Nemuro 根室振興局

Populations are 2020 Census figures, the same figures used in each municipality's file.⁸

The preliminary 2025 Census counted more people in Nakashibetsu (21,785) than in Nemuro City (21,201).⁹

Pre-war villages of the Northern Territories. Japan's Geospatial Information Authority still lists six villages on Shikotan, Kunashiri and Etorofu under Nemuro Subprefecture, with areas. Several are "reference values" because parts of their boundaries are undetermined.⁷ The villages have had no Japanese administration since 1945 (see History below). A seventh pre-war village, Habomai, merged into Nemuro City in 1959, so the Habomai Islands count as part of the city's area.¹

Areas are from the GSI table.⁷ Resident numbers are the bureau's: they count people who had lived in the islands for at least six months as of 15 August 1945.¹

• Setting. The region is the eastern tip of Hokkaido. It faces the Sea of Okhotsk (the Nemuro Strait) to the northeast and the Pacific to the south. Excluding the Northern Territories, its coastline is about 479 km long, about 16% of Hokkaido's; the four islands add about 1,348 km.¹

• Landforms. In the north, the Shiretoko mountains run out along the Shiretoko Peninsula and form the border with Okhotsk Subprefecture. The middle is the rolling Konsen Plateau (根釧台地), a vast dairy district, and the south, including the Nemuro Peninsula, is flat.²¹ Forest covers about 170,000 ha, roughly 49% of the land. Of the privately and locally owned forest, 43% is designated protection forest, against 37% for Hokkaido as a whole; much of it guards fishing grounds and shelters farmland from wind and fog.²²

• Coast and lakes. The Notsuke Peninsula, shared by Betsukai and Shibetsu, is a 26 km spit, the largest in Japan.²³ Lake Furen (64.17 km²) is Japan's 11th-largest lake.⁷

• Protected areas. As of 31 March 2025 the bureau lists four natural parks:²⁴

  • Shiretoko National Park (designated 1 June 1964): 15,625 ha of its land lies in Rausu.
  • Akan-Mashu National Park (1934): 537 ha in Nakashibetsu.
  • Notsuke-Furen Prefectural Natural Park (27 December 1962): 11,692 ha in Nemuro, Betsukai and Shibetsu.
  • Shari-dake Prefectural Natural Park (1980): 816 ha in Shibetsu.

  Two Ramsar wetlands were registered on 8 November 2005: Lake Furen and Shunkunitai (6,139 ha, Nemuro and Betsukai) and the Notsuke Peninsula and Notsuke Bay (6,053 ha, Betsukai and Shibetsu). The "Notsuke Peninsula, Lake Furen and Nemuro Peninsula" area was chosen as a candidate quasi-national park in FY2022.²⁴

• Shiretoko World Heritage. Shiretoko was inscribed as a World Natural Heritage site in July 2005. The site covers 71,000 ha (48,700 ha of land and 22,300 ha of sea) in Rausu and Shari. It was recognized for the link between a marine ecosystem fed by the lowest-latitude seasonal sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere and an unusually wild land ecosystem, and as a home of rare birds such as Blakiston's fish owl and Steller's sea eagle.²⁴

• Wildlife. The region is home to many protected species, among them Steller's and white-tailed sea eagles, Blakiston's fish owl and the red-crowned crane.¹⁹ The bureau promotes the area to birdwatchers as "Shiretoko Nemuro, the sacred land of wild birds" (野鳥の聖地「知床ねむろ」).²⁵ Sika deer damage crops and forests and collide with cars and JR Hanasaki Line trains; the Hokkaido Government has set January 2024 to December 2026 as an emergency period for deer control.²⁴

• Climate. The Nemuro Peninsula and the coast have an oceanic climate and the interior a continental one. Annual mean temperatures are a cool 5–7 °C. The Okhotsk side is closed in by drift ice in winter, and sea fog (jiri, 海霧) covers the coast from spring into summer, on about 90 days a year.¹

