Tokachi 十勝総合振興局

Populations are 2020 Census figures, the same figures used in each municipality file.¹

• Setting. Tokachi lies in southeastern Hokkaido, between 42°09′ and 43°38′N and 142°40′ and 144°02′E.¹ To the west and north rise the Hidaka Mountains and the Higashi-Taisetsu range, both about 2,000 m high. The Shiranuka Hills close the east side, and the south faces the Pacific. Between them lie alluvial fans, river terraces and the flat Tokachi Plain.¹ The region's peaks include Tomuraushi (2,141 m), Tokachi-dake (2,077 m) and Nipesotsu (2,013 m) in the north, and Kamuiekuuchikaushi (1,979 m) and Tokachi Poroshiri (1,846 m) in the Hidaka range.¹
• The Tokachi River. The river rises in the Daisetsuzan mountains and flows across the middle of the plain. At 156 km it is the third-longest river in Hokkaido, and about 200 rivers and streams join its system.¹ It meets the sea at Ōtsu in Toyokoro.²⁴ See also Urahoro for the river's old lower channel.
• Land use. Forest covers 64% of the land and 12% of Hokkaido's forest. About 60% of it is national forest, and larch is the main planted tree.² Cultivated land totals 254,500 ha, 22.4% of Hokkaido's farmland, and almost all of it is upland fields; rice paddies cover only 800 ha.²
• Coast. Four towns face the Pacific: Hiroo, Taiki, Toyokoro and Urahoro. The coast is about 100 km long and mostly sandy, with rocky shores only in the far south.² Coastal lagoons include Yūdō-numa (4.43 km²) and Chōbushi-ko (1.12 km²) in Toyokoro and Oikamanai-tō (1.54 km²) in Taiki.⁵
• Protected areas. Daisetsuzan National Park covers the northern mountains, and Akan-Mashu National Park reaches Lake Onneto in Ashoro.¹ On 25 June 2024 the Hidaka range became Hidaka-sanmyaku Erimo Tokachi National Park, Japan's 35th and largest national park, running about 140 km north to south.²⁵ It covers 245,668 ha.⁶ The bureau notes that rivers and lakes such as the Rekifune River and Lake Shikaribetsu rank near the top of national water-quality surveys every year.²⁶
• Climate. Apart from the Pacific coast, Tokachi has a continental climate.²⁶
  • Spring: dry foehn winds blow down off the Hidaka range and can turn into gales.²⁶
  • Summer: sea fog keeps the coast cool, while inland days stay fairly hot.²⁶
  • Winter: the Siberian high brings long cold spells. The Hidaka range blocks snow clouds, so snowfall is light and fine days follow one another.²⁶ The clear autumn and winter weather is called Tokachi-bare (十勝晴れ).²⁷
  • Year-round: sunshine is among the longest in Japan and precipitation is low.²⁶ The bureau says Tokachi has the most sunshine in Hokkaido.²⁶
• Obihiro normals (1991–2020). The annual mean is 7.2 °C: −6.9 °C in January, with an average daily low of −13.0 °C, and 20.3 °C in August. Obihiro gets 919.7 mm of precipitation, 198 cm of snowfall and 2,020 hours of sunshine a year.²⁸
• Extremes. Obihiro reached 38.8 °C on 26 May 2019 and again on 24 July 2025. Its record low is −38.2 °C (26 January 1902). On 4 February 2025, 104 cm of snow fell there in a single day, the station record.²⁹
• Coldest and mildest. Inland Rikubetsu is the cold pole: its January average daily low is −19.6 °C, and it recorded −33.2 °C on 27 January 2000.³⁰³¹ Coastal Hiroo is milder, averaging −4.2 °C in January and 18.6 °C in August, but wetter, with 1,709.2 mm of precipitation a year.³²

