One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Otobe乙部町
White cliffs, a sea pool and two trees bound as one
Hiyama region · The quiet Japan Sea coast where the herring boom lives on.
Otobe's coast hides Shirafura — chalk-white cliffs straight out of Dover — and a pair of sacred katsura trees bound as one.
Otobe is a small coastal town north of Esashi where the Japan Sea road runs between cliffs and sea. Its best-known sight is Shirafura, a wall of chalk-white cliff rising straight out of the water, and further along the shore is Genna-dai, a swimming beach built as a sheltered pool in the sea. Inland, in the national forest, two giant katsura trees grow joined by a single branch and have become a place people visit to wish on relationships. It suits a slow day of driving and stopping.
- Region
- Hiyama (檜山)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~202 km · 3.1 h summer / 3.7 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~203 km · 3.1 h summer / 3.7 h winter
- Best season in Hiyama
- Summer for Okushiri's water and uni; August for Esashi's famous Ubagami shrine festival.
Otobe 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 Otobe
Shirafura cliffs
シラフラ
A long wall of white rock on the shore north of the town center, best seen from the beach below at low tide or from the headland above. Nothing else on this coast looks like it.
Genna-dai marine park
元和台海浜公園
A swimming area enclosed by breakwaters so the sea inside stays calm and shallow, known locally as the sea pool. Family-friendly in July and August, with a roadside station beside it on Route 229.
Enkatsura twin katsura trees
縁桂
Two enormous katsura trees deep in the national forest, linked by a branch that grew from one trunk into the other. A short forest walk leads to them, and they are counted among Japan's giant trees.
Takise coast
滝瀬海岸
A stretch of shoreline near Shirafura with a rock arch you can walk through at low tide and cliffs pressing right down to the water. Good at sunset, when the whole coast faces the light.
Getting to Otobe
Otobe is on Route 229 about twenty minutes north of Esashi by car, so roughly two hours from Hakodate via Route 227. Hakodate Airport is the nearest airport and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto the nearest shinkansen station; there is no railway on this coast. From Sapporo the coastal drive takes around four hours.
Hiyama region: Reach Esashi by car or bus from Hakodate (about 1.5 hours); ferries to Okushiri run from Esashi and Setana.
When to visit Otobe
July and August for the sea pool and the beaches. May to October for the cliffs, the coast walk and the forest path to the katsura trees. Winter storms off the Japan Sea make the coast dramatic but not a place to linger.
What to eat in Otobe
Squid, flatfish and hokke come off the boats along this coast, with sea urchin in summer. The valley behind the town grows rice and vegetables, and the roadside station at Genna-dai is where the local catch and produce meet.
Otobe in context: the Hiyama region
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Hiyama is the Hokkaido almost no international traveler sees — a string of small ports down the Japan Sea coast where the 19th-century herring boom left merchant houses, shrine festivals and streetscapes that feel preserved rather than restored. Esashi, its historic heart, keeps an Edo-flavored main street above a working harbor.