insights from frontier Japan

The ban on large-scale fishing vessels (at least 100 tons), which are the mainstay of Pacific-saury net fishing in eastern Hokkaido, was lifted on August 20. Despite the forecast of low numbers of saury arriving in the region, 50 boats departed from three ports in the Kushiro-Nemuro subprefecture at just after midnight on that day, and headed towards international waters approximately 1,500 km away.

The ‘Hokuo-maru’, a newly built boat owned by Yamada Nobuhiko of the Kanetaichi Yamada Fishing Company, entered the Usuya fishing port in the town of Obira in northern Hokkaido, adorned with approximately 40 ‘big catch’ flags. Approximately 200 locals turned out to welcome the boat, which was the first upbeat talking point in a long time, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

At Eastern Hokkaido's Lake Saroma, the harvest season for the short-spined sea urchin is in full swing. Harvesting is being conducted robustly, using a method of collecting sea urchins from the lake floor by pulling nets fitted with iron claws. Lake Saroma sea urchin harvesting is being conducted by the three fishery cooperatives of Yubetsu, Tokoro, and Saroma. This year, it started on April 12.

The herring fishing season is reaching its peak in the Okhotsk region. Known in Japan as the “spring fish,” herrings herald the arrival of spring in the sea from which the drift ice has disappeared.

Basket fishing for horsehair crab – which heralds the coming of spring on the Okhotsk Sea coast – has begun, with approximately 3.9 tons of horsehair crab landed at the Oumu Fishing Port in the town of Oumu in the Okhotsk region on March 17.

One hundred and fifteen fishing boats hauled ashore to avoid the drift ice off the Okhotsk Sea coast in Tokoro-cho in Kitami in eastern Hokkaido are waiting to leave the port to go fishing. Work to return the fishing boats to the sea began on March 3. March 20 is the date when, in normal years, the “opening of the sea” – when the amount of drift ice reduces enough for the boats to set sail – usually occurs.

Wintertime in Eastern Hokkaido is packed with amazing scenery and experiences not available elsewhere in Japan, like drift ice, art made from snow and ice, and the ice horizon expanse. The "East Hokkaido Express Bus" is a seasonal bus that travels to all sorts of tourist spots in wintertime Eastern Hokkaido. It gives you easy access to famous spots difficult to reach by car. Visit Eastern Hokkaido aboard buses in search of amazing experiences only available there!

On January 24, seasonally fresh iwanori seaweed harvesting started on Kamome Island in southern Hokkaido's Esashi Town. Fifteen fishermen worked at removing seaweed stuck to rocks.

Esashi Fishery Cooperative Union in the northern Hokkaido fishing town of Esashi has launched their first website introducing the fishing industries centered on scallops, aki-sake salmon, and horsehair crab and efforts to protect the bountiful natural environment. It is offered in English and Chinese as well.