi, in 2025.¹³
• Manufacturing and energy. The 2021 Economic Census counted 360 factories with 7,613 workers and about ¥407.0 billion of shipments.³
  • Food made up 45%, pulp and paper 17%, chemicals 13% and beverages and feed 10%.
  • Kushiro Coal Mine, in Kushiro, is Japan's only underground coal mine and produces about 200,000 t a year. Since December 2020 the Kushiro thermal power station has burned its coal. The mine also trains miners from Vietnam, China and Indonesia.
  • Long sunshine hours have drawn large solar farms. There are also geothermal and biomass projects.
• Commerce. Kushiro and Kushiro Town are the shopping centers for both Kushiro and Nemuro subprefectures.³
  • In 2021 the region had 2,235 retail and wholesale businesses (5.2% of Hokkaido's) with 17,316 workers. Annual sales were about ¥639.9 billion (3.7%).
  • Central Kushiro has lost many shops to suburban centers.
• Port. Kushiro Port handled about 13.59 million t of cargo in 2024.¹⁵
  • It was chosen as an International Bulk Strategic Port in May 2011.
  • A West Port terminal with a 14 m-deep berth opened in March 2019, so that large ships can bring feed grain here first.
• Tourism. The region counted 7.48 million visitors in FY2025, up 4.1% and 4.8% of Hokkaido's total.²⁸
  • Of these, 2.35 million came from outside Hokkaido and 1.31 million stayed overnight, for 1.53 million guest-nights.
  • August was the busiest month (1.09 million) and January the quietest (289,300).
  • Foreign guest-nights rose 8.5% to 184,497. Taiwan accounted for 84,029 (46%).²⁸
  • By municipality, Kushiro had 4.45 million, Shiranuka 800,200 (up 83%), Teshikaga 760,900 and Tsurui 433,800.²⁸
  • Long-stay visitors are at a record: 2,948 people stayed a total of 33,779 days in FY2024.³ Kushiro City's long-stay program has ranked first in Hokkaido for 14 years in a row.¹⁰

Regional specialties. The bureau's seasonal food calendar and municipal profiles list these among the region's products.³¹⁰

Festival calendar. Main events from the bureau's 2026 list. Dates are the usual ones; check the municipality file or the organizer for this year.³

Performing arts and designated heritage.

• Local performing arts. They include Kushiro Ezo Daiko drumming, Akkeshi kagura and Shiranuka's Koma-odori dance.¹⁵
  • The Hokkaido Kushiro Ezo Daiko preservation society has played the National Theatre three times, given a solo concert at Suntory Hall in Tokyo and toured abroad.
  • It was the first taiko group in Japan to be honored by the education minister for services to regional culture.
• Nationally designated properties in the region include:¹⁵
  • Shōgyōji main hall in Akkeshi (Important Cultural Property, 1992) and the Kokutaiji documents (2005);
  • the red-crowned crane and Lake Akan's marimo (Special Natural Monuments, 29 March 1952);
  • the Kiritappu peat-forming plant community (Hamanaka, 1922), the red crucian carp of Lake Harutori (Kushiro, 1937), the Daikokujima seabird colony (Akkeshi, 1951), the Wakoto minmin-zemi cicada site (Teshikaga, 1951) and the Kushiro Marsh (1967), all Natural Monuments;
  • Ainu Traditional Dance (Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 21 January 1984), held by groups in Kushiro City (including Akan), Teshikaga and Shiranuka. It is also on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.¹⁰
• Hokkaido Heritage (北海道遺産) in the region:¹⁵
  • the Kiritappu Wetland (Hamanaka);
  • the Hokkaido Shujikan Kushiro branch (Shibecha);
  • Lake Mashu (Teshikaga);
  • the Ezo Sankanji temples, represented here by Kokutaiji (Akkeshi);
  • Kushiro ramen;
  • Hokkaido's simple railways, including the old Tsurui line (Tsurui).
• Sport. Winter sports, especially skating and ice hockey, are strong. The cool summers draw sports teams from across Japan for training camps.¹⁵
• International ties. From the bureau's list of partner cities:¹⁵
  • Kushiro has sister cities in Burnaby (Canada) and Kholmsk (Sakhalin, Russia), sister ports in Seward (Alaska) and New Orleans, and a port-town friendship with Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It marked 60 years of its tie with Burnaby in FY2025.
  • Akkeshi is twinned with Clarence in Tasmania, Australia, and Kushiro Town has a friendship exchange with Ji'an Township in Hualien, Taiwan.
  • Shiranuka signed a friendship agreement with Wulai District, New Taipei, in July 2017.
  • The Kushiro Marsh, Lake Akkeshi–Bekanbeushi Marsh and Kiritappu Marsh are sister wetlands of the Hunter Estuary in New South Wales, Australia.

