Drive the Shiretoko Pass from Utoro to Rausu for lunch at Jun no Banya and visits to the Shiretoko Rausu Visitor Center and Shiretoko Nature Center

26 August 2023

After our morning hike at the Shiretoko Five Lakes, we took a drive through the Shiretoko Pass (740 meters above sea level) to Rausu. Rausu is a coastal town located on the opposite side of the Shiretoko Peninsula and is well-known across Japan for the vast variety of fresh seafood which is fished on its coast. One of the town’s most popular products is the sea urchin, called uni in Japanese.

We could only do this drive in summer. The roughly 30 kilometer long mountain pass road is closed during the winter from early November to late April. Spectacular views of nearby Mount Rausu (1661 meters), Shiretoko's highest mountain, as well as Kunashiri Island across the Nemuro Strait may be seen from a viewpoint at the pass with free parking lots. Provided the weather is clear!

The first part of the drive was scenic and we could see Mount Rausu. We saw a couple of motorcyclists who stopped along the side of the road to snap photos of Mount Rausu. We could not do that in a car. By the time we arrived at the Shiretoko Pass, the whole area was foggy.

It is common that although the sky was clear in Utoro at sea level, there would be clouds high up in the mountain pass.

With nothing to see at the viewpoint, we continued on our journey to Rausu knowing that we would have another shot of visiting the Shiretoko Pass Viewpoint on our way back.

The journey down after the Shiretoko Pass to Rausu gave us a small concern. Our rental car became noisy. I was worried that we may have engine or tyre trouble. As we drove into Rausu, the noise disappeared. Later we found that our car was ok and it was the road surface that made the noise.

The weather in Rausu was bright and sunny. I have plan for lunch at a seafood restaurant called the Jun no Banya.

Jun no Banya

Like many eateries all over Japan, the exterior of the restaurant does not advertised its purpose. We could be standing right next to this wooden fisherman hut and not realising that it is a seafood restaurant.

Ran by several local ladies, Jun no Banya serves fantastic local seafood. This is a gem of a place for lunch in Rausu.

This is what the restaurant looked like as we drove into the side road from the highway.

Jun no Banya is located between the coastal highway 335 and the sea. We parked on a grass verge next to several other cars.

Entrance to Jun no Banya.

The interior is homely and colourfully decorated.

The interior is quite uniquely decorated.

Our table number (in yellow tag), fishing equipment, colourful paper lanterns and banners hang from the ceiling. There are also many photos of fisherman (probably related to the owners) at work.

Jun no Banya is a small restaurant. We came early, so we were seated immediately.

Upon entry, we were greeted by a friendly elderly lady who seated us, served us some ice water and gave us the menu.

When we tried to ask for an English language menu, she grabbed this young man who was standing near the entrance to explain the menu to us.

Menu at Jun no Banya. We could actually use Google Translate to understand the menu.

This young gentleman patiently explained in simple English that there are grilled fish dishes and recommended the grilled Atka Mackerel (Hokke). He told us there is also a rare and hence more expensive fish on the menu but we should try the Hokke which are fished off the waters of Rausu.

Grilled Atka Mackerel (hokke) and rice set for 1680 Yen.

Then he explained the sashimi rice bowls and we could choose 3 items from Ikura (fresh salmon roe), uni (sea urchin roe), crab legs or scallops to make up the 3-colour rice bowl.The most colourful bowl of food I had ever seen. 3 coloured rice bowl set with ikura, uni and kani (crab legs) for 2980 yen.

I would normally not order the ikura and uni when eating sashimi back home. But here in Hokkaido, these two elements are a must! The orange coloured ikura in Hokkaido is fresh and large in size. Bursting into salty and sweet flavour in the mouth, the ikura goes down well with the steamed rice sitting in the bottom of the rice bowls.

As for the sea urchin, this was my first time savouring this delicacy. I was pleasantly surprised by the creamy, sweet and yet salty taste of the sea in the yellow coloured uni.

My son ordered the special sashimi rice bowl set with plenty of fresh seafood elements, including the ikura and uni.

