Daisetsu Kogen Brown Bear Information Center was added to Your Favorites!
Daisetsuzan NP, Hokkaido
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After feeding, bears around Kogen Onsen often nap on snow patches, grassy slopes or among shrubs. Staff also regularly see cubs playing together on snowfields—midsummer here has bear-sized nap spots and playgrounds.
Bears around Kogen Onsen follow a seasonal menu: June’s wetlands offer skunk cabbage; July and August bring alpine shoots and roots; from September, bears forage for dwarf-pine seeds, alpine roots and forest nuts.
For about a month from mid-July, the center says bears may be visible on distant slopes almost every day—a rare chance to watch wild bears in their high-country home from afar.
Center staff can tell bears apart by coat color, ear shape, tail and facial markings. In some seasons they identify as many as 16 individuals; one female appears in observation records from 2008 through 2014.
A forestry worker was chased by a bear on the trail in 1981, and the route closed for 2 years. When it reopened, a bear-management committee and patrols were established; the information center opened in 1994.
The center’s bear calendar tracks more than sightings: staff also record feeding marks, footprints and scat. The display is meant to show that bears live along the route nearly every day, even when they’re out of sight.
Even lunch is mapped for bear coexistence: hikers may eat only at Midori-numa, Daigaku-numa and Kogen-numa. Stoves are banned throughout the route because cooking smells could attract bears.
