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Hidakasanmyaku Erimo Tokachi NP, Hokkaido
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The “gold” was in the bill: after 7 years of cliff-cutting, tunneling and shoreline fill, the road opened in 1934 as the Nissho Kaigan Road. Hiroo’s chronicle lists construction costs above ¥950,000.
Before Golden Road, a mountain path connected Rube-shibetsu and Bitata-nunke; a national heritage record dates Kondo Shuzo’s route to 1798. Accounts differ on Ainu labor: one bureau says they helped; a Hokkaido heritage list says they were harshly conscripted.
The 4,941-m Erimo Golden Tunnel grew from another tunnel: crews branched off inside the existing 3,215-m Uenbetsu Tunnel, keeping the old bore open to traffic while they built the new passage.
Storm surf damaged the coastal road on December 3, 2010. To restore the link, officials opened the unfinished 4,941-m Erimo Golden Tunnel to alternating traffic on January 17, 2011; full service began February 2.
July–September is kelp season along the road. In Erimo, a siren around 4:30 a.m. signals boats to launch, and the town produces about 60% of Hidaka’s kelp harvest—an early-morning rhythm visitors may glimpse from shore.
At roadside Hunbe Falls, water seems to spring from bare rock; in fact, groundwater filters through a gravel terrace and spills over the cut cliff. The Ainu name means “whale beach,” recalling whales once washed ashore nearby.
Golden Road’s sea cliffs host a botanical mix the national park calls unusual: Hidaka-misebaya grows alongside northern Chishima-kimbai and the temperate kikyo bellflower, bringing northern and warmer-climate plants together on one coast.