  • Nemuro (JMA normals, 1991–2020): 6.6 °C for the year, −3.8 °C in February and 17.4 °C in August. Precipitation is 1,040.4 mm, snowfall 159 cm and sunshine 1,846.7 hours a year. Fog was recorded on 91.5 days a year in 2010–2020.²⁶
  • Records at Nemuro: 34.0 °C on 26 May 2019 and −22.9 °C on 18 February 1931.²⁷
  • Inland extremes are much wider. Betsukai has recorded 36.6 °C (26 May 2019) and −33.7 °C (25 February 1978).²⁸ See the municipality files for local climate tables.

• Ainu and before. People have lived on this coast for thousands of years. The pit dwellings of the Po River Historic Nature Park in Shibetsu are the largest group in Japan.¹⁹ Nemuro City has 32 chashi (Ainu fort) sites; 24 of them form the Nemuro Peninsula Chashi Sites (根室半島チャシ跡群), a national historic site since 26 April 1983.¹³²⁹
• Trade with Matsumae. Matsumae domain records say that in 1615–1621 Ainu from the Menashi district (around today's Rausu and Shibetsu) sailed nearly 100 boats loaded with eagle feathers and sea-otter pelts to Matsumae to trade.¹¹ Matsumae opened the Kunashiri trading post in 1754.¹
• The Kunashiri–Menashi uprising (1789). Ainu of Kunashiri and Menashi rose against harsh treatment by the post contractor Hidaya. Seventy-one Japanese (wajin) were killed. Thirty-seven Ainu were then executed at Nokkamappu, in today's Nemuro. A stone for the 71 dead, erected in 1812, stands at Cape Nosappu.³⁰
• Russia and the shogunate. Adam Laxman sailed into Nemuro in 1792 to seek trade. The shogunate took eastern Ezo under direct rule in 1799, and again in 1855. From 1859 Aizu domain held the coast north of the Nishibetsu River (the future Shibetsu and Menashi districts) and Sendai domain the coast to the south.¹¹
• Meiji administration. In 1869 the Kaitakushi (Colonization Office) was set up, Ezo was renamed Hokkaido, and the official Matsumoto Jūrō brought more than 100 settlers to Nemuro.¹ Nemuro Province and its five districts were created on 15 August 1869.¹¹ Later milestones:¹
  • 1872: the Kaitakushi's Nemuro branch office opened.
  • 1882: the Kaitakushi was abolished, and Nemuro Prefecture was created.
  • 1886: Nemuro Prefecture was abolished when the Hokkaido Agency was set up. Tondenhei (farmer-soldiers) began settling Wada, now part of Nemuro.
  • 1897: Nemuro Subprefecture and Shana Subprefecture (on Etorofu) were created.
  • 1903: the two subprefectures merged.
• Villages (1923). When Hokkaido's second-class town and village system was applied here on 1 April 1923, the subprefecture gained nine self-governing villages: Betsukai, Shibetsu and Uebetsu (later Rausu) on the mainland, and six on the islands.²¹ Rausu took its present name in 1930.²⁰
• 1945. Between 18 August and 5 September 1945, after the end of the Second World War, Soviet forces occupied the Kuril Islands and the Northern Territories. More than 17,000 Japanese lived on the four islands; all had to leave.⁴
• Postwar municipalities. Nakashibetsu split from Shibetsu Village in 1946. The towns then took town status one by one:¹ Nakashibetsu in January 1950,¹⁷ Shibetsu in January 1958,¹⁸ Rausu in August 1961²⁰ and Betsukai in April 1971.¹⁵ Nemuro Town and Wada Village merged as Nemuro City in 1957, and Habomai Village joined the city in 1959.¹
• Dairy country. National projects built ranches and cleared grassland on the land the settlers had opened, making the region Japan's largest grassland dairy district.² The municipality files for Betsukai and Nakashibetsu cover the Konsen Pilot Farm and the New Dairy Village project.
• Railways. After JNR was privatized, the Shibetsu Line (Attoko–Nakashibetsu and Nemuro-Shibetsu–Shibecha) closed in April 1989. The JR Hanasaki Line (the Nemuro Main Line between Kushiro and Nemuro) is now the region's only railway.¹⁴
• The 2010 reorganization. On 28 June 2008 the Hokkaido Assembly voted to regroup the 14 subprefectures into 9 larger regions. Nemuro was to become a branch under a new "Dōtō General Subprefectural Bureau" based in Kushiro. After protests from the five subprefectures being downgraded, the Assembly amended the ordinance on 31 March 2009 to give them equal legal status. The prefecture also offered to move all work on the Northern Territories return movement from its Sapporo head office to Nemuro.²¹ On 1 April 2010 Nemuro Subprefecture became the Nemuro Subprefectural Bureau (根室振興局), with the same area.¹²¹ Under the arrangement, the Kushiro General Subprefectural Bureau handles some wide-area work inside Nemuro, such as road offices and the management of Nakashibetsu Airport.²¹

