A couple of hours in Mombetsu – a seaside town famous for its drift ice and seafood

24 May 2026

After spending the morning enjoying the sights of the pink moss phlox (shibazakura) covered hillside in Takinoue, we decided to head to the coastal town of Mombetsu for lunch. Mombetsu is located about mid-way between Takinoue and Yubetsu, so it is an ideal place to stop for lunch and some sightseeing.

What to see and do in Mombetsu

Every winter, from late January to mid-March, the Sea of Okhotsk off Mombetsu is covered with pure white drift ice, creating a dynamic, frozen landscape. The massive sheets of natural ice are formed in the freezing waters of the Amur River in Siberia and then drift all the way to the coast of Hokkaido. This is a rare phenomenon seen in only a few places worldwide and tourists come all the way to this part of Hokkaido to see them.

Since we are visiting in late spring, there is no drift ice to experience but there are some attractions to consider such as the Okhotsk Tokkari Center (Seal Land), Mombetsu Port Area (a photogenic waterfront filled with unique art) and the Okhotsk Sea Ice Museum of Hokkaido.

Giant Crab Claw located near the Mombetsu Port Area.

Getting to Mombetsu

From Takinoue, we continued along National Route 273 to Mombetsu. This highway features one lane in each direction (single lane dual carriageway) and the local drivers seemed happy to go at the posted speed limit and refrain from overtaking. The 35 km journey was expected to take about 40 minutes.

From Takinoue Shibazakura Park, we tailed a small vintage BMW convertible which has also visited the park all the way to Mombetsu. This car was actually going quite fast so progress was good until we both encountered a convoy of bikers who were hogging the road at below the speed limit.

After tailing the convoy for some time, the BMW decided to speed up and overtake the whole convoy at a stretch of straight road with good visibility of oncoming traffic.

Jokingly, I told my wife that the BMW occupants must be tourists.

Since I am also a tourist, I did likewise. Thankfully, the Toyota Yaris has enough power to accelerate swiftly. We managed to overtake the whole convoy of bikers stretching about 100 meters long at one go.

Thereafter, both cars made good progress to Mombetsu. Strangely enough, both cars also went to the Marutomi Restaurant. This was one of the 3 seafood restaurants I had shortlisted and my wife chose Marutomi after reading all the reviews. Great minds think alike.

There is complimentary parking for about a dozen cars just next to the restaurant and we managed to find a space. In fact, I took the last available parking space. 

Lunch at Marutomi

Entrance of the Marutomi Seafood Restaurant.

Although the town of Mombetsu seemed deserted when we drove in, the restaurant was actually full at 12.30 PM. We had to register our names and wait a short while for a table. The couple in the BMW had apparently made reservations so they disappeared into the restaurant while we were seated in the waiting area.

Our names were soon called and we were seated in a small private room. The lunch menu was mostly seafood rice bowl sets that came with miso soup and pickles.

We both ordered their signature Seafood Donburi priced at 2650 JPY. This is a luxurious rice bowl topped with Mombetsu’s finest raw seafood, including botan shrimp, salmon roe, scallops, sea bream, amberjack, and salmon.

This rice bowl is considered value for money since a single fresh and sweet botan shrimp already costs 1,000 JPY!

Every ingredient is incredibly fresh.

Mombetsu is famous for their crabs, so we also added a grilled snow crab miso side-dish. The crab miso is made from the innards of a crab. I had tried this dish for the first time at a crab restaurant in Osaka and it was unbelievably tasty.

The snow crab served grilled in a crab shell was incredibly sweet and full of umami at the same time.

The miso soup had clams and a delicious broth.

After lunch, we had just enough time to see one attraction in Mombetsu and we decided to go to the Okhotsk Sea Ice Museum of Hokkaido. The museum is located near to the Mombetsu Port Area and waterfront where we enjoyed a brief walk by the coast. 

