Noboribetsu Bear Park — Attraction in Noboribetsu

It’s cool to get to see the bears so up close, yet it’s really quite sad that the bears barely have any access to woods, plants and nature as they normally should. More effort should be put into designing the enclosures if they are already bears that are born captive and cannot be released back into their natural habitat. All of the structures within the enclosure were made of metal (even the “tree trunks”) so they were really like in jail, with little enrichment. Most of the time, the bears looked depressed and some displayed signs of anxiety (eg we saw one walking back and forth, not even giving a care about food given to it, others just huddled in a cold corner).

The park has a long history and is pretty old. Bear museum displayed many specimens from full bear of various age, to different bear organs. They show that research was done on the bears, but it doesn’t seem like much of the research is translated into better bear care. Hopefully more effort could be directed there.

Out of all the scheduled events, duck race was probably the most therapeutic / ethical (?), not sure why but this was our highlight for the entire park. Whitey is our favorite.

Bear athletics was basically bear treats prepared at different spots for the bear on duty to forage, not necessarily a display of their tricks (thankfully!).

A bear’s skills was the most underwhelming item, we stayed to watch and regretted staying that late, just to watch a bear open/close the metal cage.

Note that all the scheduled items are conducted in Japanese so for non-Japanese speakers, it wasn’t very helpful.

Squirrel enclosure feature 3 types of squirrels but you gotta catch them earlier or they’ll be mostly asleep / hidden in their nest boxes.

There was a small area featuring Ainu culture and it was quite insightful.

Food availability was mediocre and pricey, there weren’t much options.

For folks who don’t stay in hotels nearby, there seem to be discounted tickets sold at the bus terminal (2800yen when we saw). If you bought tickets on site like us, it cost 3000yen.

Ultimately, we wouldn’t be keen to support this place until better measures are taken to improve the...

I wish I would read reviews of this place before going there. Awful. My husband said he hasn’t been depressed like this for so long. It is indeed like a prison not a park for bears. If you can’t set them free already, please invest money that we paid for the tickets to make this cages bearable for bears - bigger, newer, with greenery. Let “park” staff feed them themselves. No need to throw out food at them - awful awful “entertainment”. We are in 21st century, no need to behave like barbarians. No vegetation, small spaces, bears look depressed too.

Cable car works smoothly - provide with a beautiful view of the Noboribetsu nature, and the view of the lake is beautiful.

But the minute the cable car ends its route nothing good is there. I feel ashamed of myself for participating in such a cruel act of feeding them. I should have just left the place immediately.

Tons of dead bear mommies as a museum also felt awful. I would like to believe that they do study these bears for the benefit of these species…

We as humans do harm nature in different ways. This place felt like shameless harm to these amazing animals.

I love Japan and Japanese culture so much - so respectful to everyone, mindful of others. well these big species are alive they deserve respect too. We as humans...

The park itself is pretty small, probably can spend 2 - 3 hours there. The view up there is great!! The cable car ride is around 5 - 7 minutes long. Highly recommend to wear more layers as it can get really windy there! Get heat packs for your shoes!!

You can purchase bear food to feed the bears! Place them into the tubes and the bears will come to you! Do note that not all the enclosures allow feeding of bears! So do not throw food/snow at the bears!!

There are 2 souvenir shops, 1 at the ticket office of the park and the other is at the park itself.

Other activities at the park includes, duck race where you can place your bets on your duck and if it wins, you win yourself a novelty park souvenir!

There is also a bear obstacle course where you can participate by placing bear food around the course for the bear to find! The zookeeper will ask for volunteers, so just raise your hands and follow their instructions.

The park in general is not very crowded when I went on a Monday.

Note: Once you are done with the park, you can arrange with the front desk to ask for a shuttle bus back to your hotel. (Not sure if it's available for all the hotels around the area, but...