The Northern Territories (北方領土). Sovereignty over Etorofu (Iturup), Kunashiri (Kunashir), Shikotan and the Habomai Islands is disputed between Japan and Russia.

• Japan's position. Japan calls the four islands its inherent territory. It holds that the Soviet Union occupied them between 18 August and 5 September 1945 and unilaterally annexed them in 1946. Its stated policy is to resolve the question of which country the four islands belong to, and then conclude a peace treaty.⁴ The return movement began in December 1945, when Nemuro's mayor, Andō Ishisuke, petitioned the Allied supreme commander.⁴ Nemuro calls itself the "origin" of that movement.⁶ The bureau hosts the Nemuro regional headquarters for Northern Territories measures, which runs school outreach and signature drives.⁴
• Russia's position. Russia administers the islands as part of Sakhalin Oblast. It holds that they became Russian territory as a result of the Second World War, and a 2020 amendment to its constitution bans ceding territory.³¹
• Negotiations. In the 1956 Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration, the Soviet Union agreed to hand over Habomai and Shikotan after a peace treaty was concluded. No treaty has been signed.³¹
• Exchanges. Former residents' visits to family graves began in 1964. Visa-free exchanges began in 1992: by 2019 there had been 646 exchange trips carrying 24,488 people, 14,356 of them Japanese visitors and 10,132 Russian guests. Simplified "home visits" for former residents began in 1999.⁴
• Since 2022. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it said in March that it would not continue peace-treaty talks. In September it announced that it was suspending the visa-free exchange and home-visit agreements.⁴ Since FY2022 Hokkaido has held memorial services at sea within sight of the islands instead. In FY2025 there were seven voyages with 477 participants, 318 of them former residents.⁴
• Official area tables. Japan's official area tables still place the islands' six pre-war villages under this subprefecture.⁷ The pre-war Nemuro Subprefecture also nominally covered the northern Kuril districts of Uruppu, Shimushiru and Shumushu; the present bureau's area does not include them.²¹

