One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Rausu羅臼町
The wild side of Shiretoko, where whales and eagles come close
Nemuro region · The wild east — famed first sunrise, last frontier.
Rausu is the wild side of Shiretoko — summer boats chase sperm whales and orcas in the strait; winter brings sea eagles to the pack ice.
Rausu is the eastern face of the Shiretoko Peninsula, a long fishing town squeezed between the mountains and the Nemuro Strait, with Kunashiri Island just across the water. The deep strait brings sperm whales, orcas and dolphins close to shore in summer, and in late winter the drift ice arrives with Steller's and white-tailed sea eagles riding on it. Rausu kelp and sea urchin are among the most valued in Japan. It is a town for boat trips, hot springs on the shore and the road that ends at Aidomari.
- Region
- Nemuro (根室)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~421 km · 6.5 h summer / 7.7 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~438 km · 6.7 h summer / 8 h winter
- Best season in Nemuro
- Summer for whales and green pastures, deep winter for sea eagles and drift ice on the strait.
Rausu 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 Rausu
Whale and orca cruises
クジラ・シャチのクルーズ
Boats leave Rausu port from spring to autumn into the Nemuro Strait, where the seabed drops fast and sperm whales, orcas, minke whales and dolphins feed close to the coast. Seabird flocks are part of the show.
Sea eagles on the drift ice
流氷とワシ
In February the ice pack drifts into the strait and Steller's sea eagles and white-tailed eagles gather on it in numbers found almost nowhere else. Small boats go out at dawn so photographers can shoot them at eye level.
Shiretoko Pass
知床峠
National Route 334 climbs from Rausu over the spine of the peninsula to Utoro, topping out below Mt. Rausu with the strait and Kunashiri behind you. It is closed by snow from late autumn to spring.
Seaside hot springs and the road's end
海辺の温泉と相泊
Beyond town the coast road passes the Rausu Onsen hot-spring area, then a stretch of shore where hot water wells up among the tidal rocks, before it simply stops at Aidomari, the last point on the Shiretoko coast reachable by car. There is no road beyond.
Getting to Rausu
Nakashibetsu Airport is about 1.5 hours by car along Route 244 and 335 up the coast. From the Utoro side, Route 334 over Shiretoko Pass takes about an hour in the months it is open; Memanbetsu Airport is about 2.5 hours that way. No railway reaches Rausu, and Sapporo is around seven hours by car.
Nemuro region: Fly to Nakashibetsu Airport or drive east from Kushiro. Distances are big; plan unhurried days.
When to visit Rausu
May to September for whales and orcas, with the pass open and the sea calmest. February to early March for drift ice and eagles, the reason many photographers come. Autumn is short but the kelp harvest and salmon fill the port.
What to eat in Rausu
Rausu kelp is the prized dashi kelp of Japanese kitchens, thick and rich, dried on the beaches in summer. Sea urchin from the same kelp beds, kinki rockfish, atka mackerel and salmon come off the boats, and much of it is grilled or served raw in the harbour district.
Rausu in context: the Nemuro region
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Nemuro is where Japan runs out — and where Hokkaido feels wildest. Cape Nosappu is famed as the spot that greets the country's earliest sunrise; the impossibly thin Notsuke Peninsula curls into the sea past ghost forests of dead trees; sea eagles patrol the winter coast and dairy pastures roll inland as far as sight.
Towns near Rausu
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