What Is Abashiri? Drift Ice, the Prison Museum and Mt. Tento

Published 2026-10-04 · Sources checked 2026-10-04 · Treasure Hunting Co., Ltd.

This guide is for visitors who want to know what Abashiri is and what to see there. It uses the English pages of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) and the Hokkaido Official Tourism Site "HOKKAIDO LOVE!". All pages were read on 2026-10-04. Prices and hours are those printed on the pages, so check them before you go.

The short answer

Abashiri is a port city on the Okhotsk coast of northeastern Hokkaido. JNTO says it "is most famous for its Ryuhyo Drift Ice", the masses of drift ice that cover the ocean around the city. It adds that you can enjoy the nature and food of Hokkaido's northern frontier in other seasons too. Three visitor attractions stand on or near Mt. Tento: the Ryuhyo Drift Ice Museum, the Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples and the Abashiri Prison Museum.

The drift ice

JNTO says the drift ice "begins a 1,000-kilometer journey from the Amur River on the Russian-Chinese border" and that Hokkaido is "the southernmost point in the Northern Hemisphere where you can see drift ice". You can see it along the Okhotsk coast from mid-January to late March. To get close, JNTO suggests a cruise on an icebreaker ship at Abashiri or Monbetsu, or a drift ice tour at Abashiri or Utoro. Our companion guide covers the Abashiri cruise in detail.

The Okhotsk Ryu-hyo Museum

The Hokkaido tourism site describes a frozen world kept at -15°C, "surrounded by 100 tons of real drift ice", where you can touch the ice. In the aquarium, it says, clione, called the "angels of the drift ice", drift in the water, alongside lumpsuckers and snailfish. The first-floor cafe sells a drift ice soft serve made with salt from the Sea of Okhotsk. The rooftop terrace has a 360-degree view of Lake Abashiri and the Shiretoko Mountain Range.

• Hours on the page: 8:30 to 18:00 from May to October, 9:00 to 16:30 from November to April, and 10:00 to 15:00 from December 29 to January 5.
• The page says it is open all year round and lists 150 free parking spaces.
• By bus it is about 15 minutes from JR Abashiri Station.

The Abashiri Prison Museum

JNTO's story page says confinement at Abashiri Prison was "the harshest punishment meted out to criminals in 19th century Japan". The prison was established in 1890, and inmates did heavy labour for the development of the area, including building 228 kilometers of road between Asahikawa and Abashiri. A fire in 1906 destroyed almost the entire prison apart from one cell block, and inmates reconstructed it by 1909. The main prison building was completed in 1912, and the original prison operated from 1890 to 1984 before being relocated to its present site as a museum.

The page describes five single-storey prison blocks extending from a Central Guard House, a law court, an administration building, a lecture hall and punishment chambers, with life-sized mannequins showing Meiji-era life. It says you can easily spend half a day, although there are suggested courses lasting an hour and free guided tours. The Hokkaido tourism site lists opening hours of 9:00 to 17:00 with last entry one hour before closing.

A prison meal

JNTO says you can try a "prisoner meal" at the diner inside the museum for 900 yen, made up of grilled saury or mackerel with rice, two side dishes and miso soup. It describes this as the meal served to inmates at the current Abashiri Prison. The Hokkaido tourism site calls the museum's version a reproduction of the food eaten by inmates at the current prison.

Seafood and lakes

JNTO says Okhotsk locals "will tell you they have the best seafood in Japan", and suggests uni-don or ikura-don. It also names Lake Tofutsu, a Ramsar Convention wetland where hundreds of swans arrive in winter, and the Koshimizu Genseikaen Wildflower Park. Lake Saroma and Lake Notoro are described as large lakes along the coast famous for their shellfish.

What we could not verify, and therefore left out

• The current admission fees. JNTO's story page gives 1,100 yen and then 1,500 yen "starting from April 2022", and we did not find a newer figure.
• Opening hours and closing days of the Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples, which the pages name but do not describe.
• Whether the prison museum has a closing day.

Related guides

• How do you get to Abashiri and get around from Memanbetsu Airport and Sapporo?
• How do you join a drift ice cruise in Abashiri and dress for the cold?

Sources

All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.

1. Abashiri (JNTO) — (overview, seafood, lakes, Mt. Tento)
2. The Abashiri Prison Museum (JNTO) — (history, buildings, prisoner meal, fee)
3. Ryuhyo Drift Ice (JNTO) — (the ice's journey, seasons)
4. Okhotsk Drift Ice Museum & Mt. Tento Observatory (HOKKAIDO LOVE!) — (museum, hours, parking)
5. One night, two days sample itinerary (HOKKAIDO LOVE!) — (prison museum hours)