Ainu heritage.

• Place names. Every municipal name except Tsurui comes from Ainu, though Hamanaka's is a Japanese translation. The bureau's profiles give these origins:¹⁰

  • Kushiro: kushur ("passage"), kutcharo (a lake's "throat") or kusuri ("medicine", for hot springs)
  • Akkeshi: at-ke-us-i, "where we peel elm bark"
  • Hamanaka: a translation of ota-noshike, "middle of the sandy beach"
  • Shibecha: shipetcha, "beside the big river"
  • Teshikaga: teshika-ga, "on the bedrock"
  • Shiranuka: shirari-ka, "above the rocky shore", where waves break over the rocks
  • Tsurui is Japanese and means "where the cranes are".

  The municipality files give the full range of readings.

• Communities today. The Hokkaido Ainu Association has seven local associations in the region: Kushiro, Shiranuka, Tsurui, Teshikaga, Akkeshi, Kushiro-chō and Akan.²⁹

• Lake Akan. Akan Ainu Kotan is home to about 120 people, one of the largest kotan (villages) in Hokkaido.³⁰ The tourism association calls it the largest in Japan.¹³

  • It grew after Maeda Mitsuko, third head of the Maeda Ippoen estate, lent her private land free of charge so that Ainu from across Hokkaido could settle there.³¹
  • Its Ikor theater stages Ainu traditional dance, the production Lost Kamuy and, since April 2024, Mangetsu no Rimse ("Full-moon Rimse").¹⁰

• Teshikaga. The Kussharo Kotan Ainu Museum shows the tools and way of life of the Kussharo kotan. It is closed from 1 December to 9 April.¹⁰

• Shiranuka. Urespa Chise ("house where we raise one another") is the center for the town's Ainu traditions, including its three great annual rites.¹⁰ The Ainu Museum Pokoro, at Wattenbetsu, has a detailed kotan diorama, a reconstructed chise (house), crafts and costumes.¹⁰

• Shibecha. See the Shibecha file for the Pekanpe water-chestnut harvest at Lake Tōro and the Nitai-to museum.

• The crane. The Ainu call the red-crowned crane sarurun kamuy, "god of the marsh".²⁴

• Three caldera lakes. Akan-Mashu National Park has Lake Akan, with its marimo and Ainu kotan; Lake Kussharo, Japan's largest caldera lake; and Lake Mashu, famous for its clear water. All sit on calderas formed by volcanic activity, and the area is one of Hokkaido's leading hot-spring districts.¹⁹¹³

  • At Lake Kussharo's Sunayu beach, warm water wells up where you dig in the sand.¹⁰
  • The upper Kushiro River below Lake Kussharo keeps a near-natural course, and canoe tours on it are popular.¹⁰
  • See Kushiro (Akan) and Teshikaga.

