Lake Nukabira Snowshoeing was added to Your Favorites!
Daisetsuzan NP, Hokkaido
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At Lake Nukabira, ice bubbles are gases rising from the lakebed—often methane from decaying leaves—trapped in layers beneath clear ice. They show best in the brief, low-snow window after freeze-up.
Nukabira’s mushroom ice forms when winter drawdown leaves the frozen lake resting on stumps from the forest cleared for the dam. The shifting ice creaks and cracks, and prolific years bring more than 100 caps.
Snowshoeing across the winter lake can lead to Taushubetsu River Bridge, the “phantom bridge”: it reappears as water falls around January, then starts sinking around June and is usually underwater by August.
On January 7, 2026, flower-like frost crystals spread across Nukabira’s ice; local guides said such a broad display was rare. These frost flowers turn the frozen lake into a brief winter garden.
One Ainu interpretation of Nukabira is noka-pira, “cliff with an image”; J-POWER says that cliff was submerged by the dam. The company also records another reading, nupka-pira, “plain cliff.”
The 130-m Taushubetsu Bridge has 11 concrete arches—but only 17 years of railway service. The 1955 dam project rerouted the Shihoro Line and left the old bridge stranded in the reservoir.
