Abashiri City, on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk in eastern Hokkaido, is famous throughout Japan for its spectacular drift ice (ryuhyo). From late January through March, massive ice floes drift in from Siberia, creating an otherworldly frozen seascape. The drift ice sightseeing icebreaker Aurora offers an unforgettable experience of navigating through the ice. The Abashiri Prison Museum, a preserved historical facility from the Meiji era, chronicles the pioneering history of Hokkaido and is well-known as a film location. At the Okhotsk Drift Ice Museum, visitors can actually touch real drift ice and learn about this unique natural phenomenon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Abashiri City, on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk in eastern Hokkaido, is famous throughout Japan for its spectacular drift ice (ryuhyo). From late January through March, massive ice floes drift in from Siberia, creating an otherworldly frozen seascape. The drift ice sightseeing icebreaker Aurora offers an unforgettable experience of navigating through the ice. The Abashiri Prison Museum, a preserved historical facility from the Meiji era, chronicles the pioneering history of Hokkaido and is well-known as a film location. At the Okhotsk Drift Ice Museum, visitors can actually touch real drift ice and learn about this unique natural phenomenon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1300],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hokkaido"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n