Understand
Once unimaginably far in the back of beyond, the name Abashiri used to strike terror into the hearts of suspected lawbreakers: it was the site of Japan's first maximum-security prison, built in 1890 when the enlightened Meiji era leaders decided to copy Western ways instead of simply executing convicted criminals. Enlightenment in this case, however, translated into backbreaking hard labor mostly road construction and, for difficult cases like political prisoners, unheated cells in a region where winter temperatures often fall below -20 degrees C -4°F. The prison was finally closed in 1984, though a newly constructed prison continues the tradition.
Today's Abashiri is an unattractive modern town filled with the implements and smells of its largest industry, fishing.