• The name. "Tokachi" comes from the Ainu name of the Tokachi River, Tokapchi. Several meanings have been proposed, among them "place with breasts", "withered" and "ghost", but the original meaning is unknown.¹³³ The explorer Matsuura Takeshirō proposed the name for the new province, explaining it as "breast", because the river split in two and flowed like milk that never stops.⁸
• Ainu Tokachi. Many Ainu kotan (villages) stood along the Tokachi River, its tributaries and the Rekifune River.³⁴ In 1643 the log of the Dutch ship Castricum recorded a meeting with Tokachi Ainu.³⁴ (See "Ainu heritage" below.)
• Matsumae fief and trading post. In the Kanbun era (1661–1673), Tokachi was the fief of Kakizaki Kurando, a senior retainer of the Matsumae domain, with his base at Hiroo.³⁴ In 1666 he placed a Kannon statue in the Tokachi shrine at Pirō (now Hiroo) and set up a trading house and fishing stations there.¹ Tokachi Ainu joined Shakushain's War in 1669.³⁴ In 1791 the Pirō trading post was renamed the Tokachi post (トカチ場所).¹ From about 1798, stations and a post relay stood at Ōtsu, at the river mouth, which became a base for trade with the Ainu and later for settlement.²⁴
• Shogunate years. The area came under direct shogunate rule in 1799. It passed back to Matsumae in 1821 and returned to the shogunate in 1855. In 1859 it was assigned to the Sendai domain, which built a small garrison, the Tokachi jinya, at Hiroo.⁸ A survey of the Tokachi River ordered by the shogunate in 1800 recorded where Ainu lived along it, and Matsuura Takeshirō traveled the coast in 1845 and 1856 and the river twice in 1858, recording Ainu life in detail.³⁴
• Tokachi Province. When Ezo was renamed Hokkaido in 1869, Tokachi Province was created with seven districts and 51 villages.¹ Until 1871 it was split among outside rulers: the Kagoshima domain (whose share later passed to two noble families) held Hiroo, Tōbui and Kasai districts, and the Shizuoka domain the other four.⁸ A survey in 1872 counted 1,464 people.⁸
• Private settlers. In most of Hokkaido, settlement was led by the government. Tokachi was opened mainly by private groups, beginning with the Banseisha company from Shizuoka Prefecture, which chose Shimo-Obihiro (Oberiberi) in 1882 and arrived in 1883. Settlers from Toyama, Gifu and other prefectures followed.¹ Convicts of the Tokachi branch prison at Obihiro also cleared land for farming.³⁵ In 1896 the Kōfukusha of Ninomiya Takachika, grandson of the agrarian reformer Ninomiya Sontoku, chose the Ushishubetsu plain in what is now Toyokoro, and from 1897 farmers from Sōma in Fukushima settled there.⁷⁷ Company farms and settler groups opened many other towns; see Shihoro, Shimizu, Ikeda and Rikubetsu.
• Policy toward the Ainu. In 1885 the authorities gathered Ainu from the surrounding area into 12 sites along the Tokachi and Toshibetsu rivers, including Fushiko in Obihiro, to teach them farming. The scheme failed. The 1899 Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act then pushed assimilation, and life became harder still.³⁴
• A subprefecture of its own. In 1897 the Kasai and six other district offices were split from Kushiro, and the Kasai Subprefecture was set up at Shimo-Obihiro.¹ On 8 September 1907 the Karikachi Tunnel opened, completing the railway between Asahikawa and Kushiro through the plain.³⁶ The town-and-village system came in 1923, and the subprefecture was renamed Tokachi Subprefecture (十勝支庁) in 1932.¹
• Postwar. In 1948 Ashoro and Rikubetsu villages were transferred from the Kushiro subprefecture.¹ The Tokachi-oki earthquake of 4 March 1952 (M8.2) did its worst damage around Ōtsu, on peat ground near the river mouth.³⁷ In 1957 Kawanishi and Taishō villages merged into Obihiro, leaving 1 city, 13 towns and 6 villages.¹
• Rail and road. The Sekishō Line opened in 1981 as a shortcut to Sapporo, and most express trains moved to it.³⁶ The JNR Hiroo Line closed on 2 February 1987 and the Shihoro Line on 23 March 1987.³⁸³⁹ The Furusato Ginga Line from Ikeda to Kitami, then Japan's longest third-sector railway, closed on 21 April 2006.⁴⁰ Another M8.0 Tokachi-oki earthquake struck on 26 September 2003.³⁷
• The 2010 reorganization. On 1 April 2010 Hokkaido replaced its 14 subprefectures with 9 general subprefectural bureaus and 5 subprefectural bureaus. Tokachi became the Tokachi General Subprefectural Bureau (十勝総合振興局), covering the same area as before.⁴¹
• Recent years.
  • 2011: the Dōtō Expressway opened between Shimukappu and Yūbari in October, giving Tokachi a direct expressway link to central Hokkaido.³⁵
  • 2013: in June, Obihiro and the 18 towns and villages were chosen together as a national "Biomass Industry City", the first in Japan.²⁶²⁷
  • 2024: the Hidaka national park was created in June.²⁵ The JR line between Furano and Shintoku closed on 1 April.³⁶ By September every municipality had declared a 2050 zero-carbon goal.²⁶ In December the Dōtō Expressway reached Kushiro-nishi IC, linking Tokachi and Kushiro.³⁵
  • 2025: in May the first scheduled international flights at Tokachi-Obihiro Airport began, to Cheongju in South Korea.³⁵

