Article

01468 ／しもかわちょう

Hokkaido 上川郡

Shimokawa Town

Winter lights began as a youth trial.

Ice candles, Shimokawa winter

Photo by Wannikw7 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Forest

Annual planting of 50 ha and a 60-year rotationhave made a cycle of town forest.

The town says its town-forest management rests on a cycle of 50 ha planted each year and a 60-year rotation, 3,000 ha in all. It began full-scale management in 1953 by buying 1,221 ha of national forest; the town's statistics booklet gives 4,447 ha of town forest as of April 2022.

50 ha planted each year
60-year rotation
Town forest 4,447 ha (April 2022)

02 ／ Station Site

Two railcars stand on a squarewhere a Nayoro Main Line station was.

The site of Shimokawa Station on the Nayoro Main Line is now the bus terminal. The tourism association says two railcars are on display on the square there. The town chronology records the line's closure in 1989 and the completion of the bus terminal joint centre in 1991.

Two railcars (tourism association)
Line closed 1989 (town chronology)
Joint centre completed 1991

03 ／ Hot Spring

A spring was welling upin one spot where the snow had melted.

Gomi Onsen's website says that in the harsh winter of 1905 the man managing the imperial estate went hunting and found a single spot in the snowfield where the snow had melted and a spring welled up. He rented the land from the Imperial Estates Bureau, opened an inn and named it Gomi Onsen.

1905 (Meiji 38)
One thawed spot in the snowfield
Land rented from the Imperial Estates Bureau

Shimokawa 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 August–September 2016)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; 28 minutes by bus from Nayoro.

about 3,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the town. A Meishi Bus Shimokawa Line bus runs from Nayoro Station to Shimokawa Bus Terminal in 28 minutes (timetable revised April 2024). The town says the Shinkin-mae stop is the convenient one for the Town Office.

People living here: 3,126people
Area: 644.54km²
Households: 1,473households
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.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Shimokawa Town in Japan44.303°N 142.635°E

to NayoroLocal bus28min

Travel times follow 名士バス株式会社（名寄市）の公式『時刻表・運賃表』（https://www.meishibus.com/table）の『下川線（名寄･･･下川バスターミナル）』の時刻表『下川線（市役所経由）バス時刻表名寄←→下川バスターミナル令和6年4月1日改正』（PDF https://www.meishibus.com/library/5e7ac2ed2558f9f26b1dc42e/660a68789ddf16231a2c2956.pdf）。名寄駅前発→下川バスターミナル着が、5:52→6:20・6:57→7:25・7:32→8:00・7:57→8:25・9:37→10:05・10:17→10:45・13:02→13:30・14:22→14:50・15:02→15:30・15:52→16:20・16:57→17:25・17:52→18:20・19:22→19:50・20:22→20:50の14本すべて28分。興部線（名寄・下川・興部。令和6年4月1日改正の時刻表）の名寄駅前→下川バスターミナルも同じ時刻で28分 (checked 2026-10-29). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 5 municipalities.

Territory of Shimokawa 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

38.3km

Nayoro City, Oumu Town, Nishiokoppe Village, Shibetsu City, Takinoue Town

Shimokawa Town isthis kind of town.

01Ice candles are lights that a local youth town-revitalisation group began trialling in 1986; townspeople now light them at home and in shops, and the tourism association calls Shimokawa the birthplace
02The town forest is managed on 50 ha of planting a year and a 60-year rotation, and Sakuragaoka Park holds a hand-built stone Great Wall, built between 1986 and 2000, which the tourism association gives as 2 km long
03The site of a Nayoro Main Line station is now a bus terminal with two railcars on its square, and Gomi Onsen began with a spring found in the snowfield in 1905

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Shimokawa Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

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