Asahi Town

Snowy Mt. Asahi over cherries and tulips.

Funagawa "Spring Quartet"

Photo by くろふね (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Jade

On a beach where jade washes up,magatama were polished 1,500 years ago.

宮崎・境海岸.jpg — Photo by Ubuhouse (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Miyazaki-Sakai Coast (宮崎・境海岸) is a gravel beach about 4 km long, where raw jade stones wash up from the sea. In 1967, on the Hamayama (浜山) terrace overlooking the sea, the remains of a Kofun-period magatama workshop were found for the first time in Japan. The excavation team named the beach the Hisui Coast (ヒスイ海岸). The hard stones were split after grooves were cut around them.

About 4 km east to west
1967: Japan's first such workshop
Prefectural Historic Site

02 ／ Beach ball

A farming town that bent over all dayinvented a sport for looking up.

When rice was still planted and harvested by hand, the town promoted volleyball to prevent stooped backs. In 1979 the town's sports instructors set the rules for beach ball, a game anyone could enjoy. It is played on a badminton court, over a 180 cm net just high enough to hide your face. In October 2026 the town hosts the 43rd national tournament.

Rules set in 1979
180 cm net
43rd national tournament

03 ／ Jōmon

When dug up in 1973, it wasthe largest pit dwelling in Japan.

The Fudōdō Site (不動堂遺跡) is a Middle Jōmon village from about 5,500 to 5,000 years ago, on an old alluvial fan of the Kurobe River. Dwelling No. 2 measures 17 m by 8 m, with about 115 m² of floor. When excavated in 1973 it was the largest pit dwelling in Japan, and it became a National Historic Site the next year. Pottery akin to Niigata's flame-style ware shows links to the north.

17 m by 8 m
About 115 m²
National Historic Site, 1974

Living here

Children's medical costs fully covered through high-school age.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

The town has two stations on the Ainokaze Toyama Railway, Tomari and Etchū-Miyazaki. The town says Tomari is about 50 minutes from Toyama Station, and about 15 minutes by the reservation-only Asahimachi Express (あさひまちエクスプレス) from Kurobe-Unazukionsen Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. Children's medical costs are fully covered through high-school age, and a birth gift starts at 50,000 yen for a first child.

People living here: 11,081people
Area: 226.3km²
Households: 4,353households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 3 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —4 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 across 2 prefectures.

Asahi Town in Japan36.946°N 137.560°E

Territory of Asahi Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

25.4km

Toyama Prefecture: 入善町, 黒部市
Niigata Prefecture: 糸魚川市
Nagano Prefecture: 白馬村

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

Asahi Town isthis kind of town.

01Along the Funagawa (舟川) riverbank, cherry trees, tulips from the last remaining bulb farm and rape blossoms line up against snowy Mt. Asahi in the "Spring Quartet" (春の四重奏)
02At Hamayama, overlooking the Miyazaki-Sakai Coast where jade washes up, the first Kofun-period magatama workshop in Japan was found
03Beach ball, born of efforts to prevent stooped backs from farm work, got its rules in the town in 1979

See the town as it is now.

Facebooktown.asahi ↗

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Asahi Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