Tokyo To Hokkaido Ferry With A Dog

After moving to Japan from the UK and flying into Haneda airport, we had to then find the best option of getting our chow chow to our new home in Hokkaido, and a method that didn’t involve another flight.

We initially looked at driving to Hokkaido, but without yet owning a car in Japan, it wasn’t possible to hire a car in one location and then drop it back to another place. After some research we discovered that there was in fact a 16 hour overnight ferry from Oarai to Tomakomai, and it allowed dogs in certain cabins.

We chose the pet room with window for the night for 2 adults and a dog which cost us ¥60,000 which is roughly around £280. We thought this was incredibly reasonable given the distance of the ferry, and the fact that we could all spend the night together in the cabin.

If you’re looking to travel with your dog through Japan without being separated, here is everything you can expect along with the best time to make reservations and what to expect on this overnight ferry.

Ferry Location & Length of Journey

The ferry begins in Oarai, around 2 hours by car from Haneda airport, or Tokyo itself. If you are travelling from the airport with a dog, we highly recommend this Pet Taxi service that we used. So professional, and Papi didn’t have to be in his crate for the journey which was much appreciated after he’d spent a 13 hour flight in one!

We arrived super early to the port on the day of travel as we had to check out of our hotel at 11am. We also didn’t have a crate for Papi so we needed to see if we were able to hire one, which we were!

Papi is 30kg and not the smallest dog so finding a suitable crate was really difficult having just landed in Japan days ago, and luckily enough the MOL Sunflower team allowed us to borrow the crate for boarding Papi, and this came at no extra charge. If you have small dogs, prams and carriers are more than acceptable as long as your dogs are put away for boarding, disembarking and being taken to the dog run on the ship.

The MOL Sunflower overnight ferry time is approximately 16 hours, it generally leaves early evening, arriving into Hokkaido early afternoon the following day. Because you sleep for a good chunk of time, we found that the ferry journey goes by so quickly!

Booking The Ferry With A Dog

Reservations for sailings open 6 weeks in advance, and if you are travelling with a dog you need to book your cabin as soon as they release the dates because they get booked up incredibly fast! There are only 6 cabins onboard that are dog friendly, it’s a popular route and way for people to comfortably travel with dogs through Japan so you need to be well prepared if you wish to make a booking with a dog on the ferry.

I believe bookings can be made over the phone or in the port, but as we were booking from the UK, you can quite easily make the booking through the MOL Sunflower website.

There are two types of rooms available with pets, you can get a cabin without a window which is slightly cheaper, or one with a window. By the time we booked on the day of release, the majority of the rooms were already taken and we reserved one with a window. This was perfect for us as it allowed us to stay with Papi in the cabin the whole time.

Deck 5 would have been the preferable floor for us as it’s directly situated by the exit to the dog run, for us, we had to go down a floor to use it which was incredibly difficult with the size of Papi’s crate. Handy to know if you’re wanting to book with your own dog!

It’s worth noting that you can also pay ¥3,500 to board your dog in a pet cage in their pet room. However, there are restricted visiting hours to the pet room and you can’t be with them for the full journey.

The sizes of the pet cages available are;

SUNFLOWER　SAPPORO/FURANO Ferry – Medium： H55cm×W53㎝×D72㎝
SUNFLOWER　KAMUY/Pirka Ferry – Medium： H65cm×W91㎝×D58㎝

It’s important to remember that on the day of boarding you must also present a rabies vaccination certificate issued within the last year at the boarding counter.

Our Experience Travelling On The Ferry With The Dog

On the day of travel, as mentioned previously, we arrived literally hours before departure! You actually only need to arrive 90 minutes prior to departure with a dog.

Technically I don’t think dogs are allowed to be out of the crate in the ferry port (as we were asked to move outside to the dog run when we arrived in Tomakaomai), but the staff were so friendly and kind to Papi, and we had no issues at Oarai port. We didn’t have to put Papi into the crate until it was time to board.

Boarding began at 6pm, with departure scheduled for 7:45pm. The boarding process was super quick, and there are elevators onboard so you can easily get to your cabin with a dog in a crate.

The pet rooms are all situated next to one another, with 3 rooms on deck 6 and the other 3 on deck 5. Once we were inside the cabin, we were able to park up the crate to an area outside in the hallway.

The cabins are ferry sized as you would imagine, and we had a fair bit of luggage with us as well as Papi, so it was cosy, but a little bit cramped! At this stage we were just so thankful to be on the ferry and to be with Papi. The room had a dog lead hook on the side of the wall, two bowls for food and water and a little basket with dog essentials such as wipes, Lindt roller and poo bags which was a really nice touch.

The facilities onboard the ship are incredible for an overnight ferry, there is everything you could need for a relaxing stay. There is a female and male onsen, restaurant, shop, games room, plenty of seating and even a laundry room.

We were somewhat limited with what we could do because we wouldn’t leave Papi alone in the room on his own, however, we both took it in turns to have a buffet dinner in the restaurant on the ship that we would highly recommend. For 2 people, including the dinner and breakfast buffet it cost a total of ¥6,000.

The buffet has both Western and Japanese options and you can eat as much as you want. One thing I love about Japan is how they also cater to solo travellers. There were plenty of seats for solo passengers in front of the window, and by dividers, it just makes eating on your own here feel so much more normal and accepted.

We called it an early night as we were still slightly jet lagged! There is a TV in the room with Japanese channels and you really don’t have to leave your room at all if you don’t want to. Luckily the crossing was incredibly smooth and that gentle rocking helped us to get an incredible sleep.

The dog run is on deck 5 and you can take your pets there to stretch their legs, and do their business! It’s a relatively small section with an unchi/dog poo bin, and what I assume is a water fountain in the summer.

It wasn’t long until our 16 hours on the ferry had come to an end, and honestly, it was a great little trip! Next time, I think we would be able to be much more prepared and instead have our own large pram which Papi would find so much more comfortable and enjoyable to be in. He really did not want to be in that crate!

If you are travelling with pets to Hokkaido or Tokyo, I couldn’t recommend this method of travel enough. Once arriving we were able to pick up our hire car and finish our journey to Sapporo. Just remember to book a spot as soon as reservations open. Do leave a comment below if you have any other questions, and experiences of the Sunflower overnight ferry!