Higashitaisetsu Nature Center / Nukabira Gensenkyo Visitor Center was added to Your Favorites!
Daisetsuzan NP, Hokkaido
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A center curator helped describe a new species from leaves found near Nukabira: Dryas nukabiraensis, about 6.8 million years old. They are the oldest known fossils of the genus, and the center keeps 7 type specimens.
Nukabira’s hot-spring story began with a tough 1919 trek: Shima Takami and his nephew left their horse where the trail ended, put on snowshoes, and spent a night in the forest before finding the spring that led to Yumotokan, opened in 1925.
Nukabira is commonly traced to the Ainu name noka-pira, meaning a cliff with a figure or image. The cliff that gave the place its name is said to lie beneath the reservoir’s waters.
The insect displays include about 5,000 specimens, but there’s more than glass-case viewing: an ultraviolet-light activity shows how male and female cabbage-white butterflies look different from one another.
At Tokachi Mitsumata, once home to about 1,500 people at its peak, the center and the Environment Ministry have held tree-planting and restoration activities on former settlement grounds, including the old school site.
The displays depict Hokkaido’s extinct wolf and Japanese river otter. In the aquarium, a living signal crayfish tells a different story: it is an introduced species, not a native resident.
The human-history displays reach back about 20,000 years, with Paleolithic tools made from obsidian. A separate section introduces Ainu everyday life through objects, presenting distinct chapters of Hokkaido’s past.
The Environment Ministry’s visitor center and Kamishihoro Town’s museum share one building. The museum carries on the legacy of its 1970 predecessor and catalogued 98,869 specimens by April 1, 2025.
