Kushiro | Travel

Nusamai-bashi

幣舞橋

15min walk from Kushiro Station

One of Hokkaido’s most famous bridges across Kushiro-gawa, Nusamai-bashi offers impressive views of both a beautiful sunset and a foggy night with colorful city lights. Four female bronze statues on the bridge symbolize the four seasons of Eastern Hokkaido. You do get a nicest view from the Manabotto Nusamai’s top floor observatory.

Kushiro Fisherman’s Wharf MOO

釧路フィッシャーマンズワーフムー

15min walk from Kushiro Station

Famed local architect Mozuna Kiko designed this striking shopping complex in 1989 by the bridge of Nusamai-bashi. It houses a variety of souvenir shops and eateries. The semi-outdoor Ganpeki Robata (岸壁炉ばた: mid May-Oct) tent facing the river is a perfect place to eat seafood.

Washo Ichiba

和商市場

3min walk from Kushiro Station

Dating back to 1954, Kushiro’s oldest market is two minutes’ walk west of the train station and best known for its katte-don (seafood bowl topped with a wide range of sashimi as you like it). Buy a bowl of rice at first, then choose sashimi from the vendors.

Kushiro Art Museum, Hokkaido

北海道立釧路芸術館

10min walk from Kushiro Station

This red-brick art museum on the river bank presents permanent and frequently changing exhibitions on varied themes. There is a cafe, shop and library.

Kushiro Central Library &
Literature Hall

釧路市中央図書館 · 釧路文学館

10min walk from Kushiro Station

Opened in 2018, Eastern Hokkaido’s largest library includes a literature hall on the 6th floor and a lounge on the 7th floor with the town views.

Kushiro Children’s Museum
Kodomo Yugakukan

釧路市こども遊学館

10min walk from Kushiro Station

If you need a break from the kids, bring them to this glass-covered science museum. It has hands-on interactive exhibits on planets, technologies, playgrounds and a planetarium.

Manabotto Nusamai

まなぼっと幣舞

5min walk from Nusamai-bashi

This hilltop light-brown cultural hub includes the Kushiro Art Gallery with frequently changing exhibitions by local artists. On the top floor is an observatory overlooking the town.

Kobunkan

港文館

5min walk from Nusamai-bashi

Kobunkan is a lovely red brick reconstruction of the Meiji period’s Kushiro Shinbun Press building on the south bank of Kushiro-gawa. Inside is a museum with historical collection of poet Ishikawa Takuboku who worked in Kushiro in 1908 (just 76 days).

Chikurouen

竹老園

16min walk from Manabotto Nusamai

Close to the western shore of Harutori-ko, Azumaya is one of Hokkaido’s most famous soba restaurants founded in 1874. It has two types of soba restaurants on offer: one a basic facing the road, the other consisting of old wooden building in the garden (seating charge is extra).

Harutori-ko 

春採湖

3min walk from Kushiro City Museum

Surrounded by the hillside residential areas near the city center, the 36-hectare brackish lake Harutori-ko is an oasis of green and water, with more than 130 species of birds come here. A 5km-long circumference walkway runs along the lake.

Kushiro City Museum

釧路市立博物館

10min by bus from Kushiro Station, get off at Kushiro-shiritsu-byoin, then 3min walk

Located on a hill of the brackish lake Harutori-ko overlooking the ocean, the crane-shaped city museum was built in 1983 to a design by Mozuna Kiko. It focuses on Kushiro’s nature and history, with displays on many artifacts of Ainu, finds from local ruins, stuffed animals and specimens.

Kushiro Shitsugen

釧路湿原

20km north of Kushiro Station

Nature lovers and wildlife-watchers will feel at ease at this Japan’s largest wetland (at 269-sq-km) directly behind the port town of Kushiro. This almost undeveloped wetland was the bottom of the ocean in ancient times and was designated as a national park in 1987.

Photo: じゃらんnet

Dormy Inn Premium Kushiro ♨︎

天然温泉 幣舞の湯 ドーミーインPREMIUM釧路

14min walk from Kushiro Station

Located beside Nusamai-bashi on the bank of Kushiro-gawa, La Vista has 226 Western-style rooms and a top-floor onsen overlooking the river. Breakfast buffet includes local seafood. It is also a good place to explore Suehiro-cho nightlife district.

Website

じゃらんnet

Photo: じゃらんnet

Kushiro Prince Hotel

釧路プリンスホテル

12min walk from Kushiro Station

Another of Kushiro’s large-scale hotel, the appealing Prince Hotel overlooks the river and ocean from the upper floors, as well as the panoramic restaurant on the 17th-floor. It is opposite the city hall.

Website

じゃらんnet

Photo: じゃらんnet

Super Hotel Kushiro-ekimae ♨︎

スーパーホテル釧路駅前 天然温泉 白鳥の湯

1min walk from Kushiro Station

In a convenient location above the bus terminal next to JR Kushiro Station, this business hotel has reasonably-priced single rooms and a small communal onsen. Complimentary breakfast.

Website

じゃらんnet