Article

01547 ／こしみずちょう

Hokkaido 斜里郡

Koshimizu Town

A summer-only station among flowers.

Genseikaen Station, summer-only

Photo by MaedaAkihiko (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Controlled burning

Once steam locomotive sparks started grass fires;now the town sets the fires each year.

Until the 1960s, grazing and brush fires from steam locomotive sparks kept the grass down. As the grass grew thick after the locomotives ended, the town began burning in 1993, each year in early May at dawn. It divides 66 ha into four plots and burns one a year.

66 ha divided into four plots
One plot burned each year (a cycle of 4 to 5 years)
Burning began in 1993

02 ／ Railway remains

A locomotive called Ponko ranfour round trips a day to Koshimizu town.

The Kitami Railway was founded in June 1930 as a line from Yamubetsu Station on the Senmo Main Line to the Koshimizu town center. Its locomotive was called Ponko, and it ran four round trips a day between Yamubetsu and the town center until the line closed in August 1939. A monument inscribed "Site of the Private Kitami Railway Branching Point" exists.

Four round trips a day
Founded in June 1930
Closed in August 1939

03 ／ Solar eclipse

On the day of the 1936 total eclipse,a camera was set up in a schoolyard.

The town's history notes say that more than 240 scientists from around the world came to see the total solar eclipse of June 19, 1936. A party led by Dr. Matsukuma of Tohoku Imperial University set up a camera of 5 m focal length in the Koshimizu Elementary School yard and reportedly succeeded in observing it.

June 19, 1936
Over 240 observers (town's notes)
Camera with a 5 m focal length

Koshimizu 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–September 2024)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

A town between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Kitami Mountains.

about 5,000 people
Rural district town

By the town's site, Koshimizu covers 286.89 km², faces the Sea of Okhotsk along its whole north, and slopes gently to the coast from the Kitami Mountains in the south. Its sunshine rate is among the highest in Japan, snowfall in winter is light, and drift ice comes to the sea from February to March. The JR Senmo Main Line has two stations in the town, Hama-Koshimizu and Yamubetsu.

People living here: 4,623people
Area: 286.89km²
Households: 1,966households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 1 clinic

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.

Koshimizu Town in Japan43.857°N 144.462°E

Territory of Koshimizu 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

30.8km

Kiyosato Town, Abashiri City, Teshikaga Town, Ozora Town, Shari Town, Bihoro Town

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

Koshimizu Town isthis kind of town.

01By the town's site, Genseikaen Station is a JR Senmo Main Line station set up only in summer inside the Koshimizu Genseikaen flower garden; JR Hokkaido describes it as a temporary station open only from May 1 to October 31 each year
02The Koshimizu Genseikaen burning is a controlled burn the town has held every early May at dawn since 1993 to restore the vegetation, burning one of four plots in the 66 ha where flowers bloom most densely each year
03The Kitami Railway (1930 to 1939) and the 1936 eclipse observation site are listed in the town board of education's list of historic sites

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Koshimizu Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes