The '''Eastern Circuit''' (____ ''D?t?'') covers the eastern half of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Regions

The Eastern Circuit is composed of the following four subprefectures:

  • Abashiri
  • Tokachi
  • Kushiro
  • Nemuro
  • Cities

  • Abashiri - fishing town famous for drift ice and infamous for its prison
  • Bihoro - gateway to the Akan National Park
  • Kitami - the onion capital of Japan
  • Kushiro - the largest city in the Circuit with 200,000 people
  • Obihiro - the main city in the Tokachi Plain, a large agricultural area
  • Nemuro - at the easternmost tip of Hokkaido
  • Other destinations

  • Akan National Park - known for the crystalline mountain lakes of '''Akan''', '''Kussharo''' and '''Mashu'''
  • Daisetsuzan National Park - Japan's largest national park named after its "Great Snowy Mountains"
  • Shiretoko National Park - the most inaccessible and least explored of Japan's national parks
  • Understand

    The most sparsely populated region in all Japan, this vast area is nearly 40,000 sq.km. in size. While the easternmost part is largely flat, rural and filled with endless cow pastures, much of the circuit is ringed with mountains.

    Get in

    Kushiro and Memanbetsu (near Abashiri) have regional airports.

    Get around

    Here, if anywhere in Japan, a '''rental car''' will come in handy. Train coverage is severely lacking (many lines have been terminated due to a lack of customers) and buses are infrequent, inconvenient and expensive.

    See

    Do

    Eat

    Drink

    Get out