KUSHIRO, Hokkaido–A long-distance hiking trail opening in eastern Hokkaido in October promises stunning natural scenery unmatched elsewhere in Japan.
Covering 410 kilometers, the Hokkaido East Trail will link three national parks: Kushiro-Shitsugen (Kushiro Marsh), Akan-Mashu and Shiretoko.
The project to develop and administer the public footpath came together through the efforts of residents, 14 municipal governments, the prefectural government of Hokkaido, the Environment Ministry and other entities.
It wasn’t until fairly recently that long-distance trails, popular in Western countries, began to be developed in Japan.
The Hokkaido East Trail is expected to attract visitors both from inside and outside Japan. Because of its relatively small size, Japan has nothing approaching the length of the famed Appalachian Trail, a 3,536-kilometer mountain route in the United States.
Well-known footpaths in Japan include the 110-km Shin-etsu Trail along the border between Nagano and Niigata prefectures and the 1,025-km Michinoku Coastal Trail on the eastern coast of the northern Tohoku region. The latter was developed as part of rebuilding efforts from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
WHAT TO SEE
The Hokkaido East Trail runs across eastern Hokkaido in a south-north direction from the city of Kushiro on the Pacific coast to the town of Rausu on the eastern side of theShiretoko Peninsula.
A road branches off, midway, in the direction of Lake Akanko.
Starting from the city of Kushiro, a hiker heading north will reach Kushiro Marsh, the nation’s largest wetland and home to numerous wildlife species, including the red-crowned crane, Yezo deer and Ezo red fox.
Some of the forest roads and mountain trails along the route have yet to be paved. Encounters with wildlife are a certainty.
Next up along the trail is a dairy farming area that spans town of Shibecha with an expanse of pastureland that offers an unblocked view of the sky while cattle graze peacefully.
To the north is Lake Kussharoko, Japan’s biggest caldera lake covering about 80 square kilometers. Visitors can enjoy a view of the blue lake in summer and its contrast with red and yellow leaves in autumn.
Farther up the road is Kaminoko-Ike pond, which appears to be filled with blue water, and the Sakura-no-Taki waterfall, where masu salmon can be seen jumping upstream in summer.
After these scenic spots, the traveler reaches a large-scale dry field farming area where potatoes, wheat and other crops are grown.
The final place of scenic interest along the trail is Shiretoko, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. Cross a mountain pass, and the hiker is in Rausu, the northern end of the trail with a view of Kunashiri Island.
The route offers an overwhelming sense of the immensity of the Earth and the sky that is hard to find elsewhere in Hokkaido despite the fact it boasts magnificent scenery in all directions.
AMENITIES
Lodging facilities and campsites will dot the trail at intervals of 20-30 km. Environment Ministry officials reckon it will take about three weeks to complete the trail.
“Walking along the route allows you to sense the workings of animals, plants and humans,” said Shin Hasegawa, the 46-year-old director of the Trailblaze Hiking Institute, who helped design the route. “I hope people will enjoy hiking along it, be it alone or with family members, whenever they get the idea to do so.”
One of the hopes of opening the trail is that it will prompt more people to spend longer in the areas they visit.
Sites for canoeing, bicycle riding and wildlife observation tours will also operate close to the footpath where lodging facilities and eateries are located.
Most sightseers to eastern Hokkaido rely on rental cars and other means of personal transportation to make the rounds of popular tourist destinations.
Hiking, by contrast, allows visitors to explore the charms of towns that would otherwise have been overlooked and interact with the locals.
And visits by hikers from overseas offer the prospect of the charms of the trail being shared with world audiences via social media.
“I am keen to see if the trail will prompt a spread of the style of traveling in small parties and staying longer,” said Toshitaka Kikuchi of Sapporo-based Hokkaido Treasure Island Travel Inc.
“I am also interested to see if the flow of money that will circulate between visitors, travel agencies and local residents will partly be spent on the preservation and maintenance of nature, thereby benefiting all the parties concerned,” said Kikuchi, 53, who is well-versed in experiential tourism. “That will decide which trail is chosen as a travel destination.”
AloJapan.com