One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Shintoku新得町
Soba fields under the mountains, where the trains split
Tokachi region · Obihiro food, Tokachigawa Onsen and seasonal gardens on the Tokachi Plain.
Shintoku is Tokachi's soba town and home to award-winning alpine cheesemakers — with a resort ski hill above the buckwheat fields.
Shintoku sits where the railway from Sapporo emerges from the Hidaka mountains onto the Tokachi plain, which makes it the western gateway of the region. It is the soba town of Tokachi, with buckwheat fields around the centre and noodle shops to match, and it reaches north into Daisetsuzan National Park as far as Mt. Tomuraushi and its remote hot spring. A ski hill rises above town, and the Karikachi Pass to the west gives the classic first view of the plain. It suits soba eaters, skiers and hikers heading for the high country.
- Region
- Tokachi (十勝)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~152 km · 2.3 h summer / 2.8 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~170 km · 2.6 h summer / 3.1 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.
Shintoku 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 Shintoku
Karikachi Pass
狩勝峠
The pass on National Route 38 between Tokachi and Furano, with a lookout over the entire plain to the east. On a clear morning it is the best single view of what Tokachi is.
Tomuraushi Onsen
トムラウシ温泉
A lone hot spring at the end of a long forest road in Daisetsuzan National Park, the trailhead for Mt. Tomuraushi, one of Japan's hundred famous mountains, and about as far into the wild as a bath gets in Hokkaido.
Sahoro ski area
サホロのスキー場
A ski hill on Mt. Sahoro above the town, with long groomed runs and views over the plain, which turns into a hiking and highland-walking base in summer.
Shintoku Soba Festival
新得そば祭り
Each autumn, in September or October, the town celebrates the new crop with a festival of soba, with noodle stalls from local growers and makers and the smell of fresh buckwheat everywhere.
Getting to Shintoku
Shintoku station is on the JR Nemuro Main Line at its junction with the Sekisho Line, so limited expresses between Sapporo and Obihiro stop here, about two hours from Sapporo. By car it is about 2.5 hours from Sapporo on the Doto Expressway, 40 minutes from Obihiro on National Route 38, and about an hour from Tokachi-Obihiro Airport.
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 Shintoku
Late September to October for new-crop soba, the festival and autumn colour on the passes. July to September for Tomuraushi and the alpine trails, when the snow has left the high ground. December to March for skiing on Sahoro.
What to eat in Shintoku
Soba is the town's identity, grown on the cool plain and served hot or cold in shops around the station. Cheese from small mountain dairies has won international awards, and local chicken, dairy and beef round out the menu.
Shintoku 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.