• The Kushiro Marsh. Visitor centers and viewpoints ring the marsh:²

  • Kushiro City Marsh Observatory (Kushiro)
  • Hosooka Visitors' Lounge (Kushiro Town), next to the Hosooka Observatory, known for sunsets over the marsh¹⁰
  • Tōro-ko Eco-Museum Center (Shibecha)
  • Onnenai Visitor Center (Tsurui)

  The Kottaro Marsh in Shibecha shows the marsh at its most untouched.¹⁰ The Kushiro Shitsugen Norokko makes its last runs on 9 and 10 October 2026.²⁷ The winter SL Fuyu-no-Shitsugen steam train also runs through the marsh.¹⁵

• Red-crowned cranes. Winter feeding grounds in Akan (Kushiro City) and Tsurui are the main places to see them.²

  • The Akan International Crane Center GRUS studies the cranes, and wild cranes come to feed at its annex in winter.³²
  • In Tsurui, the Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary is one of the region's nature facilities.² The river under Otowa Bridge does not freeze even in midwinter, so cranes roost there. Photographers from around the world gather on the red bridge early in the morning to see them before they fly off to feed.³³ See the Tsurui file for Tsurumidai.
  • In summer the cranes nest out in the marshes and lakes, including those of the quasi-national park.¹⁸

• The Pacific coast. The quasi-national park runs from the Konbumori sea cliffs in Kushiro Town through Lake Akkeshi to Kiritappu in Hamanaka.¹⁸

  • Highlights are Cape Shiripa, Aikappu Cape, Ayamegahara's irises, the Biwase Observatory over the Kiritappu Wetland and Kiritappu Cape.¹⁸¹⁰
  • From June to October, on kombu-fishing days, Hamanaka's boats all head out to sea together at a set time in the morning.¹⁰

• Kushiro city. Washo Market's kattedon and robatayaki grills are the city's food draws.¹⁰ Sunsets from Nusamai Bridge are said to have been ranked with those of Bali and Manila as the "world's three great sunsets" by foreign sailors in the 1960s.¹⁰

• Flowers. From the bureau's flower guide:³

  • April–May: skunk cabbage in the Kushiro Marsh and Kiritappu Wetland.
  • May: Sargent cherries at Nenohi Park (Akkeshi) and Beppo Park (Kushiro Town), and tulips at Tsurugadai Park (Kushiro).
  • June–July: Iris setosa in the Kushiro Marsh and at Ayamegahara, and white Ledum on Atosanupuri.
  • June–August: beach roses on Koitoi Beach (Shiranuka).
  • July–August: Ezo day lilies in the Kiritappu Wetland and the Kushiro Marsh.
  • August–September: sunflowers around Lake Kussharo.
  • September–October: red Salicornia (Akkeshi-sō) on the shores of Lake Akkeshi.

• Long-distance walking. The Hokkaido East Trail opened in FY2024. It is one of Japan's longest trails and links Akan-Mashu, Kushiro Shitsugen and Shiretoko national parks.²

Suggested routes

1. Caldera lakes and Ainu culture (2–3 days, May–October).
   • Drive from Kushiro up National Route 240, the "Marimo Highway", to Michi-no-Eki Akan Tancho no Sato and the Akan International Crane Center.³²
   • Stay at Lake Akan for the Ainu Kotan and an evening show at the Ikor theater. See Kushiro for show times.
   • Cross to Teshikaga. Stop at Michi-no-Eki Mashu Onsen, whose staff check the fog at Lake Mashu in real time,³⁴ then visit Lake Mashu, Atosanupuri and Kawayu Onsen.
   • Finish at Lake Kussharo's Sunayu and the Kussharo Kotan Ainu Museum (closed December to early April), or join a canoe tour down the Kushiro River.¹⁰
   • Without a car, the Akan Airport Liner bus runs from Kushiro Airport to Lake Akan. In the 2026 timetable it leaves the airport at 10:00 and reaches the Lake Akan bus center at 11:15.³⁵
2. Cranes and the frozen marsh (2 days, January–March).
   • In Kushiro, start at the Kushiro City Marsh Observatory.
   • In Tsurui, see the cranes at their river roost under Otowa Bridge early in the morning,³³ then visit the feeding grounds. Stay at one of the village's three hotels, all with 100% free-flowing (kakenagashi) moor hot springs.³⁶
   • Ride the SL Fuyu-no-Shitsugen, Hokkaido's only steam train, which runs between Kushiro and Shibecha in winter only. Check the running days first.³⁷
   • End with sunset at Hosooka in Kushiro Town.¹⁰ Autumn and winter bring long runs of clear days.¹
3. The Pacific coast eastwards (2–3 days, June–October).
   • Start at Michi-no-Eki Shiranuka Koitoi-kan in Shiranuka, with its sauna and RV park, and visit Urespa Chise.¹⁰
   • In Kushiro, have kattedon at Washo Market and watch the sunset at Nusamai Bridge.¹⁰
   • Drive the hard-to-read-place-name coast of Kushiro Town on Prefectural Road 142.¹⁰
   • In Akkeshi, have oysters at Michi-no-Eki Akkeshi Gourmet Park and see Aikappu Cape and Kokutaiji. Ayamegahara's irises bloom in June and July,³ and the town's iris festival is held there from mid- to late June.¹⁰
   • In Hamanaka, see the Kiritappu Wetland from the Biwase Observatory, and visit Kiritappu Cape,¹⁸ then carry on along Route 44 into Nemuro Subprefecture.

