280px, Pippu ski resort 280px, Pippu Daisetsu Parking Area 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

Kamikawa Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, 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 ...

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 town had 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 3,413 in 1756 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 21 people per km². The total area of the town is . Pippu is notable for its ski slopes in winter and strawberries in summer.

Geography

Pippu is located in the northwest of the Kamikawa Basin, and the

Ishikari River The , at long, is the third longest in Japan and the longest in Hokkaidō. The river drains an area of , making it the second largest in Japan, with a total discharge of around per year. It originates from Mount Ishikari in the Daisetsuzan ...

flows along the southern border of the town. Shiokari Pass is located at the northern end of the town, which forms the border with Wassamu Town.

Neighbouring municipalities

Asahikawa is a Cities of Japan, city in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of the subprefecture, and the second-largest city in Hokkaido, after Sapporo. It has been a Core cities of Japan, core city since April 1, 2000. The city i ...

Shibetsu file:Shibetsu city center area Aerial photograph.2011.jpg, 270px, downtown Shibetsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 16,400 in 706 households, and a populat ...

Tōma , translating simply "interval", is a Japanese martial arts term referring to the space between two opponents in combat; formally, the "engagement distance". The concept of incorporates not just the distance between opponents, but also the tim ...

** Aibetsu

Climate

Pippu has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Köppen ''Dfb'') characterized by cold summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Pippu is 5.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1336 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 19.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around -8.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Pippu is as shown below. The town is in a long period of sustained population loss.

History

The area of Pippu was part of

Matsumae Domain file:Matsumae Nagahiro.jpg, 270px, Matsumae Nagahiro, final daimyo of Matsumae Domain The Matsumae Domain (松前藩), a prominent domain during the Edo period, was situated in Matsumae, Matsumae Island (Ishijima), which is currently known as M ...

in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. In 1895, settlers from

Shiga is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to t ...

Ehime is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Tokushima Prefecture to th ...

and Kagawa settled in the Pippu Plains. In 1906 the second-class village of Pippu was established. It became a first-class village in 1921 and was raised to town status in 1962.

Government

Pippu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

town council of eight members. Pippu, collectively with the other municipalities of Kawakami sub-prefecture, contributes three members to the Hokkaidō Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the

Hokkaidō 6th district is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. It is located in the prefecture ''(-dō)'' of Hokkaidō and consists of Hokkaido's Kamikawa Subprefecture. The CDP lost the ...

of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy

The economy of Pippu is overwhelmingly agricultural. Rice is the main agricultural crop, but there is also a shift to vegetables and fruits. Strawberries in particular are a local specialty.

Education

Pippu has one public combined elementary/junior high school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railways

JR Hokkaido The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to by its official abbreviation: . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a smart c ...

Sōya Main Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) in Hokkaido. The line connects Asahikawa Station in Asahikawa and Wakkanai Station in Wakkanai, and is the northernmost railway line in Japan. The name c ...

: -

Highways

Dō-Ō Expressway * JP Expressway E39

Asahikawa-Monbetsu Expressway * *

Culture

Mascot

Pippu's mascot is aka . She is a strawberry who loves skiing.

References

External links

*
Official Website
Towns in Hokkaido Pippu, Hokkaido {{Hokkaido-geo-stub