Kushiro City

Kushiro is a working fishing port on Hokkaido's southeast coast, known for producing some of Japan's best seafood, particularly Pacific saury and crab. The city sits at the edge of the Kushiro Marshland, Japan's largest wetland and a protected national park where red-crowned cranes, one of the rarest crane species in the world, live year-round. In winter, the cranes gather at feeding stations and perform their elaborate mating dances against a backdrop of snow. The Washo Market near the port is where locals buy their fish, and visitors can build their own seafood bowl (katte-don) by buying toppings at different stalls and adding them to a bowl of rice. Kushiro's sunsets over the Pacific are well regarded, particularly from the Nusamai Bridge downtown. Akan National Park, about an hour north, has volcanic lakes and onsen hot springs. The city is cold much of the year, and summer temperatures rarely reach above 20°C.