Abashiri, where the Memanbetsu area is situated, is a city of 40,000 people on the eastern coast of Hokkaido, not far from Shiretoko and Akan national parks. The city's main tourist attractions are its prison museum and the drift ice, which can be observed in the Okhotsk Sea during winter. To the Japanese, Abashiri is as synonymous with the word 'prison' as it was the site of Japan's first maximum-security prison, built in 1890. Abashiri is also known for its frozen seas, which can be explored on ice-breakers.

Airports in Memanbetsu

1. Memanbetsu Airport

Memanbetsu Airport (MMB) is an airport in the Memanbetsu section of Ōzora, a town in Hokkaidō, Japan. The airport is close to Shiretoko National Park and consistently has over one million passengers per year. It is 30 minutes by bus from Abashiri. Japan Airlines (JAL) and Air Do operate a few round trips per day between Tokyo's Haneda Airport and Memanbetsu Airport.

How to Get Cheap Flights to Memanbetsu?

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When is the Best Time to Fly to Memanbetsu?

The weather in Abashiri varies drastically. August is the hottest month in Abashiri with an average temperature of 20°C and the coldest is February at -8°C with the most daily sunshine hours at 6 in October. The busiest month for tourism in Abashiri is January, followed by March and April. Prices for hotels and flights will be most expensive during these months, though you can save if you purchase well in advance. Tourists enjoy visiting Abashiri during these months is because Abashiri will be in bloom and the area will feature some of the most splendid flowers. If any scenery could say to be representative of spring in Hokkaido, it would be the lavender-coloured fields of Shibazakura stretching out under the broad expanse of the blue sky. Mid-May is the best time to visit to see the delicate red, pink, and white flowers in bloom. The Shibazakura Festival is timed to coincide with the blossoming of the flowers in the spring. Tourists are unlikely to visit Abashiri in December. Those willing to visit at these times will likely find it the least expensive month.

What are the Top 3 Things to Do in Memanbetsu?

1. Lake Abashiri- Lake Abashiri is part of the wider Abashiri National Park and is also said to be one of the prettiest lakes in all of Hokkaido. The reason that this lake is so famous is that it has several resident swans who dot the surface of the water and swim around regally taking in the scenery. In the winter months from December to April the lake freezes over, and the ice can be up to a meter thick in some places, but if you happen to visit at this time, then you can also try your hand at ice fishing.

2. Abashiri Prison Museum- This used to be the place where criminals were sent to perform hard labour, and many of the inmates here actually helped to build the foundations on which Hokkaido now sits. The buildings here date from the Meiji Period, and you can walk through them and check out a range of models who are chained up in the original shackles that the prisoners would have been made to wear. There are also other galleries that also tell the historical background of the buildings and contain ancient prison relics but bear in mind that some of the exhibits are a little gruesome so they may not be suitable for very young children.

3. Memanbetsu Sunflower Fields- Sunflowers are planted at three sunflower fields, Asahigaoka Park, Tomappugawa Park and a neighbourhood of Memanbetsu airport, in Memanbetsu, Ozora town located in the southern part of Abashiri city. In those fields, the sunflower fields around the Asahigaoka park is the largest. The sunflowers are planted in summer and autumn. The best time to see the sunflowers in the summer is from early August to late September and the best time to see the sunflowers in the autumn is from mid-October to late October.