North Hokkaido · ToyotomiNo.911★★Open in map →
Sarobetsu Plain
— Japan's largest raised bog, walked on a boardwalk
A peat bog on the Sarobetsu River basin at the northern end of Hokkaido, inside Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park. A boardwalk loops out from the wetland centre into open bog, and it is left open around the clock.
- FromWakkanai Station
- ~40 minJR local, then bike or taxi
- Get off atToyotomi Station (JR Soya Line)
- From there
- Sarobetsu Plain
The sweet spot
This is not a hidden place. It is the front door of a national park, and coaches call through the summer. What thins the crowd is getting here: the scheduled bus along the plain no longer runs, so the last stretch from the station is down to a hired bicycle, a taxi, or a shared bus you have to book the day before. Most people who reach the boardwalk have planned for it.
Where it is
102 more notes in Hokkaido · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Sarobetsu Wetland Centerexhibits on how the bog formed and on the peat cutting that once went on here
- The boardwalk loopflat and barrier-free, with terraces and benches set along the way
- Ezo-kanzo day liliesorange flowers that open in the morning and are closed again by evening
- The old peat groundcut-over land beside the bog, now being restored to wetland
- Birds of the plaingeese and swans passing through in spring and autumn, sea eagles in winter
How to actually get there
- Wakkanai Station → Toyotomi Station (JR Soya Line, local or limited express).
- At Toyotomi Station front, hire a bicycle from the tourist information centre, call the local taxi firm, or take the shared bus if you booked it the day before.
- Head west to the Sarobetsu Wetland Center and read the peat and bog exhibits before you go outside.
- Walk the boardwalk loop from behind the building and back to the same door.
- JR Soya Line from Wakkanai
- Wakkanai Station →(JR Soya Line local, about 40 minutes)→ Toyotomi Station. Limited express trains also stop at Toyotomi; the run from Sapporo is about four hours twenty minutes and from Asahikawa about three hours. From the station front the wetland centre is about 7 km west.
- The same line back
- Trains on the Soya Line are few, and the last northbound service from Toyotomi is early by city standards, so fix your return before you leave the station. If you have hired a bicycle, note that the station-front information centre that lends them shuts in the late afternoon.
About the place
Sarobetsu Plain is a peatland that formed in the basin of the Sarobetsu River, at the northern end of Hokkaido. It is the third-largest wetland in Japan and the largest raised bog in the country. A raised bog takes its water from rain rather than from a river, so the ground is poor in nutrients and only plants that can live on very little take hold. The boardwalk from the wetland centre runs a one-kilometre loop out into that ground, flat and barrier-free the whole way, with terraces and benches set along it. There is no rise to climb and no tree line to break the view.
How to enjoy it
The boardwalk is left open around the clock, so an early walk out over the bog does not depend on the building being open. Ezo-kanzo, the flower the plain is known for, is at its best from late June into the first days of July, and each bloom opens in the morning and is gone by evening. Something is in flower from May through September, so a later summer visit is not a wasted one.
Background & history
The ground under the boardwalk is dead plant matter that never rotted away. Water sat over it, air could not reach it, and the layers built up as peat. Peat was cut here for fuel and for soil, and the worked ground beside the wetland is now being brought back to bog. The wetland went onto the Ramsar list of internationally important wetlands in 2005. The present visitor building opened in 2011 as an Environment Ministry information centre and is run by a certified local conservation NPO.
Before you go
- Cash
- The centre lists no admission charge. Bicycle hire at the station front and the taxi are settled on the spot, so carry cash rather than counting on a card.
- Before you go
- The wetland centre runs 9:00 to 17:00 from May through October with no closing days, and 10:00 to 16:00 from November through April, when it shuts on Mondays and over the new year. Dogs are not allowed on the boardwalk. The loop is out in the open with no shelter, and the wind here has nothing to slow it.
- Another way
- By car the centre is about 40 km from Wakkanai, 210 km from Asahikawa and 280 km from Sapporo. A rental car picked up at Wakkanai is the usual answer for anyone working along the north coast.
- After you get off
- Coming by bicycle or taxi, you are set down at the wetland centre itself. The boardwalk starts behind the building and returns to the same door, so there is no separate trailhead to find.