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Shiretoko NP, Hokkaido
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In June 1907, a 7-person survey party spent 5 days crossing between Iwaobetsu and Rausu. Their arduous trek came decades before a road linked the two sides of the peninsula.
Today's 27.3-kilometer Shiretoko Crossing Road took 18 years to build: work began in 1963, and the route opened in 1980. It created an overland link between Utoro and Rausu.
The road’s history reaches back to 1943, when the former Japanese military built a route over Shiretoko’s mountains for Hokkaido’s defense—20 years before work began on today’s crossing road.
To avoid a major cut into the slope, engineers built Shōun Bridge along the mountainside. The bridge project alone took 4 years, from 1972 to 1975, with nature conservation in mind.
Spring snow-clearing here is high-tech as well as rugged: a rotary snowplow with automatic control of its snow-discharge equipment began operating on the Shari-side approach in March 2023.
At 738 meters, the pass can accumulate 2–5 meters of snow and be 4–5°C colder than nearby towns. Spring reopening is staged, with daily checks for icy pavement and avalanche danger.
Even in late July, patches of snow may still brighten the pass. In autumn, Mount Rausu’s slopes turn red and gold, and on a clear day Kunashiri Island appears across the Nemuro Strait.
