One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Toyoura豊浦町
Strawberries and scallops on a quiet corner of Volcano Bay
Iburi region · Volcano country — lakes, hell valleys and Ainu culture.
Toyoura grows sweet strawberries on Volcano Bay, where Japan's scallop farming was born — and hosts the world's oddest boxing-themed cape lodge? No: just great berries, scallops and quiet coves.
Toyoura is the small town where the Volcano Bay coast bends north towards Oshamambe, a string of coves, fishing hamlets and strawberry fields between the Muroran Main Line and the sea. It is where scallop farming in Japan got its start, and it grows some of Hokkaido's best-known strawberries in fields above the bay. Nothing here is built for tourists, which is the appeal: a beach, a roadside station, a seaside hot spring and roads that stay empty. Good for road-trippers between Toya and Hakodate who want a pause by the water.
- Region
- Iburi (胆振)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~116 km · 1.8 h summer / 2.1 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~100 km · 1.5 h summer / 1.8 h winter
- Best season in Iburi
- Year-round onsen country; summer adds Lake Toya's nightly fireworks, winter makes the hot springs sweeter.
Toyoura 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 Toyoura
Michi-no-Eki Toyoura
道の駅とようら
The roadside station (Michi-no-Eki) on Route 37 is the town's shop window: strawberries in season, scallops from the bay and the town's pork, plus the usual maps and a place to stretch. Most through-traffic stops here.
Reibunge coast
礼文華の海岸
West of town the coast turns wild, with rocky headlands, sea caves and a small beach with a campground where the Reibunge River meets the bay. The railway and old road tunnel through the cliffs above.
Seaside hot spring
海辺の温泉
The town runs a public hot-spring facility on the shore facing Volcano Bay, with Mt. Komagatake on the far side on clear days. It is the kind of local onsen that fishermen use after work.
Kamuichashi historic park
カムイチャシ史跡公園
A grassy headland on the shore where an Ainu fortified site once stood, now a park with a lookout over the bay and the fishing harbor below. A good place to see how the coast folds.
Getting to Toyoura
Toyoura station on the JR Muroran Main Line is served by local trains; change at Toya or Oshamambe for limited expresses. By road, Route 37 follows the coast and the Do-o Expressway has a Toyoura exit; New Chitose Airport is about two hours and Sapporo about 2.5 hours by car.
Iburi region: On the main Sapporo–Hakodate corridor: JR stops at Noboribetsu and Toya, and Upopoy is right by Shiraoi station.
When to visit Toyoura
June for strawberries, when the town holds its strawberry-and-pork festival, and July to August for the beach and campground. Scallops are landed year-round but are fattest in the colder months. Snow is light on this coast, so the road stays easy in winter.
What to eat in Toyoura
Strawberries, scallops and pork are the town's three: berries from fields above the bay, scallops from the water where Japanese aquaculture began, and pigs raised in the hills behind. The June festival brings strawberries and pork together. Squid and flounder come from the small harbors along the coast.
Toyoura in context: the Iburi region
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Iburi is where Hokkaido's volcanic engine comes to the surface. Lake Toya fills a vast caldera ringed by hot-spring hotels and a still-smoking young volcano; Noboribetsu's Jigokudani 'Hell Valley' steams and bubbles above one of Japan's most celebrated onsen towns.