Akan National Park



Akan Mashū National Park (阿寒摩周国立公園 Akan-Mashū-kokuritsu-kōen) is a large national park in the eastern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. In the name, Mashū was added in 2017.

Understand
The park's attractions are its three sparkling clear mountain lakes, the eponymous Lake Akan (阿寒湖 Akan-ko) to the west, Lake Mashū (摩周湖 Mashū-ko) to the east and Lake Kussharo (屈斜路湖 Kussharo-ko) between them. The largest settlement nearby is Teshikaga (弟子屈), to the south of Lakes Kussharo and Mashu.

Information Site
Ministry of Environment has an official bilingual webpage for the park.

Untouched Hokkaido is a bilingual guide site by local tourism associaitons, mainly focusing on nature.

By plane
The nearest airports are in Kushiro, an hour and a half to the south, Nakashibetsu, an hour to the east, and Memanbetsu, an hour and a half to the north.

By train
The JR Senmō Line (釧網本線) runs north–south across the park on its way from Abashiri (網走) to Kushiro (釧路), stopping at Kawayu and Teshikaga (Mashu station). There are around 4 trains daily to Abashiri (2 hours, &yen;1600) and 6–7 to Kushiro (1 hr 40 min, &yen;1790).

By bus
There are 4 buses daily between Akan and Kushiro station. Infrequent buses connect the lakes to each other and the train station at Bihoro. In the high season (May–October) busses run to Lake Onnetto, serving the Meakan and Akan Fuji trail-heads.

Get around
Buses are infrequent and cover only the main routes. A rental car will come in very handy here.

A 2days pass is available at hotels, convenience store and train stations. It gets you around the area with Eco-friendly buses (run on bio diesel fuel) and it's also valid on the JR Senmo line between JR Mashu and JR Kawayuonsen. More info here.

See




Do

 * Canoeing along the nearby Kushiro river is a popular if expensive activity, with a 90-minute guided trips from &yen;5500.
 * These hot spring resorts offer, surprise surprise, hot springs:
 * There are many excellent hikes in the region.
 * In summertime at the Akan Kohan ski ground (阿寒湖畔スキー場), there are two interesting short hikes, one 550-m, the other 2.2-km. The shorter one takes you to a ski slope with an excellent view of Lake Akan, its islands and the surrounding forest. The longer one starts off climbing about 900 m up a ski slope before delving into the surrounding forest and taking you past a hot water creek (47 °C), and several bokke (ボッケ), an Ainu word referring to hot mud caused by volcanism.
 * Another hike from the Kawayu Onsen Visitor's Centre to Iwo-san (2.4 km) is a very flat and easy but extremely interesting one starting off in luxuriant forest on a moss path before petering out into desert-like scrub as you approach the poisonous vapours of Iwo-san.
 * There are many excellent hikes in the region.
 * In summertime at the Akan Kohan ski ground (阿寒湖畔スキー場), there are two interesting short hikes, one 550-m, the other 2.2-km. The shorter one takes you to a ski slope with an excellent view of Lake Akan, its islands and the surrounding forest. The longer one starts off climbing about 900 m up a ski slope before delving into the surrounding forest and taking you past a hot water creek (47 °C), and several bokke (ボッケ), an Ainu word referring to hot mud caused by volcanism.
 * Another hike from the Kawayu Onsen Visitor's Centre to Iwo-san (2.4 km) is a very flat and easy but extremely interesting one starting off in luxuriant forest on a moss path before petering out into desert-like scrub as you approach the poisonous vapours of Iwo-san.

Buy
On the shore of Lake Akan, the small village of Ainu Kotan is home to one of the largest concentrations of Ainu artisans in Hokkaido. There are numerous galleries and studios selling textiles, paintings and carved works for the well-heeled.

Go next

 * You're already almost at the end of Japan, so why not head north to the outermost point of all, Shiretoko National Park?
 * Bihoro Pass, a scenic drive on the way to Bihoro, may be worth a drive.