One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Tomamae苫前町
Wind turbines on the hills, melons in the fields
Rumoi region · Plan a coastal trip through Rumoi, Mashike and Haboro.
Tomamae lines its hills with wind turbines and its tables with sweet melon — a breezy stop on the Ororon coastal drive.
Tomamae is a small coastal town between Obira and Haboro, best known for the rows of wind turbines that stand along its hills. It was one of the first places in Japan to build a wind farm at scale, and the blades turning over the Japan Sea are its signature view. Inland at Sankebetsu is the site of the 1915 brown-bear attack, the worst in Japanese history, now marked with a reconstructed settler's hut. The roadside station on the coast has a hot spring and looks straight at the sunset. Come for the drive, a bath and a melon.
- Region
- Rumoi (留萌)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~215 km · 3.3 h summer / 3.9 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~179 km · 2.8 h summer / 3.3 h winter
- Best season in Rumoi
- Summer is an option for coastal walks and island visits. Seafood seasons vary, and ferry schedules depend on the travel date; allow flexibility for weather.
Tomamae 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 Tomamae
Wind turbines of Tomamae
苫前の風車群
Dozens of turbines line the hills above the coast, visible from the whole length of the coast road. A hilltop park in town gives you the sunset with the blades in the foreground; the wind that drives them is the same one you will feel.
Sankebetsu bear-incident site
三毛別羆事件復元地
Deep in the inland valley, a reconstructed settler's hut and a huge bear figure mark where a brown bear killed seven people in the winter of 1915. A sobering place at the end of a forest road; the town museum tells the full story.
Michi-no-Eki Kaze W Tomamae
道の駅風Wとままえ
The roadside station (Michi-no-Eki) on the seafront has a public hot spring facility with views over the Japan Sea and, on clear evenings, Teuri and Yagishiri islands under the sunset. Local produce and seafood are sold in the shop.
Tomamae Local History Museum
苫前町郷土資料館
A public museum in the town centre with settler history, herring-era tools and a room devoted to the Sankebetsu bear incident, including a mounted brown bear. Worth visiting before you drive out to the site.
Getting to Tomamae
About forty minutes north of Rumoi on Route 232. From Sapporo it is roughly three hours via the Fukagawa-Rumoi Expressway and the coast road, and Asahikawa Airport is a bit over two hours. No trains run here; the coastal bus between Rumoi and Haboro stops in town. The bear site is a further half hour inland by car.
Rumoi region: Use the coastal roads for a driving trip, or check bus services from Sapporo and Asahikawa. Rumoi city has no current rail service. Ferries to Teuri and Yagishiri depart from Haboro, not Rumoi city.
When to visit Tomamae
July and August for melons, sweet shrimp and the long sunsets behind the turbines. June is calm and green and the inland road to the bear site is clear. Autumn brings salmon into the rivers. Winter winds here are fierce, which is why the turbines exist, and the inland road can close under snow.
What to eat in Tomamae
Tomamae melon is the summer name here, grown in the fields behind the coast and sold at the roadside station from midsummer. From the sea come sweet shrimp, octopus and flatfish, and the town's rice paddies and vegetable fields fill in the rest of the table.
Tomamae in context: the Rumoi region
Click a town to open its page
Rumoi is both a port city and the name of a wider region on Hokkaido's Sea of Japan coast. This guide covers the region: Mashike's historic streets, Cape Ogon in Rumoi city, and Haboro, the departure port for Teuri and Yagishiri islands.