Ice-Free All Year Round
Lake Shikotsu is not only one of the clearest lakes in Japan, it is also one of the deepest. Needless to say, that makes it especially attractive to freshwater divers. However, the aspect of the lake that most pleases visitors is its year-round beauty, with water, mountains, and sky combining to make the perfect scene for a landscape photograph. The lake retains its picturesque quality even in the middle of an icy Hokkaido winter because it almost never freezes, a property it shares with neighboring Lake Toya. However, as Lake Shikotsu is slightly farther north than its sibling, it is officially the northernmost ice-free lake in Japan.