• Structure. Tokachi's economy rests on farming, forestry and food. In 2020, 14.3% of workers were in primary industries, about twice the Hokkaido share of 6.7%, and 14.0% worked in farming and forestry alone.²

• Scale of farming. The average farm worked 45.7 ha in 2020, about 1.5 times the Hokkaido average and about 21 times the average elsewhere in Japan. About 87% of family farms earn their living mainly from farming.² Most farms rotate four crops: wheat, beans, potatoes and sugar beet.² Tokachi's shares of Hokkaido's 2024 harvest:²

  Crop	Harvest (2024)	Share of Hokkaido
  Sugar beet	1,586,000 t	45.5%
  Potatoes	858,700 t	45.9%
  Wheat	282,000 t	39.5%
  Soybeans	41,100 t	31.0%
  Azuki beans	29,936 t	66.1%
  Kidney beans (ingen)	4,063 t	75.5%

• Livestock. In 2020 the region kept 234,400 dairy cattle (28.9% of Hokkaido) and 221,470 beef cattle (42.9%). Its farms delivered 1.28 million t of milk to Hokuren in FY2024, 30.0% of Hokkaido's total and the most of any subprefecture.²

• Output. Farm output was ¥326.0 billion in 2023, 24.2% of Hokkaido and the most of any subprefecture. Livestock earned ¥201.0 billion of that.² The region's farm co-ops handled a record ¥384.6 billion of produce from the 2025 harvest (preliminary), 64.3% of it from livestock.² Nagaimo, edamame and lily bulbs are exported.²

• Food supply base. Obihiro says Tokachi's food self-sufficiency is over 1,200% on a calorie basis: a region of about 320,000 people grows food for about 4.1 million.²⁷ All 19 municipalities work together under the "Food Valley Tokachi" banner to join farming, processing and sales.²²⁷

• Brands. "Tokachi Kawanishi nagaimo" became one of Japan's first regional collective trademarks in 2006. It has been followed by brands including Taishō May Queen potatoes, Tokachigawa Onsen, Memuro burdock, Tokachi Wagyu, Tokachi Wakaushi, Ikeda beef, Tokachi Naitai Wagyu, Nakasatsunai edamame and Shihoro Beef.² In 2025 Tokachi Wakaushi became the first Holstein beef in Japan, and the first beef from Hokkaido, to gain Geographical Indication (GI) protection from the farm ministry.¹⁰ The Tokachi Brand scheme certifies processed foods made in Tokachi from at least 51% local ingredients, and 175 products were registered.²

• Fishing. The catch was 63,423 t, worth ¥6.49 billion, in 2024.¹ The Kuroshio and Oyashio currents meet offshore, and boats land salmon, walleye pollock, shishamo, octopus and whelks. Branded autumn salmon include Kikōshi (樹煌士) from Taiki and Kōki (広輝) from Hiroo.²

