South Hokkaido · ErimoNo.698★★Open in map →
Cape Erimo
The southern end of Hokkaido's Hidaka range, where the mountains sink into the Pacific and leave a trail of reefs behind them. A visitor centre built into the headland turns the cape's constant wind into the exhibit.
- FromSapporo Station
- ~4 hr to Erimo townHighway bus (reserve), one a day
- Get off atErimo-Misaki stop (JR Hokkaido Bus, Nissho line)
- On foot
- Cape Erimo
The sweet spot
Cape Erimo is on every Hokkaido driving itinerary and is not an undiscovered corner. What catches people out is timing. The centre is closed through December, January and February, and the single highway coach from Sapporo pulls into Erimo town in the evening — which makes the cape an overnight, not a day trip, for anyone without a car.
Where it is
102 more notes in Hokkaido · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Wind Museum viewing floora glass wall set into the headland, looking straight down the line of reefs
- Wind experience rooma chamber that puts the cape's own gale on you, indoors and on demand
- Seal telescopesfixed scopes and a camera trained on the harbour seals hauled out below
- The point itselfa path out past the museum to the last of the land, with the reefs running on
- Cape Erimo lighthousethe tower standing back from the tip, on the high ground above the walk
How to actually get there
- Sapporo Station → Erimo town (JR Hokkaido Bus 'Erimo-go', reserved, about four hours, one service a day).
- Erimo town → Erimo-Misaki stop (JR Hokkaido Bus, Nissho line, about twenty minutes).
- From the stop, walk down to the Wind Museum entrance set into the headland.
- Come out and follow the path to the point, then back to the same stop.
- JR Hokkaido Bus 'Erimo-go' from Sapporo, then the local line
- Sapporo Station to Erimo town on the reserved highway coach, about four hours, one service a day and booked by the day before. From Erimo town the Nissho line bus reaches the Erimo-Misaki stop in about twenty minutes. The coach arrives in the evening, so the cape itself waits until the next morning.
- The Sapporo coach leaves Erimo at dawn
- The Sapporo-bound Erimo-go departs Erimo town first thing, which means an early local bus or a taxi from the cape that same morning. Reserve the seat before you travel, and note that the service does not run on New Year's Day.
About the place
Cape Erimo is the southern end of the Hidaka range, the spine that runs down the middle of Hokkaido. The ridge loses height as it comes south and then goes under, leaving a run of black reefs offshore for the swell to break over. Winds of ten metres a second or more are recorded here on more than 260 days a year, which is why the visitor centre is called the Wind Museum and why it is set into the headland instead of standing on top of it. The same reefs are a haul-out for harbour seals, watched from indoors through fixed telescopes and a camera.
How to enjoy it
The centre keeps longer hours through the summer months and closes at dusk in spring and autumn, with last entry ahead of closing time — so take the view first and leave the wind room for the end. On New Year's Day it opens before dawn for the first sunrise, then closes again by mid-morning. Through December, January and February the building is shut, though the headland outside stays open to walk.
Background & history
The cape has always been treated as a landscape rather than a site: it is designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty, and it anchors the national park that covers the Hidaka range behind it. The visitor centre came much later, opened by the town to present the one thing no photograph holds — the wind. Its plan follows a Karman vortex street, the regular train of eddies that forms downwind of anything narrow, and which is also what makes power lines hum in a gale. The seals below have been counted for years by local volunteers and a university research group.
Before you go
- Cash
- The headland, the path out to the point and the car park cost nothing; the Wind Museum charges admission. IC cards are accepted on the Sapporo highway coach.
- Good to know
- The Wind Museum is closed through December, January and February, with one exception: it opens before dawn on New Year's Day for the first sunrise and closes again by mid-morning. It also shuts at short notice in severe weather, which on this coast is not unusual. Outside, the headland has no shelter at all.
- Another way
- From the Hidaka coast, the Nissho line runs to the cape from Samani in about an hour, with connections up the coast from Urakawa. From the Tokachi side, Tokachi Bus reaches Hiroo from Obihiro and the Nissho line covers the last hour.
- After you get off
- The Erimo-Misaki stop sits on the cape road above the car park. Walk down towards the sea and the museum entrance appears in the slope rather than on it — the building is set into the headland.
Nearby notes
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Mt. Apoi Geopark
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Distances are straight lines on the map, not travel times.