Lake Akan

Lake Akan in Akan-Mashu National Park is internationally recognized as a Ramsar wetland, home to marimo, rare spherical freshwater algae that can grow up to 30 centimeters across. The marimo are protected as a National Special Natural Monument. A sightseeing cruise reaches Churui Island, where the Marimo Exhibition Center explains the organism's biology. In winter the lake freezes solid, allowing walks across the surface and ice fishing for smelt through drilled holes. Snowmobile tours also run from January. The surrounding old-growth forest of Yezo spruce and Sakhalin fir shelters brown bears, white-tailed eagles, and Yezo deer.