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Akan-Mashū NP, Hokkaido
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Bokke reaches about 97°C: volcanic gas wells up through the mud, swelling bubbles until their skins pop. Its name comes from Ainu popke, “boiling”—a remarkably apt name for this lakeshore vent.
At Lake Akan’s Bokke, ground crickets sing even in winter—and research found one species can produce 2 generations a year here, versus the usual 1 in Hokkaido. Geothermal warmth keeps their chorus going.
The Tsuzuresase cricket, a species also found on Honshu, has an isolated Hokkaido foothold at Bokke. Museum researchers point to this geothermal habitat as a clue to its unusual presence.
Ezo deer and red foxes have been seen sitting on warmed ground near Bokke during cold spells—wildlife making use of the same geothermal warmth that melts away the snow.
The lakeshore Bokke is not a lone vent: it lines up with other Bokke fields near Mt. Furebetsu and Mt. Hakuto, along an underground volcanic belt across Akan that extends from Shiretoko toward the Kuril Islands.