Sashimi rice bowl set for 2980 yen. This includes ikura (salmon roe), salmon, sweet shrimps, tuna, scallops, uni (sea urchin roe), squid, crab meat.

The young man also recommended the grilled shrimps that were not shown in the menu.

Grilled local shrimps.

With his help, we placed our orders to the elderly lady who is probably the wife of a local fisherman.

Happy with our orders! Freshest seafood is where the source is.

The miso soup that came with set has pieces of crab in it.

As we were enjoying our lunch, we discovered that the young man who helped us with the menu was a customer and not a restaurant staff!

As he was leaving the restaurant after his meal, he came over to check if we are happy with our meal. Such a nice guy!

After our delicious lunch, we used Google Map to find a cafe in Rausu for a post lunch coffee but our effort was in vain. Rausu is a small fishing town and there are not many cafes around. The one cafe that we found did not have air conditioning and it was just too warm to be comfortable in it.               

We decided to skip coffee and head back to Utoro.

Shiretoko Rausu Visitor Center

I have always enjoyed learning more about the places I visited. Hence we made a worthwhile stop at the Shiretoko Rausu Visitor Center on our way back to Utoro from Rausu. The visitor center is located along the Shiretoko Pass, just outside Rausu.

We were hoping that we could get some coffee at the visitor center but there was none. There were excellent displays and information on Shiretoko National Park's natural environment, the history and culture of the park.

There was eye catching skeleton of a killer whale (or orca) hanging from the ceiling. This orca skeleton came from a pod of killer whales that was stranded and died on the drift ice off the coast of Rausu.

Particularly interesting is the skeleton of an orca that hangs from the ceiling.

The bones in the flipper of the orca are structured similar to my hand.

I also find the 3D model of the Shiretoko Peninsula very interesting and informative. The model shows the Shiretoko mountain range in the center that divides the peninsula into two. Mount Rausu is the tallest mountain in that range and that was what we saw during our drive from Utoro to Rausu.

Model of the Shiretoko Peninsula with the Shiretoko Pass and Mount Rausu marked.

I was hoping to spot wildlife while in Shiretoko but luck was not on our side. We had to make do with looking at the very interesting taxidermy of Shiretoko wildlife including the brown bears, seals, fish owls and eagles.

The only brown bears we saw at Shiretoko were the stuffed ones.

The salmon is the bear’s favourite food in autumn. They feed on vegetation mostly.

The bears may not be big but few humans survived a brown bear attack.

There is small geyser located a short distance from the visitor center with blasts about every hour. The schedule is shown at the center's information counter. We did not go see the geyser as we had seen much better ones at Asahidake.

Shiretoko Pass

Continuing our drive up the Shiretoko Pass, we could hear the loud noise coming from the road surface again which confirms my suspicion that there was nothing wrong with our car.

We managed to see a bit of Mount Rausu peeking through the clouds.

Mount Rausu as viewed from the car as we drove up Shiretoko Pass from Rausu.

The Shiretoko Pass Viewpoint was still cloudy when we arrived but the sky was beginning to clear a little.

Foggy conditions at Shiretoko Pass Viewpoint on our back to Utoro.

View of the clouds rolling by at Shiretoko Pass Viewpoint.                                                      

It was a strange heavenly feeling to see the clouds rolling by.

Shiretoko Nature Center

Just before arriving at Utoro, we made a stop at the Shiretoko Nature Center. There is a trail course (about 20 minutes walk) to the Furepe Waterfall that starts from this place.

Compared to the Shiretoko Rausu Visitor Center, this place was more commercialised. In addition to exhibition of Shiretoko's nature and cinemas showing nature films (for a fee!), there are outdoor gear on sale and a cafe that sells food and coffee.

We got ourselves coffee from the cafe and sat there chilling, looking at the car park and the Shiretoko mountain range in the back.

My original plan was to do the short hike to the coast to see the Furepe Falls after our coffee. However, we were a little tired and the weather was just too warm. I have seen photos of Furepe Falls in the internet and the waterfall is not impressive. We curtailed our original plan and went back to our hotel to chill instead.