The marshland asserts its charm much better up close than from the observatory. You must do the trail to enjoy the quiet beauty of its trees and its surrounding serenity.

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enjoyable pathway to viewpoints of Kushiro-Shitsugen marsh surrounded by green forest.

The path along the way isn't that easy to walk, especially after rain, when the ground gets wet and slippery, so you need to be extra careful or you can easily fall. Some sections are overgrown with weeds, so I recommend wearing long pants. Along the way there are signs warning you to watch out for bears; I saw people coming back carrying bear bells, but we didn't have that equipment on hand, so we weren't quite sure what to do. We started walking a little after 4 p.m., and even ran some sections. We took a wrong turn at a fork partway through, and only when we saw that the route was 4.5 km did we backtrack a short way. While walking there was almost no one around; as far as the eye could see it was all wetland plants, covering the hills and fields without end, so I really was a bit worried about what to do if a bear showed up… luckily we didn't run into one. It was a very special experience, and the vast wetland spread out below the observation deck was especially impressive!

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Halfway through I wanted to give up; the path goes up and down and takes some stamina. Along the way you cross a suspension bridge; it's really short, but still pretty distinctive. I saw locals all carrying bear bells on the trail, and without that equipment I couldn't help feeling a bit worried, wanting to turn back the whole way.

When the sun is out, cool tree shade continues all the way to the wetland. This year there was a long run of extremely hot days, and tourists were sparse.

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