Article

01520 ／ほろのべちょう

Hokkaido 天塩郡

Horonobe Town

A storeroom serves as the waiting room.

Nukanan Station, storeroom

Photo by Mister0124 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Station building

A freight-train guard's vanstill serves as the station building.

Shimonuma Station's building is a former guard's van that once ran at the end of freight trains. The town says the station used to be a staffed passing point; now no houses stand around it, and two springs are nearby. It marked its 100th anniversary on 25 September 2026.

100th anniversary, 25 Sep 2026
Guard's van as station building
Two springs nearby

02 ／ Town flower

A primrose found only on northernserpentine ground is the town flower.

Teshio-kozakura is a perennial of the primrose family; the town describes it as a rare plant seen only on serpentine ground in northern Hokkaido. The flowers are white with a yellowish centre and bloom from late May to June. It became the town flower in March 1973.

Primrose family
Blooms late May to June
Town flower, March 1973

03 ／ Latitude

On the 45th parallel north,near the latitude of Bordeaux and Milan.

The town says Horonobe lies on the 45th parallel north, at about the same latitude as Bordeaux in France and Milan in Italy. The Town Office is at 45°01'04" N, 141°50'57" E. The town measures 40.8 km east to west and 20.8 km north to south, with an area of 574.10 km².

Town Office 45°01'04" N
40.8 km E-W, 20.8 km N-S
Area 574.10 km²

Horonobe 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 July–August 2025)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

Horonobe Station on the Soya Line is the town's gateway.

about 2,000 people
Rural district town

Horonobe Station is in the middle of town, and the town says the limited express Soya and Sarobetsu stop there. Dairy farming is the main industry; the town says about 9,000 cows are kept, more than three times the population.

People living here: 2,371people
Area: 574.1km²
Households: 1,225households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 4 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 6 municipalities.

Horonobe Town in Japan45.018°N 141.850°E

Territory of Horonobe 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

24.7km

Teshio Town, Toyotomi Town, Sarufutsu Village, Hamatonbetsu Town, Nakagawa Town, Nakatonbetsu Town

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

Horonobe Town isthis kind of town.

01Nukanan Station on the JR Soya Main Line is unstaffed and uses a storeroom beside its plank platform as the waiting room. It was set up in the national railway era as a provisional stop for local residents
02Shimonuma Station in the town uses a freight-train guard's van as its building and marked its 100th anniversary in September 2026. The town flower, Teshio-kozakura, is seen only on serpentine ground
03The town lies on the 45th parallel north, and its office is at 45°01'04" N. Dairy farming is the main industry, with about 9,000 cows kept, according to the town

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Horonobe Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes