Hokkaido’s National Parks

Hokkaido has six national parks covering landscapes shaped by volcanoes, glaciers, and wetlands. Akan-Mashu holds three caldera lakes, including Lake Mashu, which holds a world record for water transparency, and Lake Akan, home to marimo, the rare spherical alga designated a Special Natural Monument. Kushiro Shitsugen protects Japan's largest wetland, a Ramsar Site where red-crowned cranes nest among alder forests and reed marshes. Other parks include Shiretoko, Daisetsuzan, Shikotsu-Toya, and Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu, together protecting a broad cross-section of Hokkaido's wild terrain.