One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Haboro羽幌町
Sweet shrimp capital and the port for the seabird islands
Rumoi region · The sunset coast — and some of Japan's finest sea urchin.
Haboro lands more sweet shrimp than any port in Japan and ferries birders out to Teuri Island's vast seabird cliffs.
Haboro is the largest town on the northern Rumoi coast and the port for Teuri and Yagishiri, the two islands that sit offshore. It lands more sweet shrimp than any port in Japan, once mined coal in the hills behind, and now makes its living from the sea, the islands and the road. Teuri is one of the great seabird colonies of the North Pacific, with hundreds of thousands of rhinoceros auklets returning at dusk in summer; Yagishiri is a gentler island of sheep pasture and old forest. Birders, island-hoppers and anyone chasing shrimp on rice should stop here.
- Region
- Rumoi (留萌)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~235 km · 3.6 h summer / 4.3 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~199 km · 3.1 h summer / 3.6 h winter
- Best season in Rumoi
- June–August for uni and endless sunsets; the coast road is at its best in green season.
Haboro at a glance
Drive estimates: straight-line × 1.35, at 65 km/h (summer) / 55 km/h (winter). How we calculate
What to see in Haboro
Teuri Island
天売島
A small cliff-bound island about an hour and a half by ferry, home to enormous seabird colonies. Rhinoceros auklets stream back to their burrows at dusk from spring to summer, and the island's western cliffs hold common murres and spectacled guillemots.
Yagishiri Island
焼尻島
The nearer island, about an hour by ferry, with a natural forest of old yew and oak on one side and pasture where Suffolk sheep graze on the other. A road circles it and you can walk or cycle the whole thing in a day.
Hokkaido Seabird Center
北海道海鳥センター
A public facility beside the roadside station that explains the island colonies with specimens, models and live camera feeds in season. Visit before the ferry so you know what you are looking at on Teuri's cliffs.
Michi-no-Eki Hotto Haboro
道の駅ほっと♡はぼろ
The roadside station (Michi-no-Eki) on the coast road has a public hot spring facility, a rose garden that peaks in early summer, and the seabird centre next door. A logical base for the islands and the whole northern coast.
Getting to Haboro
Haboro is about an hour north of Rumoi on Route 232 and roughly three and a half hours from Sapporo by car; express buses also run from Sapporo. Asahikawa Airport is about two and a half hours. Ferries and a fast boat to Yagishiri and Teuri sail from Haboro port, with fewer sailings in winter. There is no rail on this coast.
Rumoi region: A driving region: the Ororon Line coast road from the Sapporo side is the whole point. Ferries to Teuri and Yagishiri leave from Haboro.
When to visit Haboro
Late April to July for the seabirds, with the auklet return at dusk peaking in June. June is also the sweet shrimp festival and the rose garden. July and August for island cycling and sea urchin. Ferries run all year but winter crossings are rough and the birds are gone.
What to eat in Haboro
Sweet shrimp, landed here in greater volume than anywhere in Japan, is the dish: raw over rice, or grilled whole. Sea urchin from the islands follows in summer, and Yagishiri's Suffolk lamb is a rare Hokkaido-raised lamb worth ordering when you find it. Octopus and flatfish fill the everyday menu.
Haboro in context: the Rumoi region
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Rumoi is a coastline more than a destination — and what a coastline. The shore road north from Mashike runs for hours with the Japan Sea on one side and green hills on the other, and locals will tell you the sunsets here are the best on the island.