Furepe Waterfall (Furepe-no-taki [フレペの滝])

Shiretoko National Park, Hokkaido, Japan

About Furepe Waterfall (Furepe-no-taki [フレペの滝])

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Furepe Waterfall (Furepe-no-taki [フレペの滝]) was kind of a percolating spring waterfall that seeped out of the sea-battered cliffs and right into the Sea of Okhotsk.

Due to the delicate nature of the falls, the Japanese translation of “furepe” was said to be something like “maiden’s tears”.

Shiretoko_tour_006_06072009 - The springs seeping out of the sea cliffs as the Furepe Waterfall
The springs seeping out of the sea cliffs as the Furepe Waterfall

Therefore, this waterfall kind of blended in with other waterfalls that we saw on the boat tour of Shiretoko’s coastline, which started from Utoro.

Like with the Kamuiwakka-no-taki, I’ve included a separate page for this falls instead of clumping it with the other Shiretoko Waterfalls.

That’s because it was possible to experience this falls from land as well as by boat.

However, unlike with Kamuiwakka-no-taki, it was our fault for completely overlooking the trail that we could’ve done to get to the top of Furepe-no-taki by land on our first visit while bear activity prevented us from visiting it 14 years later!

Shiretoko_tour_017_06072009 - More springs seeping out of the sea cliffs around the Furepe Waterfall
More springs seeping out of the sea cliffs around the Furepe Waterfall

I guess this oversight was a result of how much there was to see and do in the Shiretoko-hanto.

In any case, as far as the boat tour was concerned, at least the benefit of doing this was that we could get cleaner frontal views of the Furepe Waterfall.

The challenge was getting a decent photo (i.e. not blurry or awkwardly composed) with the bobbing of the boat.

This especially made things difficult on Julie’s slow point-and-shoot camera, but even timing it on my much faster DSLR was still non-trivial.

In case you’re wondering, had we visited the top of Furepe-no-taki by land, we would’ve taken a short 20-minute walking path that began from right behind the Shiretoko Nature Center.

Shiretoko_tour_013_06072009 - Another seeping sea cliff waterfall that had some algal colors suggesting this particular part of the falls might be more permanent than the other parts of the Furepe Waterfall
Another seeping sea cliff waterfall that had some algal colors suggesting this particular part of the falls might be more permanent than the other parts of the Furepe Waterfall

The main benefit of visiting the falls in this manner was that we would’ve had nice coastal views agsinst the context of the Sea of Okhotsk.

Maybe one of these days, we’ll come back here and try to do it this day (and not be thwarted by bears).

Authorities

The Furepe Waterfall resides near Shari in the Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It is administered by the Shiretoko National Park. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Ministry of the Environment website.

Maps and Routing Content are for annual subscribers. See Membership Options.
Content is for subscribers. See Membership Options.
Tagged with: shiretoko, utoro, shiretoko go-ko, five lakes, national park, hokkaido, furepe, visitor center, okhotsk, japan, waterfall



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About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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