() is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in

Hidaka Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. The west side of the Hidaka mountains occupies most of the area. Hidaka is sparsely populated and has many of Hokkaido's natural resources. The governmental office is located in Urakawa. ...

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The name of the town means 'between the rocky cliffs' in the

Ainu language Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu (), is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isola ...

. As of October 2020, the town has an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 4,776 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 6.4 persons per km². The total area is 743.16 km².

Ainu culture

The Nibutani Dam was constructed in district on the Saru River, though there was a strong objection due to a sacred meaning of the place for indigenous

Ainu people The Ainu are an Indigenous peoples, indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Ku ...

. Nibutani is the site of the Ainu Cultural center. Nibutani's best known son is perhaps Shigeru Kayano, a 20th-century advocate for the Ainu people and Ainu language and culture. The cultural landscape along the Saru, consisting of Ainu traditions and modern settlement within Biratori, has been designated an Important Cultural Landscape.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Biratori has declined over the past half-century.

Economy

Biratori is primarily an agricultural town, growing many different kinds of fruits and vegetables for people and livestock. Tomatoes are one of the top products of the town. It was also known for its lumber industry.

Tourist attractions

Some noteworthy attractions in Biratori: * Biratori Onsen Yukara * Family Land * Nibutani and the

Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum opened in the Nibutani area of Biratori, Hokkaidō, Japan in 1992. The collection includes 919 items relating to the daily life of the local Ainu that have been jointly designated an Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property; a further 202 ...

* Suzuran Field in Memu, where

Lily of the Valley Lily of the valley (''Convallaria majalis'' ), sometimes written lily-of-the-valley, is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native throughout the cool temperate No ...

(also known as Maybells) bloom from May to June. The field covers 15 hectares and is the largest in Japan. It opened to the public in 1963, but had to be closed in 1975 due to damage from overpicking and trampling. It was able to open again ten years later.. * The UFO park (Set up as a UFO observation platform, it was later closed in the 1970s-1980s.)

Culture

Mascot

Biratori's mascot is . His name is a pun on "be lucky". He is a tomato with a horn and hooves of a bull, a pig's nose and a lily of a valley on his back. His birthday is 12 September.

Notable people

* Shigeru Kayano (1926–2006), leading figure in the Ainu ethnic movement. * Ryo Fukui (1948–2016), jazz pianist.

References

External links

Official Website

Biratori Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum Website

Nibutani Takumi no Michi website
Towns in Hokkaido Biratori, Hokkaido {{Hokkaido-geo-stub