Things to do in Abashiri：Abashiri Prison Museum

Japan’s only prison museum where you can learn about the lives of prisoners at the time

Japan’s only prison museum, which relocates the cells, cathedral, and government building that were actually used in the former Abashiri Prison. The large grounds are dotted with buildings of high historical value, including eight important cultural properties and six registered tangible cultural properties.

 

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y_f(@srisodapon_f_y)がシェアした投稿

The cells and central guardhouse, which are lined with rooms where prisoners lived, are one of the important cultural properties. Five cells are spread out radially around the central guard post so that all corridors can be seen. It is the world’s oldest wooden building of this shape, and the only one still standing in Japan. It is also one of the largest in size, with 226 cells including solitary confinement cells and miscellaneous confinement cells. There are some cells that you can actually go inside, giving you a realistic experience of the rooms that prisoners spent time in.

 

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りかぱんの旅行記録 ~Lika’s Trip Log~(@likastriplog)がシェアした投稿

In addition, there is the administrative building “Government Building” with an impressive light blue and gray exterior, the “Former Abashiri Prison Futamigaoka Penal Branch”, which was built as a pioneering building for self-sufficiency, and the auditorium, which is characterized by a fusion of Japanese and Western architecture. You can see a group of beautiful wooden buildings built from the Meiji to Taisho periods, such as the Kyodo. In 2010, the “Prison History Museum” was renovated. There is a theater where the road cutting process is projected on three screens on the left and right front, allowing you to see the harsh labor conditions of the prisoners.

The “Prison Cafeteria” recreates the meals eaten by inmates at the current Abashiri Prison. There is also a “museum shop” and “product hall” that sell original goods that can only be obtained here.

 

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Haruki Yoshihara(@haruki.yoshihara)がシェアした投稿

land opened by prisoners

In the early Meiji period, when people’s lifestyles changed completely due to reforms from the Edo period, Abashiri, located at the northern tip of Hokkaido, was a lonely fishing village with little development due to its harsh climate and remote location. However, the establishment of Abashiri Prison there drastically changed the fate of this area.

 

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One day, a group of strong prisoners dressed in red kimono and chained arrived at the village under the watchful eye of an official. They began by cutting down the surrounding forests and using the wood to build their own sleeping huts. After that, more prisoners were added every month, and in the end, 1,200 prisoners were gathered and the Abashiri Outer Office of Kushiro Prison Station was established. As if in response to the prisoners working, officials who monitored the prisoners, their families, and merchants also moved to the village, and Abashiri’s population rapidly increased.

 

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hide.i181(@hide.i181)がシェアした投稿

Under harsh conditions, the prisoners quietly built the foundations of the city of Abashiri by building infrastructure such as building roads and railways, developing fishing ports, and cultivating farmland. As a result, Abashiri has become one of the busiest places in Hokkaido. On the other hand, development that depended on the labor of prisoners aroused resentment among some residents, and there were times when a movement to exclude the city occurred because the name of the prison tarnished the name of the city.

 

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Yu(@4663yu)がシェアした投稿

Even so, Abashiri Prison’s contribution to the development of this region is etched in history. Abashiri Prison, which is still a tourist attraction, Hokkaido’s main transportation network, the port that supports abundant seafood, and vast farmland were all built through the cultivation of prisoners. In this way, the town of Abashiri continues to prosper along with the prison, and its mysterious and deep history is passed down to this day.

Link：Hokkaido official tourism website