Hokkaidōritsu Hoppou-minzoku Hakubutsukan (Museum of Northern People) — Attraction in Abashiri

As someone who doesn't typically choose a museum as something to visit on a weekend or while traveling, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Northern People's Museum. It is really well designed and has so much information. The entrance free is only 550 yen and includes a free audio guide which I recommend to anyone who is not a Japanese speaker. Without the guide I would probably be able to walk through the museum in 15-20 minutes but the audio guide makes you stop and listen and you end up finding out a lot more than if you just browsed all the items they have in their collection. I definitely recommend this museum if you are in the...

Information overload! All of the displays were in Japanese but the monitors had all that info in English/Chinese/Korean/Thai. Free recording rental also offered in foreign languages with extensive explanations. Currently (Aug 2019) there is a special exhibition on the Sami people with various Sami-made goods/souvenirs for sale. They also have a small library with tons of books in various languages and a "try on" dress up station of a few traditional clothes of different north peoples. We spent much more time than anticipated and could have spent even more if we had more time to spare. Ps. the "magic vision" video was...

This museum has interesting displays of peoples from around the Arctic Ocean and has an app you can load on your phone that gives an informative tour around the displays. Unfortunately my visit was very rushed as I arrived and departed on a one day rail trip from Sapporo and the only local bus connection that worked only gave you 45 mins at the longest in the museum, even though there was about 3 hours between the arrivals and departure of the Sapporo trains. Another bus or two in the local bus schedule would really improve...