Originally Posted by
RichardInSF
I still think my visits to the north east tip of Hokkaido made for an excellent visit, at least to Shiretoko and Akan-Mashu national parks. You fly to Memanbetsu airport from Haneda and rent a car there. Public transit is not a viable alternative however, you need to self-drive. Shiretoko is quite scenic and from the NE side of the Peninsula you can actually see Rissua in the distance. Akan-Mashu national park is one of the few places in Japan where you can learn more about how the folks entering Japan from China way back when treated the native tribes, in this case the Ainu. It's unfortunately very similar to how Native Americans were treated in the USA.
Last time I visited Abashiri I took a train from Kushiro was pretty much was the only person on that train for half the ride. There were buses in city but pretty limited on where they went so I was only able to fit in the Abashiri Prison musuem and the Museum of the Northern Peoples during my stay.
Shibetsu has the Salmon Park and aquarium that I went to but that also needed a drive to get to.
Only thing about Akan was the Ainu 'village' there i visited felt more like a theme park with all the gift shops lining the whole row. I also wasn't a fan of the bears being locked up in fairly small cages at the Ainu museum in Shiraoi either.