• Dairy. Farm output was ¥110.7 billion in 2023 (FY2023 in the bureau's text), and dairy accounts for about 90% of it; raw milk alone was ¥93.9 billion (85%).²
  • The region produced about 840,000 t of raw milk in FY2024, roughly 10% of Japan's and 20% of Hokkaido's. Output peaked at about 870,000 t in FY2021, then fell during two years of production cuts and the 2023 heat before recovering from FY2024.²
  • Farms are large: an average of 84 ha of farmland per farm business, about three times the Hokkaido average, and 156 dairy cows.²
  • The bureau's map of dairy plants shows four: Meiji Nishishunbetsu (powdered milk, butter, cream), Snow Brand Megmilk Nakashibetsu (cheese), Snow Brand Megmilk Betsukai (butter, powdered milk) and Morinaga Betsukai (cheese).³²
  • Meiji began building a ¥48 billion plant for 430,000 t a year at Kenebetsu, Nakashibetsu, in April 2024, due to start in March 2027. Snow Brand Megmilk began a ¥46 billion expansion of its Nakashibetsu cheese plant, for 300,000 t of raw milk a year, in May 2026, due to start in the first half of FY2028.²
• Fishing. The region produces about 9.9% of Hokkaido's fisheries output.³ In 2024 it landed 106,151 t worth ¥46.19 billion:³
  • by value: sanma ¥9.68 billion, salmon ¥9.38 billion, scallops ¥8.94 billion, cod ¥3.33 billion and kombu ¥2.18 billion.
  • by volume: sanma 21,146 t, scallops 20,610 t, cod 10,388 t, Alaska pollock 9,184 t and salmon 8,592 t.
  • by municipality: Nemuro 51,616 t (¥22.74 billion), Rausu 23,923 t (¥10.05 billion), Betsukai 19,431 t (¥8.84 billion) and Shibetsu 11,181 t (¥4.56 billion). Rausu Town's own statistics give 26,120 t worth ¥10.50 billion for 2024.⁵³
• Fishing trends. Nemuro was once a base for high-seas northern fishing. Today boats fish for pollock and cod in Russia's 200-mile zone under government-to-government agreements. Around the four islands, "safe operation" fishing for hokke, pollock and giant octopus began in 1998, in addition to kombu harvesting at Kaigara-jima.³ Nemuro Port has been Japan's top sanma port for 16 years running.¹⁴ In 2025 good sanma catches pushed landings at Hanasaki (Nemuro) port past ¥10 billion for the first time in ten years. Autumn salmon set nets took only 1,411 t by the end of November 2025, 17% of the previous year's catch.³
• Industry and commerce. The 2021 Economic Census counted 155 factories with 3,544 workers, shipping ¥170.1 billion of goods (3.0% of Hokkaido). Food made up 88.4% of it, and Betsukai alone accounted for 48.4%.³² Retail and wholesale sales were ¥193.0 billion; Nakashibetsu (45.3%) and Nemuro (31.1%) are the region's two shopping centers.³²
• Trade. Nemuro Port (Hanasaki district) is the region's only trade port. All 380 foreign trade ships that called in 2024 were Russian. Trade was worth ¥8.91 billion, almost all imports, and fresh fish and shellfish made up 98.6% of imports.¹⁴
• Tourism. The region counted 1.904 million tourist visits in FY2024, 4% more than the year before, of which 195,000 stayed overnight. September (346,000) and August (330,000) are the busiest months.¹⁹ Foreign guest-nights reached a record, up 35.6% on FY2023.¹⁹
• Foreign residents. Foreign residents almost doubled from 979 in 2021 to 1,833 in 2025, mostly specified skilled workers and technical intern trainees in food processing and farming. There were 904 trainees in 2025.³³
• Overseas partner cities. The bureau lists three: Nemuro with Sitka, Alaska (19 December 1975) and Severo-Kurilsk, Sakhalin Oblast (27 January 1994), and Betsukai with Wasserburg, Bavaria (10 May 1979).³³

Regional specialties. The bureau's 2026 profile lists these among each municipality's products:^615171820

Festival calendar. The main events that each municipality lists in the bureau's 2026 profile:^615171820

The Nemuro Industry Festival appears in the bureau's list for early September;⁶ in 2026 it is on 4 October, 10:00–14:00, at the Nihoro exchange center in Hokō, Nemuro.³⁶

Heritage listings.

