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The Rivers of Hokkaido: 2 Live Cameras in Japan

Cameras at 32 places on 13 river systems across Hokkaido, shared between two feeds that step through them in turn. They rise with the spring thaw.

What you can see

Two feeds from the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau. Between them they share 32 places on 13 river systems, showing each in turn. These are not single cameras, so you wait for the river you want.

The first feed includes the Ishikari, Teshio, Tokachi and Kushiro. These are the major rivers of Hokkaido, all with wide basins.

The second takes in the Abashiri, Tokoro, Yubetsu, Shokotsu, Rumoi, Shiribetsu, Shiribeshi-Toshibetsu, Mu and Saru. The Okhotsk side, the Sea of Japan side and the Pacific side swap places within one feed, so you watch the caption burnt into the picture to work out where you are.

Thirty-two places between the two. Both hold parts of the same 13 systems, so which feed your river is on is something you find out by opening them.

Cameras you can watch now: 2

All 2 are live video. Tap one to open it in the camera list.

When to watch

The water rises with the spring thaw and with the typhoons of late summer. Hokkaido's basins are wide, and rain or meltwater upstream takes time to reach the lower course.

The rougher the day, the darker the picture, and rain or snow sticks to the lens. Make evacuation decisions from your local authority.

On a calm day you can see what surrounds the river. Reaches running straight through farmland and reaches cut into mountain valleys swap places within the same feed.

The operators do not say which month brings snow or colour, so we do not set one here.

If it isn't showing

The source is the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. These are test broadcasts and can stop without notice. How to tell why a screen is blank is in What is happening when a live camera shows nothing.

All the cameras on the island are on the Hokkaido page. For the creatures of the lower rivers and the mires there are The cranes of Kushiro Marsh and Sarobetsu Mire; for the lakes, Akan-Mashu.

The same kind of touring feed is on The Rivers of the Kanto Plain and The Hokuriku and Shinetsu Rivers.

Where to find The Rivers of Hokkaido

Agencies publishing the cameras on this page

The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.

To find other cameras, go to the camera list. You can narrow all 439 cameras by format, region, subject and provider.