One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Kitami北見市
Onion fields, mint history and the Okhotsk region's biggest city
Okhotsk region · Drift ice in winter, wilderness gateways all year.
Kitami grows Japan's onions, once supplied most of the world's mint, and has the country's densest yakiniku-restaurant culture — plus curling champions.
Kitami is the largest city in the Okhotsk region and, by area, one of the largest municipalities in Japan, stretching from the Sekihoku Pass on the Asahikawa side all the way to the Saroma Lake shore at Tokoro. It grows more onions than any other city in Japan, once supplied much of the world's peppermint, and today is known for its yakiniku culture and its curling teams. Use it as a base: an inland city with hot springs in the mountains, a wildflower sand spit on the coast and the region's best range of places to eat.
- Region
- Okhotsk (オホーツク)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~274 km · 4.2 h summer / 5 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~283 km · 4.4 h summer / 5.1 h winter
- Best season in Okhotsk
- Late January–March for drift ice; May–October for Shiretoko's lakes, falls and wildlife.
Kitami 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 Kitami
Kitami Mint Memorial Museum
北見ハッカ記念館
A small city museum in the former research building of the mint industry that once put Kitami on the world map. The story of the boom and its collapse, plus a distillery display next door.
Onneyu Onsen
温根湯温泉
A hot-spring village on Route 39 in the Rubeshibe mountains, on the way to the Sekihoku Pass. Clear alkaline water, a riverside setting and a city-run freshwater aquarium beside the roadside station.
Wakka Wildflower Garden
ワッカ原生花園
The sand spit that separates Lake Saroma from the sea, walked or cycled from the Tokoro end. Wild roses and lilies from June, with the lake on one side and the Okhotsk on the other.
Tokoro archaeological site
ところ遺跡の森
Reconstructed pit dwellings and a museum on the Okhotsk coast at Tokoro, covering the Jomon, Okhotsk and Satsumon peoples who lived here before the Ainu.
Getting to Kitami
Memanbetsu Airport is about 40 minutes by car. Kitami station is on the JR Sekihoku Main Line, with limited express trains from Sapporo via Asahikawa taking around four and a half hours. By road, Route 39 comes over the Sekihoku Pass from Asahikawa; from Sapporo count on about four and a half to five hours.
Okhotsk region: Fly into Memanbetsu Airport for Abashiri and Shiretoko's west side; drift-ice season adds special trains and buses.
When to visit Kitami
June to September is easiest: the Wakka flowers, the onion and wheat fields around town and a July summer festival in the city centre. Winter is dry and very cold inland, but that suits a hot-spring stay at Onneyu, with the drift-ice coast at Abashiri within a day trip.
What to eat in Kitami
Onions above all, in everything from curry to local sweets. Yakiniku is the city's evening ritual, and Kitami salt yakisoba is the homegrown noodle dish. Mint survives as candies, oils and sweets, and Tokoro on the coast brings in Saroma Lake scallops.
Kitami in context: the Okhotsk region
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Every winter, the Sea of Okhotsk performs one of the natural world's great spectacles on this coast: drift ice, sailing down from the north until the horizon turns white. Icebreaker cruises push through it from Abashiri and Monbetsu — an only-here experience in all of Japan.