is a national park in the western part of the island of
Hokkaidō,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Named after the volcanic caldera lakes of
Lake Shikotsu and
Lake Tōya, it has a total area of 993.02 square kilometers. The popular
hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...
resorts of
Noboribetsu south of the lake and Jozankei North of the lake are also within the park.
Geography
Shikotsu-Tōya National Park is located near
Sapporo
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...
in the southwestern corner of
Hokkaido
is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...
.
The park can be divided into roughly three areas according to the Japanese Ministry of Environment:
* The
Mount Yōtei
is an active stratovolcano located in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is also called , "Ezo" being an old name for the island of Hokkaido, because it resembles Mount Fuji. The mountain is also known as . It is one of the 100 Fa ...
area
* The area around caldera
Lake Tōya,
Mount Usu and Mount
Shōwa-shinzan (
Tōya Caldera and Usu Volcano Geopark), new volcanoes which had risen from the plain as a result of successive eruptions since 1944.
* The area around is encircled by active volcanoes such as (1,041 m), and (1,320 m ).
There is also an area around , , and and anarea around the hot springs of , , and considered separate areas by others .
The nearest town is Shikotsu Kohan, a small "touristy" town with a visitor center on the lake's western shore, which can be reached by bus.
Flora and fauna
The park contains mixed forests of
Ezo spruce,
Sakhalin fir,
Mongolian oak,
Japanese elm,
Siberian dwarf pine
''Pinus pumila'', commonly known as the Siberian dwarf pine, dwarf Siberian pine, dwarf stone pine, Japanese stone pine, or creeping pine, is a tree in the family Pinaceae native plant, native to northeastern Asia and the Japan, Japanese isles. ...
s and alpine plants such as
Labrador tea and
blue mountainheath. Animals include brown
alpine hares, Hokkaido
squirrel
Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...
s and
Japanese deer,
Japanese scops owl,
black woodpecker,
spotbill ducks and
tufted ducks,
as well as
Yezo sika deer and
Ezo red fox.
National park installation
The area became a national park on May 16, 1949.
It has three visitor centers: Lake Shikotsu Visitor Center, Toya Takarada Nature Experience House and Toyako Visitor Center and Volcano Science Museum.
Travel
It can be reached via
Chitose, Hokkaido city airport and via
shinkansen
The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. It was initially built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond lon ...
from Tokyo.
As of 2024, there are buses from Shin-Chitose Airport and Chitose Station to Shikotsuko Kohan.
Image gallery
Image:Mount Tarumae.jpg, Mount Tarumae as seen from Lake Shikotsu
Image:Yotei-zan-from-hirafu.jpg, Mount Yōtei
is an active stratovolcano located in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is also called , "Ezo" being an old name for the island of Hokkaido, because it resembles Mount Fuji. The mountain is also known as . It is one of the 100 Fa ...
Image:Noboribetsu hot spring jigokudani.JPG, Noboribetsu hot spring
Image:Lake Shikotsu Mt Monbetsu01n4272.jpg, Lake Shikotsu
References
See also
*
List of national parks of Japan
and of Japan are places of scenic beauty that are designated for protection and sustainable use by the Ministry of the Environment (Japan), Minister of the Environment under the of 1957. National parks are designated and in principle managed b ...
External links
*
Shikotsu-Toya National Park- National Parks of Japan
*
Shikotsu-Toya National Park- National Parks of Japan
Tōya Usu Geopark(English, Japanese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shikotsu-Toya National Park
National parks of Hokkaido
Protected areas established in 1949