• Japan Heritage. In June 2020, the salmon story "A Heritage of Salmon – A Journey of Ten Thousand Years in the Nemuro Strait" (「鮭の聖地」の物語～根室海峡一万年の道程～) was certified as Japan Heritage. Shibetsu, Nemuro, Betsukai and Rausu applied jointly.²⁹³⁷
• Hokkaido Heritage (北海道遺産). Listings in the region include:³⁸
  • the grid windbreak forests of the Konsen Plateau, belts 180 m wide and 648 km long in all across Nakashibetsu, Betsukai, Shibetsu and Shibecha in Kushiro; part of the grid can be seen from Kaiyodai;³⁹
  • the Notsuke Peninsula and its uttasebune sailing boats, listed in October 2004;¹⁵
  • Chishima-zakura, the last cherry to bloom as the blossom front moves north. The tree at Seiryū-ji in Nemuro was brought from Kunashiri and is said to be the source of many of Hokkaido's Chishima-zakura. Former islanders treat it as their hometown flower.⁴⁰
  • "Salmon culture" (サケの文化), a Hokkaido-wide listing whose featured sites include the Shibetsu Salmon Museum and salmon fishing on the Chūrui River in Shibetsu.⁴¹
• Designated cultural properties include:²⁹
  • the Kurumaishi rock formation at Hanasaki port, Nemuro (natural monument, 1939);
  • the Kotohira Shrine festival (Hokkaido intangible folk cultural property, 2020);
  • the three brick silos of Meiji Park (registered tangible cultural property, 2001);
  • the old Okuyukiusu post station in Betsukai (national historic site, 2011);
  • the Shibetsu site group, including Ichani Karikarius (national historic site, 1979);
  • finds from the Matsunorigawa north-bank site in Rausu (Important Cultural Property, 2015);
  • Rausu's luminous moss (hikarigoke) and its geyser (Hokkaido natural monuments).

Ainu heritage.

• Place names. Most municipal names come from Ainu. According to the bureau:^6201518
  • Nemuro is from nimuoro, "place where trees grow thick".
  • Rausu is from rausi, "place with animal bones", because the area was an Ainu hunting ground.
  • Betsukai is from pet-kaye, "the river bends".
  • Shibetsu is from sipe-ot, "where salmon are". The Shibetsu file explains why the Hokkaido Government's list prefers si-pet, "big river".
• Chashi. The Nemuro Peninsula chashi sites are No. 1 on the Japan Castle Foundation's list of 100 Fine Castles of Japan. The Ainu word chasi means "palisade"; the forts served as strongholds, ritual sites and lookouts.¹³
• Nokkamappu Icharpa. Every year at the end of September since 1974, a memorial rite (icharpa) at Nokkamappu mourns the 37 Ainu executed there in 1789 and the 71 Japanese killed in the uprising.³⁰ It is organized by the Nemuro Ainu Association; the 2025 ceremony was the 49th.⁴²
• Communities today. The Hokkaido Ainu Association has five local associations in the region: Nemuro, Rausu, Shibetsu, Nakashibetsu and Betsukai.⁴³
• Collections. The Nemuro City Museum of History and Nature holds Ainu everyday tools, a city-designated tangible folk cultural property.²⁹ For Ainu history in individual towns, see the Kaga documents in Betsukai, the Po River Historic Nature Park in Shibetsu, the place names of Yoroushi and Musa in Nakashibetsu, and the local history museum in Rausu, which covers Ainu culture from the medieval to the early modern period.⁵⁷⁵⁸