There is an observatory in the port area called Okhotsk Tower (in the background of this photo) where visitors can view the drift ice in winter. At this time of year, it is not worth visiting.

We saw gulls flying in the air and water birds on the water. At this time of year, there is no drift ice. In winter, visitors would come here to view the drift ice from the coast or board an icebreaker ship for a closer experience.

Mombetsu is also well known for all things crab and there is a giant statue of a crab claw that is about 12 meters high and 6 meters wide.

The iconic crab claw of Mombetsu located near the port area.

Okhotsk Sea Ice Museum of Hokkaido

Since we did not come at the right time to see the drift ice, the next best thing to do was to visit the Okhotsk Sea Ice Museum.

The Okhotsk Sea Ice Museum is an interactive center dedicated to the mysteries of the frozen North.  There are exhibits that allow you to learn quite in depth about drift ice.

Entrance fee to the exhibition area is 700 JPY per adult and 1100 JPY if we want to include a 15 minutes video showcasing the four seasons of Okhotsk in the 4K dome theatre.

We skipped the video and spent our time enjoying the interesting exhibits. The audio and visual exhibits near the entrance are about drift ice and how they are formed. Although there are some English texts in the explanations, we used Google Translate to translate the Japanese texts to get more information.

Some of the exhibits are quite interactive, like those in a science center. In one of the exhibits, we could witness how a tornado is formed. This is not directly related to drift ice but I enjoyed playing with the “tornado” in the booth.

Have you ever touch a tornado and see what happens?

Model of an icebreaker ship.

The museum also hosts Japan’s largest collection of cliones, the mysterious "Sea Angels."  These plankton-like critters are tiny, translucent, shell-less marine snails that appear in the icy drift ice of the Sea of Okhotsk every winter.

Tank full of swimming cliones or sea angels allowed us to get a close-up look.

Looking at them, we could see why they are nicknamed Sea Angels. They appeared to be flying through the water using their graceful, wing-like appendages.

The sea angels are extremely small (about 1 to 3 cm) and completely transparent, except for their bright orange internal organs. 

These “angels” are actually predatory in nature. We watched a video showing the carnivorous sea angels hunting and feeding on smaller sea snails called sea butterflies. They are not so angelic after all.

There are also exhibits where we could see ice crystal being formed under super cooled conditions.

The highlight of the museum is the "Extreme Cold Experience Room," kept at a biting -20°C. Here, we could experience what it feels like to be in Mombetsu during mid-winter. Winter jackets are provided to us before we entered the cold room.      

Steps leading down to the –20 deg C room. The writing is on the floor, reminding us of that.

Inside the room, we could see some authentic drift ice on display and we could feel the incredible chill. There are stuffed Artic animals like a seal and a polar bear on display.

A staff offered to help us snap a photo with some of the artic animals, including a stuffed polar bear.

We then entered a room known as the Drift Ice Aquarium that is full of fish from the Okhotsk Sea on display.

Signage near the entrance to Drift Ice Aquarium. These fishes are all frozen in ice blocks!

Despite the frozen hands and ears, I took my time to view and snap photos of the interesting specimens of fishes, squids, crabs, shellfishes and even plants, encased and preserved in crystal clear ice.

   

 

 

There is even a sunfish in the ice aquarium.

The -20°C extreme cold experience room also has an area for us to witness what happens to soap bubbles at such cold environment. I recall some jokes about “eskimos peeing ice cubes” and it feels like this is not a joke.  

Machine generating soap bubbles.

Frozen soap bubbles in the carpet. The frozen bubbles looked like plastic and melts once we touched them. 

We were the only couple in the cold room and the friendly staff kept a watchful eye on us (via CCTV) to make sure we did not end up as an exhibit.   

Overall, my wife and I totally enjoyed the hour we spent inside the museum. It was definitely worth doing something that we don't normally get to experience. A highly recommended museum to visit when in northern Hokkaido.

Another stuff polar bear at the atrium and gift shop of the museum.