01648 ／ りくべつちょう
Hokkaido 足寄郡Drive a railcar at a closed station.
Rikubetsu Railway, old station01 ／ Shibare Festival
The Shibare Festival has been held since 1982 over two days, the first Saturday and Sunday of February. Its human cold-endurance test, a night spent in a Balloon Mansion (an ice dome), is called the unshakable main event by the town. The town calls it Japan's coldest festival.
02 ／ Yukuepira Chashi Site
A chashi is a hilltop place ringed with moats. The Yukuepira Chashi Site stands on a hill above the Toshibetsu River and was designated a national historic site on September 8, 1987. Excavations ran from 2002 to 2004; registered data list Ainu-period moats, mounds, ditches, palisade lines and post holes.
03 ／ Ginga no Mori Observatory
The Rikubetsu Space and Earth Science Museum, nicknamed the Ginga no Mori Observatory, has an exhibition room on the first floor and a large telescope dome and rooftop plaza on the second. The town says its 115 cm reflector is among the largest in Japan for a public observatory. In fiscal 1987 the town was selected as a "Star Town."
Now and 1974–78. Tap a photo to zoom in.
Wide (about 6 km across)
Close (about 1.5 km across)
Now (shot June–September 2017)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））
Living here
There is no railway station in the town. In the Hokkaido Kitami Bus Rikubetsu Line timetable (revised October 13, 2026), the fastest daily service from the Kitami stop to Rikubetsu takes 88 minutes. The gateway is the town office.
−8.8% since 2015
3,429 → 2,264
99.23km² of it habitable
2024
2.1 people per household
2020
17.7 per 10,000 people
2023
These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.
ACCESS
Travel times follow 町公式「アクセス」（https://www.rikubetsu.jp/shokai/profile/accessmap/）は『バスで 池田から・・・・１時間50分 北見から・・・・１時間42分』『自家用車で（一般道）帯広から２時間（100km）北見から１時間（63km）…』と書く（起点が町外の目安）。事業者公式の時刻表は、十勝バス・北海道北見バス共同の『バス運行時刻表【北見～陸別～帯広】』（令和8年10月13日改定。https://www.tokachibus.jp/pdf/rosen/jikoku_kitami-20261013.pdf）を読んだ（pdftotext で文字、PDF の画像で印を目視） (checked 2026-10-29). They vary by time of day.
Shape
North to south
32.8km
If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.
From this town's themes
Similar towns
Black mud forms here, over a ton a year.
Yunotaki Falls, manganese mudふるさと銀河線, Mountain climbing, A river runs through
Town flower blooms in Yoshitsune's park.
Yoshitsune's Village Parkふるさと銀河線, Mountain climbing, A river runs through
Library log: No. 1 in loans per resident, five times.
Oketo Town Libraryふるさと銀河線, A river runs through, Mountains