• Manufacturing. Factories shipped ¥497.4 billion of goods in 2020. Industries based on local resources, above all food, made up 79.0% of that.² Tokachi Port in Hiroo has one of Hokkaido's largest compound-feed complexes (running since 2011) and has handled 1.4–1.56 million t of cargo a year in 2020–2024.³⁵

• Commerce. Wholesale and retail sales were ¥1.05 trillion in 2021.¹ Of the region's 100 large stores, 58 are in Obihiro. The Fujimaru department store in Obihiro closed at the end of January 2023, and its site is being redeveloped.⁴¹

• Energy. Manure from the region's cattle feeds biogas plants, and farm and forest waste is turned into fertilizer and fuel.²⁶ See Shikaoi for hydrogen made from manure gas and caviar from sturgeon raised with the spare heat.¹⁵

• Aerospace. The bureau promotes Tokachi as a base for Hokkaido's aerospace industry. In 2019 a small rocket built by a venture based in Taiki became the first by a Japanese private company to reach space (113.4 km), and two more reached space within a month in 2021.⁴¹ SPACE COTAN, founded in 2021, runs Hokkaido Spaceport. Its runway was lengthened from 1,000 m to 1,300 m in FY2024, and an orbital launch site, LC1, is due for completion in FY2026.⁴¹

• Tourism. Hokkaido counted 11.98 million visits to Tokachi in FY2025, up 3.3% and a record. That was 7.7% of Hokkaido's total. Guests stayed 2.05 million nights.⁴² Foreign guests stayed 203,673 nights, up 10.0%. Taiwan (78,292) and South Korea (42,624) sent the most.⁴² The report credits the new flights from Korea and a big rise in roadside-station visitors. Otofuke ranked 10th in Hokkaido for visits (2.79 million) and Obihiro 5th for guest-nights (1.2 million).⁴²

Regional specialties.

Festival calendar. The bureau's 2026 overview lists these among each municipality's main events. Exact dates change from year to year; see each municipality file.¹⁰

Ban'ei racing. At Obihiro Racecourse, draft horses weighing more than a tonne haul iron sleds over two ramps, 1 m and 1.6 m high. The races began as trials of strength at shrine festivals in the Meiji era and were once held in four Hokkaido cities.⁴⁴ Obihiro has run them alone since FY2007, and nowhere else in the world holds them.³ Hokkaido's horse culture, including ban'ei, is a Hokkaido Heritage.³⁵

Hokkaido Heritage. Six of Hokkaido's 74 Hokkaido Heritage listings are in Tokachi:³⁵

• the concrete arch bridges of the old JNR Shihoro Line in Kamishihoro, 34 of which were preserved, among them the Taushubetsu bridge
• Hokkaido's horse culture, including ban'ei racing in Obihiro
• the moor hot springs of Otofuke and elsewhere, dark with plant matter
• Rawan butterbur in Ashoro
• the sea of trees at Tokachi-Mitsumata in Kamishihoro, in a caldera formed about a million years ago
• Hokkaido's early prisons: the Tokachi branch prison's convicts worked on land development, and its oil storehouse is Obihiro's oldest surviving building

Sports born here. Gateball was devised in Memuro in 1947, mini-volleyball in Taiki in 1972, ice stocker in Hiroo in 1982, park golf in Makubetsu in 1983 and floor curling in Shintoku in 1993. Ikeda took up curling in 1977.³

Regional mascots. In 2011 the bureau introduced the "Tokachi PR Ambassadors" (とかちの魅力PR大使), a set of 12 characters.³ Almost every municipality also has its own mascot, such as Hiroo's Sa-ta-chan and Rikubetsu's Shibare-kun and Tsurara-chan.³

Ainu heritage.

