Article

01454 ／とうまちょう

Hokkaido 上川郡

Toma Town

A cave that looked like two dragons.

Toma Limestone Cave, Ezo Banryu

Photo by Masal64 (CC0)

01 ／ Macaroni stalactites

The town says the cave has "macaronistalactites," very rare academically.

The town says you can see "macaroni stalactites," very rare in academic terms, inside the cave. Cultural Heritage Online notes pipe-shaped stalactite tubes of even thickness hanging from the ceiling as rare even worldwide, in a cave with few impurities and very good crystallinity.

Macaroni stalactites
Pipe-shaped tubes of even thickness
Few impurities, high crystallinity

02 ／ Former town hall

A reinforced-concrete town hall of 1926is now the local history museum.

According to the town, the building was constructed in 1926 as the town hall, in reinforced concrete that was very rare at the time. Preserved as it was after the move to a new hall, it opened as a local history museum in 1982. A settler-soldier house has been relocated to the second floor.

1926: built as the town hall
Reinforced concrete
1982: became a museum

03 ／ Limestone cave

Groundwater dissolved the limestoneof a Jurassic layer into a cave.

According to Cultural Heritage Online, the cave was found by chance in 1957 during limestone quarrying and is 135 m long and 7 to 8 m high. A layer formed in the Jurassic, 150 million years ago, became a limestone cave through dissolution by groundwater. Inside, it has three levels and five rooms.

135 m long
1957: found while quarrying
Three levels, five rooms

Toma 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 June 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

From Asahikawa Station to Toma Station,the town says 30 minutes by train.

about 6,000 people
Rural district town

The access section of the town's "About Toma" page says it takes 30 minutes by train from JR Asahikawa Station to Toma Station (no date shown; checked in October 2026). The active stations in the town are Toma and Ikaushi on the Sekihoku Main Line.

People living here: 6,319people
Area: 204.9km²
Households: 2,773households
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 4 municipalities.

Toma Town in Japan43.828°N 142.508°E

Territory of Toma 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

17.6km

Asahikawa City, Aibetsu Town, Kamikawa Town, Pippu Town

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

Toma Town isthis kind of town.

01Toma Limestone Cave, a 135 m cave found in 1957 during limestone quarrying and designated a Hokkaido Natural Monument in 1961, is also called Ezo Banryu Cave because its inside looked like two dragons
02A reinforced-concrete building put up in 1926 as the town hall has been the Kokokara Local History Museum since 1982, with a settler-soldier house moved to its second floor
03At the Banryu Festival on the first Sunday of August each year, there are Banryu taiko drumming and a dragon dance modeled on the Nagasaki Kunchi; the town's stations are Toma and Ikaushi on the Sekihoku Main Line

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Toma Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes