Hokkaido is Japan’s northern island, and Rishiri is where you go if one island isn’t enough. Located on Japan’s northwestern tip along with it’s flatter sister Rebun Island, Rishiri is a forested dormant volcanic cone, accessible by ferry from Wakkanai, Japan’s most northerly city. Mt. Rishiri is a popular and quite challenging hike peaking at 1,721 meters above sea level, and there is a bikes-only road for 20 km around the north coast.

You can fly into either of the airports serving Rishiri or Wakkanai, however there is frequent rail service from Sapporo via Asahikawa to Wakkanai, with onward ferries to the islands. Once you dock at Oshidomari after a 100-minute ferry ride, it’s usually a 30-minute or so walk to one of the pensions or hotels in town. Most of the pensions offer an early morning minibus ride to the Mt. Rishiri park trailhead, as well as a packed lunch. If you start your hike early (04:00-05:00) you’ll be under the cloudbase for most of the ascent. The round-trip hike will take 7-9 hours depending on your fitness level, so in most cases you will be done by mid-afternoon. You will need to stay at least one night on Rishiri in order to wake for an early start, and while there is a late afternoon ferry back to Wakkanai, a second night allows time for a hot spring and further exploring.

The Mount Rishiri Hike

The most main trailhead starts just south of the tarmac road leading south from Oshimodari and is clearly signposted. You start at the visitor center and pass a small temple on the initial trail.

Once you break out of the forest on the lower slopes, the mountain side is mostly covered in waist-high scrub or open areas. The fog will start to break at the lower levels so that you can look down on the port.

The peak trails are very well marked and signposted, with periodic distance markers, although rocky and steep in places, so take hiking poles if you like your sense of balance untipped.

The trail posts are a useful progress guide – #8, shown below, is at about 1,200m. Official hiking season starts in July; while the summer weather is humid, an early start avoids the increased temperatures from late morning onwards.

The entire trail is walkable and the steep sections can be done without needing to scramble. The last stretch has rope guideways to keep you away from the side of the trail, which is eroded in places.

There is a small shrine at the peak from which you can contemplate mortality and the steep sides of Rishiri Mountain.

Mt. Rishiri is defined as an ultra-prominent peak and you have a clear view of the surrounding countryside below, despite a persistent marine fog layer over much of the lower island.

On clear days you can see Hokkaido and Sakhalin but otherwise can contemplate the lower cloud layer over the Sea of Japan. Closer in, the return trail from the peak is mostly soil and grit, and you should follow the rope guides to avoid adding to the erosion.

Once you have completed your hike, it’s another mile or so along the road back to Oshidomori. The Rishirifuji Onsen, a hot springs (onsen) bath house with indoor and outdoor hot springs (https://maps.app.goo.gl/fHWNxBvQWHK1MKWL7) is on the road back and worth a visit.

A rather neat approach to steep trail erosion devised by the national park is to fill and stack large plastic drums in order to provide a stable set of steps over the sharp inclines. They are very walkable and much safer than trying to deal with a steep crumbling dirt and rock slope.

Logistics

Accommodation

I went in August and given tight availability had to book each of two nights at different but adjacent pensions, Rera Mosir (http://www.maruzen.com/tic/oyado/index.html) and Green Wind (http://greenwind.sakura.ne.jp). Both were comfortable places with an excellent seafood dinner and a choice of a packed lunch or Japanese breakfast as part of the booking.

There aren’t many restaurants on Rishiri but the pension restaurants take pride in their local produce and are excellent. If you are looking for lunch, Warakaudo is a good Chinese restaurant (https://maps.app.goo.gl/msZKR9j578CtJxjd7). The pensions have outdoor gear to rent and will take you to the Mt. Rishiri trailhead or to the ferry terminal. I booked both through their websites and you will need to have one page open translated to your preferred language and the original that you work on (Pro Tip: when filling out booking details on Japanese websites, if you are asked to enter your name in Japanese kanji script, and do not have a Japanese name, drop your name into Google translate to get the literal Japanese transliteration, and use that). If you need to pick up last minute provisions for the outdoors, there is a Seicomart convenience store in town.

Getting There and Back

Heartland Ferry (http://www.heartlandferry.jp/english/) offer multiple daily sailings between Wakkanai and Rishiri (Oshidomori port), with a 1 hr 40 minute journey time. You can also tag on Rebun island as part of a larger itinerary. You can book seats in advance or just turn up on the day – there was spare capacity on my Thursday and Saturday sailings.

Japan Rail Hokkaido (https://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/global/index.html) operate rail services on the island, and trains to Wakkanai operate via Asahikawa. It’s about 5 hours between Hokkaido and Wakkanai and the train journey gives you a good feel for the Hokkaido landscape.

Wakkanai

Wakkanai is a convenient overnight stop before getting a morning ferry to the islands. Take-chan Izakaya (https://take-chan.co.jp/en/) is a very popular seafood restaurant.

The Dormy Inn and Surfeel Hotel are two good accommodation options that are a short walk from the ferry terminal. The railway station is in the immediate center and only 5 minutes walk from the ferry terminal.