• Kotan and history. Many Ainu villages once lined the Tokachi River and its tributaries and the Rekifune River.³⁴ The Obihiro Centennial City Museum's Ainu culture information center, Riwka (リウカ), keeps a timeline of the Tokachi Ainu from the 1643 Dutch record to the present.³⁴
• Leaders and organizations. Fushine Kōzō of Obihiro and Yoshida Kikutarō of Makubetsu worked for Ainu self-reliance and cultural revival. In 1927 the Tokachi Kyokumeisha (十勝旭明社), a forerunner of today's Hokkaido Ainu Association, was founded in Obihiro.³⁴ Yoshida opened the Ezo Bunka Kōkokan museum in 1959.³⁴ The association now lists seven local Ainu associations in the Tokachi district: Obihiro, Honbetsu, Urahoro, Makubetsu, Memuro, Kamishihoro and Ashoro.⁴⁵
• Dance. The Obihiro Kamuy Tō Upopo Preservation Society (帯広カムイトウウポポ保存会) was founded in 1964. It keeps more than 30 songs and dances alive and is one of the older groups protecting Ainu traditional dance, a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property since 1984.⁴⁶ Ainu traditional dance was added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2009.³⁴
• Sacred mountain. On 19 September 2012 Tokachi Poroshiri-dake became the eighth part of the national Place of Scenic Beauty "Pirika Noka" (ピリカノカ, "beautiful shapes"), which protects landscapes tied to Ainu stories, prayer and place names.⁴⁷
• Chashi. Two Ainu hilltop fort sites are national Historic Sites. The Yukuepira Chashi in Rikubetsu, with a moat about 100 m long, is one of the largest in Hokkaido.⁴⁸ The Otafunbe Chashi in Urahoro was designated on 29 August 1981.²³
• New center. Chirot (チロット), Makubetsu's Ainu culture hub, opens in Senju, Makubetsu, on 1 October 2026. Its Makubetsu Ainu Culture Exchange Center has a hall for cultural activities and an exhibition hall.²⁰
• Rights and remains. The Raporo Ainu Nation of Urahoro, formerly the Urahoro Ainu Association, sued Hokkaido University and Sapporo Medical University for the return of ancestral remains. Settlements with both returned about 100 sets of remains by 2019.⁴⁹ In 2020 the group also sued the national and Hokkaido governments to confirm an Indigenous right to catch salmon. The Sapporo District Court rejected the claim in April 2024 and the Sapporo High Court dismissed the appeal on 2 July 2026; the group's lawyers said they would not appeal further, so the ruling stands.⁴⁹ See the Urahoro file.
• Place names. Almost every municipality's name comes from Ainu, from Obihiro (o-pere-perke-p, "river mouth split into many branches") to Memuro and Satsunai.¹⁰³³ Each municipality file explains its own name.

