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Akan-Mashū NP, Hokkaido
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From the Sokodai viewpoint, Panke-to and Penke-to look like separate lakes—but they were once part of a larger ancient Lake Akan, divided by volcanic activity around 10,000–6,000 years ago.
A marimo ball is a gathering of fine, threadlike green algae. Large spherical colonies grow naturally in only one place in the world: Lake Akan, where unusual lake conditions help them form.
Kussharo Lake freezes in winter, but geothermal heat keeps some patches open. Each year, about 400–500 whooper swans visit, resting and feeding in those unfrozen waters.
At the route’s Bihoro Pass finish, the rest house serves two local specialties: age-imo, fried potato, and kuma-zasa soft-serve, flavored with the tea made from this region’s dwarf bamboo.
Ainu legend tells that Kamuishu, the small island in Mashu Lake, was once an old woman searching for her lost grandchild. Exhausted, she became the island—so the story says.
Mashu Lake has no rivers flowing in or out, so little organic matter is carried into its water. Its exceptional clarity also makes the lake a sensitive early-warning gauge for airborne pollution.
At Sunayu on Kussharo’s shore, dig into the sand and hot water wells up. The warm beach is a hands-on reminder that volcanic heat is still at work beneath this lake.
In deep winter, Kussharo can freeze from shore to shore. As the ice breaks and buckles into a raised seam called omiwatari, the ridge can stretch for about 10 kilometres.
Akan Lake Ainu Kotan grew after Maeda Mitsuko, head of the Maeda Ippoen estate, lent land free of charge so Ainu people from around Hokkaido could relocate and build a community.
Lake Akan’s himemasu are landlocked relatives of sockeye salmon. Volcanic activity trapped their ancestors in the lake, where the fish adapted to spend their entire lives in freshwater.
The name Kussharo comes from the Ainu word kuccharo, meaning “throat” or “lake outlet.” It preserves an Indigenous description of the landscape in the name visitors see along the drive.
In 1931, Mashu Lake recorded a water transparency of 41.6 metres—the world’s highest at the time. That extraordinary clarity helps explain the lake’s famous deep-blue colour.