• Shiretoko from the Rausu side. From Shiretoko Pass (738 m) on the Shiretoko Crossing Road you see Mt Rausu above and Kunashiri below.²⁰ Orcas, whales and other sea mammals pass along the Rausu coast, which the bureau calls one of Japan's best places for whale watching. In winter, drift ice arrives with white-tailed and Steller's sea eagles.²⁰ The Rausu Visitor Center explains the World Heritage ecosystem and displays Japan's largest orca skeleton.¹⁹²⁰
• Cape Nosappu and the Northern Territories. From Cape Nosappu, the easternmost cape of Japan's main islands, the Habomai Islands of Kaigara-jima and Suishō-jima are close by.⁶ The Hokkaido Northern Four Islands Exchange Center (Nihoro) is at Hokō in Nemuro.⁴³⁶ At Nosappu, the city's free Northern Territories Museum shows prewar island life, and the Bōkyō no Ie house has viewing facilities and island exhibits.⁵⁹⁶⁰ In Rausu, the Rausu Kunashiri Observation Tower, on a 167 m hill, has a rooftop deck and exhibits on the Northern Territories.⁶¹ Michi-no-Eki Odaito in Betsukai has a Northern Territories observation tower.¹⁶ The Shibetsu file covers that town's Northern Territories museum.
• Birds and wetlands. Lake Furen and Shunkunitai in Nemuro are known for swans and Steller's sea eagles.⁶ Michi-no-Eki Swan 44 Nemuro, which overlooks them, says about 250 species can be seen at Shunkunitai.⁴⁴ Nemuro also has nature cruises from Ochiishi and the Nemuro Footpath, a network of British-style walking trails.⁴⁵¹⁹
• The Notsuke Peninsula. In Betsukai and Shibetsu. Highlights are the dead-tree landscape of Todowara, the flower meadows that bloom from June (Sendai-hagi, Ezo-kanzō, beach rose and others) and the shrimp boats under sail in spring and autumn.¹⁹²³
• The dairy plateau. Kaiyodai in Nakashibetsu, a 270 m plateau, looks out over a 330° panorama of pasture. Near the airport the long, straight Milk Road cuts through the pastures.¹⁷ Hokkaido Dream Forest Park (Yume-no-Mori) in Nakashibetsu covers about 54.2 ha.¹⁹
• Salmon. In Shibetsu, the Shibetsu Salmon Museum has a Japan Heritage exhibition room.¹⁸ The Po River Historic Nature Park preserves pit dwellings thousands of years old and offers snowshoe walks in winter.¹⁹
• Onsen. Yoroushi Onsen in Nakashibetsu and Kawakita Onsen in Shibetsu are covered in the municipality files. Rausu has wild hot springs: Kuma-no-yu, an open-air bath beside the Rausu River; Seseki Onsen, a rock pool on the shore that the high tide covers; and Aidomari Onsen at the end of the coast road.⁶²⁶³⁶⁴ The two shore baths are open only in season; see the Rausu file for dates.

Suggested routes

1. The Nemuro Strait coast, cape to Shiretoko (June–October, 3–4 days).
   • Start at Cape Nosappu in Nemuro. Add Meiji Park's silos and lunch at Michi-no-Eki Swan 44 Nemuro, above Lake Furen.
   • Drive north on Route 244 to Betsukai for Michi-no-Eki Odaito and the Notsuke Peninsula.
   • Continue to Shibetsu for the Salmon Museum and the Po River Historic Nature Park. The museum's fish ladder shows the salmon run in September and October (see Shibetsu).
   • End in Rausu with a whale-watching cruise and Michi-no-Eki Shiretoko Rausu, then cross Shiretoko Pass to Utoro in Shari. The pass road is closed in winter (see below).
2. Winter wildlife and drift ice (late January–early March, 3 days).
   • Fly into Nemuro Nakashibetsu Airport in Nakashibetsu. If you arrive on the first weekend of February, catch the Winter Festival.
   • Go to Rausu for drift ice and sea eagles.
   • Head south through Betsukai for guided "ice horizon" walks on the frozen Notsuke Bay.¹⁹
   • Finish in Nemuro, timed for the Birdland Festival in late January or the Nimuoro Winter Festival in early February.
3. Dairy plateau by rail and road (June–September, 2–3 days).
   • Take the JR Hanasaki Line from Kushiro to Nemuro, about 2 hours 30 minutes.⁴⁶
   • Rent a car, and drive west across the pastures of Betsukai: the New Dairy Village Observatory, farm cheese and Michi-no-Eki Odaito.
   • Continue to Nakashibetsu for Kaiyodai, the Milk Road and Yoroushi Onsen. In the second weekend of August you can add the Summer Festival.
   • Fly out from Nemuro Nakashibetsu Airport.

