One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Shakotan積丹町
Shakotan blue, and the cape at the end of it
Shiribeshi region · Powder, canals and the bluest coast in Japan.
Shakotan is the peninsula of 'Shakotan blue' — Cape Kamui's knife-edge trail above impossibly turquoise water, and summer uni bowls to match.
Shakotan is the tip of the peninsula that gave its name to a colour. From Cape Kamui, where a knife-edge trail runs out to a lighthouse above the sea, the water is so clear and so turquoise that Japanese calls it Shakotan blue, and the whole north coast, from Shimamui cove to the fishing port of Bikuni, lives up to it. Sea urchin is the food and June to August its season. It is a summer place for drivers and boat riders, ninety minutes from Otaru and worth every one of them.
- Region
- Shiribeshi (後志)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~154 km · 2.4 h summer / 2.8 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~101 km · 1.6 h summer / 1.8 h winter
- Best season in Shiribeshi
- December–March for powder, June–August for Shakotan blue and uni. Otaru works in any season.
Shakotan 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 Shakotan
Cape Kamui
神威岬
A narrow ridge trail walks out along the cape to a lighthouse with the sea on both sides, dropping to rock pinnacles and water of an unreal blue. Closed in high wind, and often windy.
Shimamui Coast
島武意海岸
A short tunnel from the car park opens onto a cliff-top view of a cove counted among Japan's hundred best beaches, then a steep path down to the pebbles and the clearest water on the peninsula.
Bikuni port and the sightseeing boats
美国港と遊覧船
The town's main harbour, where glass-bottom sightseeing boats run out under the cliffs in summer, and where the sea-urchin bowls are served with the boats in view. Cape Ogon and its trail are a short walk away.
Bikuni Shrine fire festival
美国神社の火祭り
In July the shrine's summer festival sends masked tengu figures walking through fire, a rite the peninsula's fishing towns have kept for generations and the high point of the town's summer.
Getting to Shakotan
Route 229 from Otaru along the coast takes about an hour and a half to Bikuni, and Cape Kamui is another 30 minutes beyond. From Sapporo count on two and a half hours by car. Buses run from Otaru along the coast to Bikuni and, in season, on to the cape. No railway on the peninsula. New Chitose Airport is about three hours.
Shiribeshi region: Otaru is 40 minutes from Sapporo by train; Niseko is about 2 hours by car or winter bus. Shakotan needs a car.
When to visit Shakotan
June to August, full stop: sea urchin season, the boats running, the trails open and the water at its bluest. July adds the fire festival. September is quieter and still lovely. From late autumn the cape trail and boats close and the coast turns to storm.
What to eat in Shakotan
Raw sea urchin over rice in summer is the dish Hokkaido associates with Shakotan, taken from the kelp beds right below the cliffs. Abalone, squid, Atka mackerel and salmon come through the year, and the town has become known more recently for herbs distilled into gin.
Shakotan in context: the Shiribeshi region
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Shiribeshi packs three world-class reasons to visit into one compact peninsula. In winter, Niseko's legendary powder falls beneath the perfect cone of Mt. Yotei, drawing skiers from every continent. Year-round, Otaru's canal glows under gas lamps, its herring-boom mansions and sushi counters an easy trip from Sapporo.