Ishizaki Lighthouse

Built in 1943 during the Pacific War, Ishizaki Lighthouse stands roughly 30 meters tall on Rishiri Island, reportedly one of the five tallest unmanned lighthouses in Japan. Its red-and-white striped tower guides fishing boats through the Rishiri Channel between the island and mainland Hokkaido, and on clear nights, its beam can be seen all the way from the Sarobetsu Plain on the opposite shore. The lighthouse sits at the easternmost point of this circular volcanic island, where round stones polished smooth by ocean waves pile along the coast: souvenirs that visitors pocket as proof they made it to one of Japan’s most remote inhabited outposts.

The light flashes every 20 seconds, alternating white and red, from a focal plane of 35 meters. The grounds are open, but the tower is not. There is no parking either, so the best approach is the bike trail along the coastal highway. Behind the lighthouse rises Mount Rishiri, 1,721 meters of volcano that gave the island its name. In the Ainu language, Rii Shiri means “high-peak island.” The volcano has had no major activity in about 8,000 years, and the island, split between the towns of Rishiri and Rishirifuji, now belongs to Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park. The lighthouse stays. The stones, apparently, do not.