The official Hokkaido register lists four stations in the region, with the Hokkaido registration numbers 4, 11, 16 and 30.³⁸ There are none in Kushiro Town, Hamanaka, Shibecha or Tsurui. The municipality files for those four list the nearest stations and local rest stops. Hours change with the season, so check the official page or the municipality file before you go.

• Air. Tancho Kushiro Airport, in Kushiro, is the region's only airport.¹⁵
  • It opened in July 1961 with a 1,200 m runway, lengthened to 2,500 m in November 2000.¹⁵
  • JAL, ANA and AIRDO fly there. As of April 2026 the routes are to Tokyo Haneda, Sapporo Okadama and New Chitose. Peach flies to Kansai in season. The bureau reported Korean Air charter flights to Incheon scheduled for July and August 2026, the first international flights in two and a half years.¹⁵
  • Flights take about 45 minutes from Sapporo, about 1 hour 50 minutes from Tokyo and about 2 hours from Nagoya or Osaka.¹
  • Buses run from the airport to Kushiro Station and to Lake Akan.³⁵
  • For Teshikaga and Shibecha, the Nemuro Nakashibetsu and Memanbetsu airports are alternatives. See those two files for drive times, and Nakashibetsu for its airport.
• Rail.¹⁵
  • The JR Nemuro Main Line comes in from Takikawa and Obihiro and runs through Shiranuka, Kushiro, Kushiro Town, Akkeshi and Hamanaka to Nemuro.
  • The Ōzora limited express links Kushiro and Sapporo via the Sekishō Line, taking about 4 hours at fastest.
  • East of Kushiro the line is nicknamed the Hanasaki Line, with views of the Pacific and the Bekanbeushi Marsh. Kushiro to Nemuro takes about 2 hours 20 minutes.¹
  • The JR Senmō Main Line runs from Kushiro through Kushiro Town, Shibecha and Teshikaga to Abashiri, about 3 hours.¹
• Road.¹⁵
  • National Routes 38 and 44 follow the coast, and Routes 241 and 243 cross the north of the region.
  • Since December 2024 the Dōtō Expressway has run all the way from Sapporo to Kushiro-nishi IC. The Kushiro-nishi IC–Kushiro-Beppo IC section (opened March 2019) was renamed from the Kushiro Sotokan Road to the Dōtō Expressway.
  • Sapporo to Kushiro takes about 4 hours 12 minutes by expressway.¹
  • Road distances from Kushiro are about 330 km to Sapporo, 120 km to Obihiro, 125 km to Nemuro and 150 km to Abashiri.¹
• Sea. Kushiro Port's East Port has had an earthquake-resistant passenger terminal since June 2011.¹⁵ Cruise-ship calls are one reason visitor numbers are rising.³ The region also has Kiritappu Port and 11 fishing ports.¹⁵
• Getting around. Outside Kushiro, a car is the practical choice. Watch for deer on the roads: more than 33,000 were culled in the region in FY2024.² Winters are dry and sunny.¹ Kushiro on the coast averages only 127 cm of snowfall a year, but inland Kawayu gets about 505 cm.²⁰²¹ See the municipality files for local buses.