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Shikotsu-Tōya NP., Hokkaido
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The center’s 9m panel recreates Koke-no-Domon, a gorge carved by debris flows into rock from Mt Tarumae’s 1739 eruption and carpeted with 80+ moss species. The real gorge has been closed since its viewing platform was damaged in 2014.
The center’s kokanee tank holds the lake’s celebrated “chip,” introduced from Lake Akan in 1894. Its nickname comes from an Ainu word meaning “thin fish”; spawning males turn vivid red, and the fish is a local specialty.
The center’s history exhibit points to the old 40km “mountain line” railway. When freight-heavy trains struggled uphill, passengers reportedly got out to push; tickets even warned that passengers’ lives were not guaranteed.
The center’s history display recalls that the 1972 Winter Olympics downhill races were held on Mt Eniwa, beside Lake Shikotsu—not in Sapporo itself. Afterward, the course was removed and forest restoration attempted, sparking an early debate about sport and nature.
Shikotsu comes from an Ainu name meaning “large hollow.” In 1805, officials renamed the nearby river Chitose because “Shikotsu” sounded bad; cranes inspired the new name, linked to the saying “a crane lives 1,000 years.”
Forest World displays a real monarch birch (makaba) specimen with a trunk 1.2m in diameter—a literal giant among the trees featured in the center’s forest exhibits.
The center’s relief model represents a lake 360m deep, holding about 21 cubic kilometres of water. Its great volume for its surface area helps Shikotsu rarely freeze, even through Hokkaido’s winter cold.
The visitor center itself is part of the nature story: it uses natural materials sourced around Lake Shikotsu, along with solar power and geothermal heat tubes.
The center’s people-and-nature exhibit features explorer Matsuura Takeshirō. His handwritten 1857 “Shikotsu Diary” traces a route from the Chitose River to the lake and Tarumae, recording local wildlife, waterways and place-name origins.