• Food and markets. Tokachi is Hokkaido's food region, and its dishes are the main draw: butadon, sweets, dairy and restaurants that cook with local produce.⁴¹ Obihiro's Kitanoyatai stall village and the racecourse's Tokachimura market are in the city center.¹⁰ The roadside stations double as farm markets (see below).
• Gardens. Six of the nine gardens on the 250 km Hokkaido Garden Path (北海道ガーデン街道) are in Tokachi.⁵⁰
  • Manabe Garden and Shichiku Garden in Obihiro
  • Tokachi Hills in Makubetsu
  • Rokka no Mori and the Nakasatsunai Art Village garden in Nakasatsunai
  • Tokachi Millennium Forest in Shimizu. This garden, winner of the Society of Garden Designers' top award in 2012, closes to visitors after 12 October 2026.¹⁷
• Lakes and mountains.
  • Lake Shikaribetsu in Shikaoi, at 810 m the highest natural lake in Hokkaido and the only habitat in Japan of the Miyabe char.³ (The Shikaribetsu Kotan site gives the lake surface as 804 m above sea level.¹⁴)
  • Lake Nukabira, the Taushubetsu arch bridge (it sinks as the lake fills from about June and reappears on the ice from about January) and the Naitai Terrace lookout in Kamishihoro.⁵¹¹⁰
  • Lake Onneto and Meakan-dake in Ashoro.¹⁰ In some years the lake freezes clear between late November and early December.⁵²
  • Karikachi Pass and Tomuraushi Onsen in Shintoku, and the Nissho Pass lookout in Shimizu.¹⁰
  • Pyōtan Falls in Satsunai River Park, Nakasatsunai, at the foot of the Hidaka range.¹⁰
• Hot springs.
  • Moor onsen, a Hokkaido Heritage, at Tokachigawa Onsen in Otofuke and at Shihoro Onsen in Shihoro. See Obihiro and Makubetsu for more moor baths.³⁵⁵³
  • Nukabira Gensenkyo in Kamishihoro and Tomuraushi Onsen in Shintoku, in the mountains.¹⁰
  • Bansei Onsen in Taiki, an iodine spring by the Pacific, and Rushin Onsen in Urahoro, a strongly alkaline spring of pH 10.0.¹⁰³
  • In winter, the avanto sauna on frozen Lake Kuttari in Shintoku, where bathers cool off in a hole in the ice, draws sauna fans from across Japan.⁴¹¹⁰
• Coast. Santa Land and the Golden Road in Hiroo; the Harunire elm and the Jewelry Ice (about mid-January to early March⁷²) in Toyokoro; Konbukariishi lookout and the Toyokita flower meadow in Urahoro.¹⁰ The bureau's list of Tokachi records says the lower Tokachi, in Toyokoro, is the only place in the world where five species protected as natural monuments (white-tailed eagle, Steller's sea eagle, red-crowned crane, greater white-fronted goose and bean goose) can be watched along with the endangered snow goose.³
• History, science and space. The Chūrui Naumann Elephant Museum in Makubetsu, built after a nearly complete skeleton was found in 1969;¹⁹ Kōfuku and Aikoku stations in Obihiro;¹⁰ the Ashoro Museum of Paleontology;¹⁰ the Ginga-no-Mori Observatory and the Rikubetsu Railway in Rikubetsu;¹⁰ the SORA space center and Hokkaido Spaceport in Taiki.¹⁰
• Cycling. The Tokapuchi 400 (トカプチ400) is one of six National Cycle Routes in Japan and the only one in Hokkaido. The 403 km route starts in Obihiro and loops across the plain in a figure of eight, from Mikuni Pass in the north to the foot of the Hidaka range in the south.⁴¹

Suggested routes

1. The Food Valley core (2–3 days, May–October).
   • Start in Obihiro: ban'ei racing, butadon and an evening at Kitanoyatai.
   • Cross the river to Otofuke for Michi-no-Eki Otofuke, Ryugetsu's Sweetpia Garden and a night at Tokachigawa Onsen.
   • Head west to Memuro (the Shin-Arashiyama lookout; sweet corn in late summer) and Shimizu for a gyutama steak bowl.
   • Turn south to Nakasatsunai (Rokka no Mori, the Art Village and the roadside station) and Sarabetsu, and finish at Tokachi Hills in Makubetsu.
2. Lakes and forests of Daisetsuzan (2–3 days).
   • Come in over Karikachi Pass to Shintoku for soba and Kyodo Gakusha cheese.
   • Go on to Shikaoi: Lake Shikaribetsu, and horse riding at Michi-no-Eki Urimaku.
   • Cross to Kamishihoro for Nukabira Gensenkyo, the Taushubetsu bridge and Naitai Terrace, then return via Shihoro Onsen and Pia21 in Shihoro.
   • In winter, time the trip for the Shikaribetsu Kotan igloo village and walk out to the Taushubetsu bridge on the ice with a guide. In early August, add the balloon festival.
3. East and the Pacific coast (3–4 days).
   • Start with Tokachi Wine at the Wine Castle in Ikeda (go by train if you plan to taste).
   • Head north through Honbetsu (Stella Honbetsu) to Ashoro for Lake Onneto and the fossil museum, and to Rikubetsu to drive a railcar and see the stars.
   • Come back down to the coast at Urahoro (Rushin Onsen, Konbukariishi) and Toyokoro (the Harunire elm; the Jewelry Ice in midwinter).
   • Follow the Pacific south to Taiki (the space center and Bansei Onsen) and end at Santa Land in Hiroo. Return via Chūrui in Makubetsu on the Obihiro–Hiroo Expressway.

