The Environment Ministry wants to enlarge Kushiro Shitsugen National Park in eastern Hokkaido by a net 2,444 hectares, to 31,098 hectares, and to rewrite how visitors may use it. The draft revision, labelled the second review of the park, is open for public comment from 23 October to 21 November 2026.
What the draft changes
The park would grow by 1,259 hectares in Kushiro city, 172 hectares in Kushiro town and 1,167 hectares in Tsurui village. About 154 hectares in Kushiro town would be removed because land-use change lowered its quality.
The ministry also reshuffles protection levels. Areas that are now first-class special zones, the second-strictest tier, move up to special protection, which grows by 732 hectares while the first-class tier shrinks by 741. Second-class zones grow by 1,624 hectares and third-class zones by 616.
| Zone | Current | Proposed | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Special protection | 6,456 | 7,188 | +732 |
| First-class special | 2,342 | 1,602 | -741 |
| Second-class special | 7,619 | 9,243 | +1,624 |
| Third-class special | 3,173 | 3,789 | +616 |
| Ordinary (land) | 9,064 | 9,277 | +213 |
| Total (land) | 28,654 | 31,098 | +2,444 |
The draft says the added land is mostly low-lying wetland next to the existing park that shelters varied wildlife. Some of it is forest around upstream rivers, where the draft says protection is needed to cut nutrient enrichment and sediment flowing into the wetland.
Tourism rules
The revision adds a nature-experience plan covering the whole park. It favours travel without motors: walking, cycling, horse riding, canoeing and kayaking, with guides or interpreters. The ministry says it will also work on rules such as guide-only areas, caps on visitor numbers and entry fees, and will consider cooperation payments that flow back into local conservation.
The facilities list points the same way. It adds a horse-riding facility and a lodge in Tsurui village for horse trekking, a boating site in Shibecha town as a base for non-motorised river use, a cycle route and a hiking trail that forms part of a long-distance trail. An existing railway line through the park is also written into the plan as a facility for exploring the wetland.
Vehicle and powered-boat access restrictions would be extended to further areas in Kushiro city, Shibecha town and Tsurui village, with the draft citing possible harm to wildlife from powered boats. In parts of Kushiro town and Shibecha town the restricted zone would be deleted, a change the draft attributes to those areas being transferred to special protection.
The ministry gives two reasons for the review: more than 10 years have passed since the first review in 2011, and the Natural Parks Act revision, fully in force since April 2022, lets park plans carry a vision and a nature-experience plan. The draft says the park drew about 510,000 visitors in the year ended March 2025.
How to comment and what follows
Comments must be in Japanese and can be sent through the e-Gov portal, by post or by email to the ministry's National Parks Division. The ministry says it will publish a summary of comments and its responses.
The ministry's schedule is to compile comments around December 2026, consult the Central Environment Council around February 2027 and publish the final changes in the official gazette around March 2027. The draft sets no fee levels or visitor caps.