Shiretoko Five Lakes

Most people walk the boardwalk, and that is a reasonable choice. It runs 800 m out to the shore of the first lake, 2 to 5 m off the ground, with an electric fence of about 7,000 volts along its sides so bears cannot climb on. It is free, level enough for wheelchairs (the field house lends them at no charge), and about 40 minutes there and back. From the three viewpoints you look across the first lake to the Shiretoko mountains on one side and out to the Sea of Okhotsk on the other. What you do not see from it is the other four lakes.

For those you need the ground trail, a path through old forest where bears leave claw marks on the trees. It is a controlled area under the Natural Parks Act, and the rules change with the season. From the opening day to 9 May and from 1 August to closing, you buy a ticket (450 yen, children 200 yen), fill in a form at the Shiretoko Goko Field House and sit a ten-minute lecture, then walk on your own: about 90 minutes for the big loop, 40 for the small one. From 10 May to 31 July, when bears use the area most, you may only go with a registered guide: the 3 km big loop takes three hours and costs from 6,000 yen booked ahead, the small loop is 4,000 yen and runs only three times a day. Either way, the ground trail closes whenever a bear turns up. The rules came in after years of such closures: in 2007 the whole trail was usable on only 98.5 days.

The lakes are inside the Shiretoko World Natural Heritage area, inscribed in 2005, and the Ministry of the Environment calls them its core. Practical points: no food on the ground trail unless sealed, no sugary drinks, no pets, no drones. In winter the road is closed to private cars, and the only way in is a paid winter eco-tour, which runs from about late January to mid-March.