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Eastern Circuit Voyage Tips and guide

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    Twisted trees near Lake Mashuko, Akan National Park

    The Eastern Circuit (道東 Dōtō) covers the eastern half of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

    Regions

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    Map
    Map of Eastern Circuit

    The Eastern Circuit is composed of the following four subprefectures:

    • Okhotsk – it was renamed from Abashiri Subprefecture in 2010. Has a Japanese-only portal site for tourism.
    • Tokachi – the region is dominated by the Tokachi Plain, a major agricultural area
    • Kushiro – the region is dominated by the Kushiro Plain, a major agricultural area
    • Nemuro – the region is dominated by the Nemuro Plain, a major agricultural area

    Cities and towns

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    Cities

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    • 1 Kushiro (釧路市 Kushiro-shi) – the largest city in the Circuit with 200,000 people
    • 2 Abashiri (網走市 Abashiri-shi) – fishing town famous for drift ice and infamous for its prison
    • 3 Kitami (北見市 Kitami-shi) – the onion capital of Japan
    • 4 Monbetsu (紋別市 Monbetsu-shi)
    • 5 Nemuro (根室市 Nemuro-shi) – at the easternmost tip of Hokkaido
    • 6 Obihiro (帯広市 Obihiro-shi) – the main city in the Tokachi Plain, a large

    agricultural area

    Towns

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    • 7 Bihoro (美幌町 Bihoro-chō) – gateway to the Akan National Park
    • 8 Shari (斜里町 Shari-chō) – gateway to Shiretoko National Park and home of onsen village Utoro

    Other destinations

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    National Parks

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    • 1 Akan National Park (阿寒摩周国立公園 Akan Mashu Kokuritsu Kōen) – known for the crystalline mountain lakes of Akan, Kussharo and Mashu
    • 2 Daisetsuzan National Park (大雪山国立公園 Daisetsuzan Kokuritsu Kōen), – Japan's largest national park named after its "Great Snowy Mountains"
    • 3 Kushiro-shitsugen National Park (釧路湿原国立公園 Kushiro-shitsugen Kokuritsu Kōen)
    • 4 Shiretoko National Park (知床国立公園 Shiretoko Kokuritsu Kōen) – the most inaccessible and least explored of Japan's national parks

    Understand

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    Drift ice in Monbetsu

    The most sparsely populated region in all Japan, this vast area is nearly 40,000 km² in size. While the easternmost part is largely flat, rural and filled with endless cow pastures, much of the circuit is ringed with mountains.

    Get in

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    By plane

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    Kushiro, Monbetsu and Ōzora, Memanbetsu (near Abashiri) have regional airports.

    Get around

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    Here, if anywhere in Japan, a rental car will come in handy. Train coverage is severely lacking (many lines have been terminated due to a lack of customers) and buses are infrequent, inconvenient and expensive.

    See

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    Do

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    Eastern Hokkaido has beautiful coastline, wonderful outdoor hot springs, and remote hiking. Some combination of these should make for a satisfying visit.

    Eat

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    Hokkaido on the whole is good for seafood — if you're on the coast — and dairy, and the east is no exception. In central Hokkaido, near Asahikawa and Furano, there are a plethora of melon stands, though by foreign standards, Japanese melons are exceedingly expensive.

    Pork Bowl
    • Pork Bowl (豚丼 Buta-don). Pork bowl with sightly bigger pork. Obihiro is originated, it is possible to eat in Tokachi whole area.

    Drink

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    Go next

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    This region travel guide to Eastern Circuit is an outline and may need more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. If there are Cities and Other destinations listed, they may not all be at usable status or there may not be a valid regional structure and a "Get in" section describing all of the typical ways to get here. Please plunge forward and help it grow!



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