Abashiri Heritage Tour by Private Vehicle

Begin your journey at Museum Abashiri Prison, an open-air history museum that preserves historic prison buildings from the Meiji era. Here, you will learn how Abashiri became closely connected with the history of prison labor and the development of Hokkaido. The museum includes preserved and relocated structures, and several of its buildings are designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan. As you walk through the grounds, you can experience a powerful side of Abashiri’s past that helped shape the city’s identity.

Next, visit the Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum on Mt. Tento, where you can discover the natural world of drift ice and the Sea of Okhotsk. This stop offers insight into the harsh yet beautiful environment that defines eastern Hokkaido, with exhibits focused on drift ice and marine life. It is a great place to understand why Abashiri is so strongly connected to winter nature and the northern sea.

Your final main stop is Moyoro Shell Mound Museum, one of Abashiri’s most distinctive cultural sites. The museum introduces the mysterious Okhotsk culture through exhibits on housing, graves, and shell mounds, and its highlight is the cemetery exhibition room where excavated tombs are preserved and displayed in place. This visit adds a deeper historical layer to the tour, showing that Abashiri’s story began long before the modern prison era.