Article

01458 ／ひがしかわちょう

Hokkaido 上川郡

Higashikawa Town

The town boasts Hokkaido's biggest drop.

Hagoromo Falls, Tenninkyo

Photo by Alpsdake (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Groundwater

The town says it is the only one in Hokkaidowith no public water supply.

The town's official site introduces Higashikawa as rare even in Japan, and the only town in Hokkaido with no public water supply. All domestic water comes from groundwater, which the town explains is snowmelt stored by the Daisetsuzan mountains that seeps underground over many years and is carried to the town.

All domestic water is groundwater
"Only in Hokkaido" is the town's own wording

02 ／ Mount Asahidake

Hokkaido's highest peak, Mount Asahidake (2,291 m),lies in the town's area, the town says.

According to the town's official site, Mount Asahidake (2,291 m), the highest peak of the Daisetsuzan range, lies in Higashikawa. The Asahidake Visitor Center explains that the Japan Meteorological Agency designates it an active volcano as part of Daisetsuzan, and the Hokkaido Tourism Organization introduces Sugatami-no-ike Pond as a crater pond that mirrors the mountain.

Elevation 2,291 m
Town area within Daisetsuzan National Park: about 102.55 km²

03 ／ Columnar jointing

Tenninkyo's cliffs are columnar jointing formed asvolcanic deposits cooled, the tourism body says.

The Hokkaido Tourism Organization introduces the Tenninkyo gorge as columnar jointing formed as pyroclastic flows from a Daisetsuzan eruption deposited and cooled, later shaped by river erosion. The Higashikawa Town landscape plan names Shichifukuiwa and Namidaiwa among the columnar-jointed gorge scenery to be conserved.

Introduced as columnar jointing by the tourism body
Landscape plan names Shichifukuiwa and Namidaiwa

Higashikawa Town from the sky

Now and 1974–78. Tap a photo to zoom in.

Now1974–78

Wide (about 6 km across)

Close (about 1.5 km across)

Now (shot September–October 2009)Shot 1974–78

Source: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) GSI Tiles（全国最新写真（シームレス）／国土画像情報（第一期：1974〜1978年撮影））

Open in GSI Maps (now)Open in GSI Maps (1974–78)

Living here

No railway station in town; the Town Office is the gateway.

about 8,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the town. The town's official access guide places it 13 km (about 22 minutes by car) from central Asahikawa City. Scheduled buses from Asahikawa Station, including the Higashikawa line of Asahikawa Denkikido, serve the town. The area is 247.30 km² (as of December 31, 2020), and the town belongs to Kamikawa District.

People living here: 8,314people
Area: 247.3km²
Households: 3,405households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 3 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —1 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities.

Higashikawa Town in Japan43.699°N 142.510°E

Territory of Higashikawa Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari.Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号平27情使、第585号)

North to south

15.0km

Asahikawa City, Biei Town, Kamikawa Town, Higashikagura Town

Travel times per leg are not published by the municipality, so they are not shown.

Higashikawa Town isthis kind of town.

01Hagoromo Falls is, the town's official site says, a fall with Hokkaido's greatest drop; the Hokkaido Board of Education list names it a Hokkaido-designated Place of Scenic Beauty in Higashikawa, with a drop of 270 m per the town
02The town says it is the only town in Hokkaido with no public water supply, using groundwater for all domestic water; Mount Asahidake (2,291 m), Hokkaido's highest, lies in its area
03The town declared itself a "Town of Photography" on June 1, 1985; there is no railway station, and the Town Office is the gateway, 13 km from central Asahikawa

See the town as it is now.

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Higashikawa Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes