Shiretoko NP 知床国立公園
World Heritage NP with bears!
World Heritage-listed, the Shiretoko Peninsula, poking out northeast into the Sea of Okhotsk, was known to the Ainu as ‘the end of the world’. Even now, most of the peninsula is totally inaccessible.
Visitors turn up in winter to see the incredible drift ice in the Sea of Okhotsk, ride nature cruises to the end of the peninsula once the ice melts, do short walks such as to the Shiretoko Five Lakes and even hike up to Rausu-dake.
You’ll want to have your own wheels to make the most around here - and keep your eyes open! Higuma (Ussuri brown bears) can often be seen near the roads and villages.
Those islands out to the east - barely believable that they are so close! - are part of the Northern Territories, also known as the Kuril Islands, in dispute with Russia since the end of WWII.