The official Hokkaido register lists 15 active roadside stations in Tokachi, the same number the bureau gives.⁵⁴³⁵ Obihiro, Shintoku, Shimizu, Memuro, Ikeda, Toyokoro and Hiroo have none. A 16th station, Ashoro-ko in Ashoro, lost its registration on 31 January 2022.⁵⁴ Shintoku is planning a station with a new smart interchange on the Dōtō Expressway (see the Shintoku file). Hours and services change with the season, so check the official page or the municipality file before you go.

• Air. Tokachi-Obihiro Airport in Obihiro is the region's only airport. It opened in 1981 and has a 2,500 m runway.³⁵
  • JAL and AIRDO fly from Tokyo Haneda, and a Nagoya route runs seasonally.³⁵
  • In May 2025 the airport's first scheduled international route opened, to Cheongju in South Korea. In June 2025 Solaseed Air flew the airport's first charter to and from Miyazaki.³⁵ Aero K added a Seoul (Incheon) route in November 2025 but suspended its Obihiro flights from 15 April 2026. In the 2026 summer schedule it flew to Cheongju only from 15 July to 30 August, and the Incheon route is suspended for now. JAL has announced a new Osaka (Itami) route from 1 December 2026.⁶⁸ Check before booking; see also the Obihiro file.
  • For the northeast of the region, Memanbetsu Airport in Ozora and Kushiro Airport can be closer than Obihiro; see Rikubetsu, Ashoro and Urahoro.
• Rail. The JR Nemuro Main Line runs from Shintoku through Shimizu, Memuro, Obihiro, Makubetsu, Ikeda, Toyokoro and Urahoro to Kushiro. At Shintoku it meets the Sekishō Line from Sapporo.³⁶ The fastest limited express takes 2 hours 21 minutes from Sapporo to Obihiro and 1 hour 31 minutes from Obihiro to Kushiro.³⁵ The line west of Shintoku toward Furano closed on 1 April 2024.³⁶ The Hiroo, Shihoro and Furusato Ginga lines have all closed, so most towns off the main line are reached by bus or car.³⁸³⁹⁴⁰
• Bus. Intercity buses reach Sapporo in 3 hours 25 minutes at the fastest.³⁵ Local route buses run with state and municipal subsidies. Community buses and on-demand services fill gaps in the network; on-demand buses or taxis run in 10 municipalities, including Obihiro and Otofuke.³⁵ Obihiro and Kamishihoro have tested or run self-driving buses, and a tourism MaaS called "Tokachike" (トカチケ) sells transport together with admission tickets and activities.³⁵
• Expressways.
  • Dōtō Expressway: links Tokachi directly with central Hokkaido. It branches at Honbetsu JCT toward Kushiro (reached in December 2024) and toward Ashoro and Kitami. The Ashoro–Rikubetsu section is under construction, and the Shimukappu–Tokachi-Shimizu section is being widened to four lanes.³⁵
  • Obihiro–Hiroo Expressway: open south to Chūrui-Taiki IC since March 2015. It is being extended through Toyoni to Hiroo.³⁵
• Scenic roads. National Route 38 crosses Karikachi Pass, Route 274 Nissho Pass, and Route 236 the Hidaka range on the Tenma Kaidō.¹⁶⁴ Route 273 climbs over Mikuni Pass (1,139 m), which the bureau lists as the highest in Hokkaido.¹³ Route 336 follows the coast from Hiroo toward Erimo, along the stretch known as the Golden Road.¹¹⁰
• Sea. Tokachi Port in Hiroo has been a designated important port since 1970 and offers the shortest sea route to Honshu. It is a cargo port: a regular container ship has run to the Tokyo Bay area since May 2024, and in March 2025 the land ministry certified it as an export port for farm and food products.³⁵
• Getting around. Distances are long and buses infrequent, so a rental car is the practical choice outside Obihiro. The Tokapuchi 400 cycle route and rental bikes suit summer touring.⁴¹ In winter, expect lows around −20 °C inland and occasional heavy snow, as on 4 February 2025.²⁷²⁹ Watch for Ezo deer on rural roads, and check the bear notices in each municipality file before hiking; the bureau reports that brown bear captures remain at a high level.²⁶