Shibetsu

Shibetsu Town is located at the easternmost tip of Hokkaido and in the center of the Nemuro Branch Office. Here and there, we can see the spectacular scenery of the vast grasslands and marshlands, the Sea of Okhotsk and the mountains of the Shiretoko Mountain Range, all of which are a condensed version of the characteristics of the East Hokkaido region.

It takes about 30 minutes by car from Nakashibetsu Airport. After driving through a pasture land lined with windbreak trees, the sea comes into view. Lying just beyond the calm surface of the water is Kunashiri Island, an “an island so near yet so far.” Looking back, there is the Shiretoko mountain range, a major mountain range in the eastern part of Hokkaido, and the Notsuke Peninsula is just a short drive away.
Shibetsu Town, located at the easternmost tip of Hokkaido, offers spectacular views of the sea, land, mountains, and rivers. It is difficult to describe Shibetsu in a single photograph, but the beauty of this diverse northern land can be experienced in its entirety in this town.
With a population of approximately five thousand, the town has been formed in recent years with fishing and dairy farming as its core industries, and has been inhabited for as long as ten thousand years. The reason for this is the “salmon run” that occurs every fall along the Shibetsu River, which flows calmly through the center of the town. From the Jomon period to the present day, people have been constantly fed by the bounty of the salmon, and at the same time, a history of conflict and interaction among diverse people has been repeated. In order to pass on this magnificent historical story to future generations, the city and three villages in the Nemuro region (Shibetsu, Nemuro, Betsukai, and Rausu) have joined together to apply “A Heritage of Salmon—A Journey of Ten Thousand Years in the Nemuro Strait—” for Japan Heritage site which was registered in 2020.
The town joined the Most Beautiful Villages in Japan Association in 2007. It was through its ties with Tsurui Village and Biei Town, the other members in Hokkaido. The townspeople took this as an opportunity to actively develop their own specialties. In recent years, with the cooperation of the local government, the town has been deepening its friendship with Yoshino Town in Nara Prefecture by providing raw material for traditional Japanese paper washi and by leveraging its local resources.

Interviewed in April, 2023