One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Oketo置戸町
Forests turned into pale, feather-light woodenware
Okhotsk region · Abashiri, Monbetsu and Shiretoko in northeastern Hokkaido.
Oketo turns its forests into Oke-Craft — pale, feather-light woodenware beloved by Japanese design shops.
Oketo is a forestry town at the top of the Tokoro River, upstream of Kunneppu and Kitami, where the valley narrows and the hills close in. Its answer to a shrinking timber trade was Oke-Craft, a pale, thin, very light style of turned woodenware made by local craftspeople and now stocked in design shops across Japan. Beyond the craft there is a dam lake, a public hot spring and one of the odder local festivals in Hokkaido, in which teams of people pull loaded sledges like draft horses.
- Region
- Okhotsk (オホーツク)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~232 km · 3.6 h summer / 4.2 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~245 km · 3.8 h summer / 4.5 h winter
- Best season in Okhotsk
- Winter for a chance of drift ice (never guaranteed); the green season for lakes and Shiretoko. Check access for your dates.
Oketo 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 Oketo
Oke-Craft Centre
オケクラフトセンター森林工芸館
The town's craft centre, where the pale bowls, plates and spoons of Oke-Craft are shown and sold, and where the story of the design movement that started here is told. Workshops of individual makers are scattered nearby.
Lake Oketo
おけと湖
The reservoir behind Kanoko Dam at the head of the valley, ringed by forest with a lakeside campsite and picnic ground. Autumn colour on the surrounding slopes is the season to see it.
Human draft-horse race
おけと人間ばん馬大会
Every summer teams of people harness themselves to heavy sledges and haul them up a course with humps, a straight-faced parody of Hokkaido's banei horse racing. The town's biggest day.
Getting to Oketo
Memanbetsu Airport is a little over an hour by car and Kitami station on the JR Sekihoku Main Line about 40 minutes. There is no railway in town. Route 242 comes up the valley from Kitami and Kunneppu and continues over the hills to Rikubetsu on the Tokachi side.
Okhotsk region: Memanbetsu Airport is the gateway for Abashiri and the Shari side; Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport serves Monbetsu. From either airport, the last leg to your pier, hotel or Utoro is a separate bus, taxi or car journey, so check it for your dates.
When to visit Oketo
June for the green of the early valley, summer for the human draft-horse race; October for autumn colour around Lake Oketo. The craft centre is a year-round reason to come, and winter is bitterly cold here in the upper valley, with the bath as the reward.
What to eat in Oketo
The narrow valley grows potatoes, wheat and beans, and Oketo is known for its white runner beans, large and sweet and used in confectionery. Dairy comes from the surrounding hills, and the town's wooden bowls are as much a part of eating here as what goes in them.
Oketo in context: the Okhotsk region
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The Okhotsk region covers 18 municipalities in northeastern Hokkaido, including Abashiri, Kitami, Monbetsu and Shari. In winter, sightseeing boats leave Abashiri and Monbetsu. Drift ice can reach this coast, but when, where and how much varies from year to year, and weather and sea conditions decide each departure.