The official Hokkaido register lists three stations in the region: one each in Nemuro, Betsukai and Rausu.⁴⁷ There are none in Nakashibetsu or Shibetsu. Hours change with the season, so check the official page or the municipality file before you go.

• Air. Nemuro Nakashibetsu Airport in Nakashibetsu is the region's only airport. It has a 2,000 m runway and is run by Hokkaido.¹⁴

  • Daily flights: 3 to New Chitose, 2 to Sapporo Okadama (added in October 2023) and 1 to Tokyo Haneda.¹⁴
  • It handled 217,669 passengers in 2024.¹⁴
  • The Nemuro Kōtsū airport bus takes about 95 minutes to Nemuro Station.⁵⁰⁴⁶
  • Kushiro Airport, outside the region, is the other gateway; from Haneda it is about 105 minutes by air, then 55 minutes by bus to Kushiro Station.⁴⁶

• Rail. The JR Hanasaki Line between Kushiro and Nemuro is the only railway; the four towns have no JR service.¹⁴

  • Kushiro to Nemuro takes about 150 minutes.⁴⁶
  • JR Hokkaido listed the line in November 2016 among the sections it "cannot maintain on its own", and local governments are working to raise ridership.¹⁴
  • Higashi-Nemuro, long Japan's easternmost station, closed on 15 March 2025, leaving Nemuro Station as the easternmost.⁵¹

• Buses. Intercity routes listed by Nakashibetsu Town include:⁵⁰

  • Akan Bus: Utoro–Rausu–Shibetsu–Nakashibetsu–Kushiro Station.
  • Akan Bus: Shibetsu–Nakashibetsu–Nishishunbetsu.
  • Nemuro Kōtsū: Nakashibetsu Airport–Nemuro.
  • An overnight bus from Nemuro via Betsukai and Nakashibetsu to Sapporo, run jointly by Hokuto Kōtsū and Nemuro Kōtsū.

  Rail travellers heading for Nakashibetsu change to a bus at Kushiro or Shibecha.⁵⁰ For the four towns, buses are the only public transport, and ridership is falling.¹⁴

• Roads. The region has 6 national routes (296.4 km) and 44 prefectural roads (592.7 km).¹⁴ The national routes are 44, 243, 244, 272, 334 and 335.²¹ High-standard roads are being built in stages:¹⁴

  • Hokkaido Ōdan Expressway, Nemuro Line (Kushiro–Nemuro, 143 km planned). Sections west and east of Kushiro are open. On Route 44, the Nemuro Road between Onnetō and Hokō (7.1 km) opened in FY2019.
  • Nemuro–Nakashibetsu Road (40 km). The 8.1 km Betsukai Road opened in FY2015.
  • Kushiro–Nakashibetsu Road (100 km, along Route 272). The Shunbetsu, Akarinai and Kamibetsuho sections are open.

• Shiretoko Pass. The Shiretoko Crossing Road (Route 334) between Rausu and Utoro is closed in winter. The official Michi-no-Eki page for Shiretoko Rausu gives the closure as November–April, and the Rausu tourism association as November–May.⁴⁹⁵² In 2026 the road opened on 28 April for daytime traffic only, and to 24-hour traffic from 29 May.⁶⁵ The Shiretoko Snow Wall Walk in mid-April is held before the road reopens.²⁰ In that season, go around by Route 244 over Konpoku Pass.⁵²

• Getting around. Towns are far apart and buses are infrequent, so a rental car is the practical choice. Watch for deer on rural roads: they cause many collisions with cars and with Hanasaki Line trains.²⁴ Allow for severe cold in winter, and for sea fog on the coast from spring to summer.¹