One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Rikubetsu陸別町
Japan's coldest town, with the clearest night sky
Tokachi region · Obihiro food, Tokachigawa Onsen and seasonal gardens on the Tokachi Plain.
Rikubetsu is officially Japan's coldest town — it celebrates with a February endurance festival and stargazing through a giant public telescope.
Rikubetsu, in the far north-east of Tokachi where the hills close in toward Kitami, is officially Japan's coldest town, and it has decided to be proud of it. Every February the Shibare Festival invites people to spend a night outdoors in ice huts, and the dry inland air that brings the cold also brings some of Japan's darkest skies, watched from a public observatory with a large telescope in the forest above town. It suits winter travelers who like extremes and anyone who wants to see stars properly.
- Region
- Tokachi (十勝)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~245 km · 3.8 h summer / 4.5 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~264 km · 4.1 h summer / 4.8 h winter
- Best season in Tokachi
- Late spring to autumn for gardens and green farmland; seasonal gardens such as Manabe Garden close in winter, when food, onsen and snowy scenery shape the trip.
Rikubetsu 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 Rikubetsu
Ginga-no-Mori Observatory
銀河の森天文台
A public observatory in the forest on the edge of town with one of the largest telescopes open to the public in Japan, where clear nights show the Milky Way and, occasionally, low-latitude aurora.
Shibare Festival
しばれフェスティバル
The February festival that makes a party of the deepest cold of the year: fireworks, food stalls and the famous overnight endurance test in ice huts on the frozen grounds.
Michi-no-Eki Aurora Town 93 Rikubetsu
道の駅オーロラタウン93りくべつ
The roadside station in the centre on National Route 242, with local dairy and farm products, a warm waiting room and information on the observatory and the festival.
Getting to Rikubetsu
About 1.5 hours by car north-east of Obihiro on National Route 242 via Honbetsu and Ashoro, or about an hour from Kitami on the same road. The Doto Expressway's Ashoro interchange is about 40 minutes away. There is no railway; Ikeda on the Nemuro Main Line is the nearest station. Tokachi-Obihiro Airport is about two hours.
Tokachi region: Tokachi-Obihiro Airport and JR Obihiro Station are the main gateways. Plan the last stretch separately: the airport bus into the city, a local bus or taxi to the racecourse or onsen, and a car or taxi for gardens outside the centre.
When to visit Rikubetsu
February for the Shibare Festival and the deepest cold, when the air is so dry that stars look sharp enough to cut. Clear nights from October to March are best for the observatory. Summer is short, green and cool, good for the hills.
What to eat in Rikubetsu
Dairy from the cold uplands, sold as milk, cheese and ice cream, and beef from the same farms. Potatoes and beans grow in the short summer, and the roadside station serves them plainly. Winter meals are hot pots and grilled meat by design.
Rikubetsu in context: the Tokachi region
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Tokachi is an eastern Hokkaido region of 19 municipalities spread across the Tokachi Plain, a wide farming area that reaches far beyond Obihiro city. Obihiro is the usual base, with butadon pork rice bowls, sweets and banei racing, in which heavy draft horses pull sleds along a course.