290px, Toyotomi onsen 290px, Sarobetsu Marsh 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

Sōya Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. Its population is estimated to be 77,500 as of July 31, 2004 and its area is . It is the northernmost subprefecture of Japan. Wakkanai Airport is located in Wakkanai. Rishiri Airport is locat ...

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 3,551 in 1,932 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 5.8 people per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Toyotomi is located at the northwest side of Sōya Subprefecture, and faces the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

to the west. It consists of the Sarobetsu Plain, which is part of

Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park is a national park on the Rishiri Island, Rebun Island, and a coastal area from Wakkanai to Horonobe at the north-western tip of Hokkaidō, Japan. Areas of the park cover . The park is noted for its alpine flora and views of volcanic moun ...

, in the west, and gently sloping hilly and mountainous area with pastures and forests in the east. Toyotomi Onsen, the northernmost hot spring resort in Japan, is located in the mountainous area to the southeast. *

River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s: Sarobetsu River, Shimo-Ebekorobetsu River * Lakes: Kabutonuma Marsh, Penkenuma Marsh, Naganuma Marshes * Mountains: Toryū Pass

Neighbouring municipalities

** Horonobe ** Sarufutsu **

Wakkanai file:Wakkanai city office.JPG, 290px, Wakkanai City Hall file:Wakkanai shore.jpg, 290px, Shore of Wakkanai is a Cities of Japan, city located in Sōya Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Wakkanai is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture. Situated approx ...

Climate

Demographics

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

History

The area of Toyotomi was part of

Teshio Province was a short-lived province located in Hokkaido, Japan, corresponding to all of modern-day Rumoi Subprefecture and the northern half of Kamikawa Subprefecture. History After 1869, the northern Japanese island was known as Hokkaido, and regional ...

(1868-1882), a short-lived

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

in the north of

. The district was historically under the control 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 ...

, but in the

Bakumatsu period were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunat ...

, control was briefly transferred to Shonai Domain. * 1869 - Japanese settlement offices open. * 1878 - The village of Saru is founded in the location of present-day Toyotomi. * 1909 - A government registration office is opened in the village of Horonobe, which included present-day Toyotomi. * 1919 - The villages of Horonobe and Saru are incorporated into one village. * 1926 - Natural gas and hot springs are discovered during mining at the present-day location of Toyotomi Onsen. * 1936 November - The Nissō Coal Mine of Teshio is opened by

Nippon Soda Co., Ltd. is a Japanese chemical company whose products include chemicals, agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. Nippon Soda is a member of the Mizuho keiretsu. Subsidiaries In 2012, Nippon Soda acquired 100% of MSSA Chemical Company (formerly known as M ...

* 1940 September - The village of Horonobe is separated into the villages of Horonobe and Toyotomi * 1947 -

Mitsubishi Materials , or MMC, is a Japanese company. It is a manufacturer of cement products, copper and aluminum products, cemented carbide tools, and electronic materials. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group. The company is listed on the Tokyo St ...

begins coal-mining operations in the Toyotomi-Horonobe area. * 1948 October - The town is moved from the administration of

Rumoi Subprefecture is a Subprefectures of Hokkaido, subprefecture of Hokkaido, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. As of 2011, it had a population of 52,627 and an area of . The population density of the subprefecture, 13 people per km2, is very low compared to the rest o ...

to that of

. * 1950 November - The areas of Tenkō and Akebono become part of

. * 1959 January - Toyotomi is officially designated a township under Japanese municipal laws. * 1972 July - Nissō Coal Mine closes. * 1974 September - The Sarobetsu Plain is designated a national park. * 1991 July - The town becomes the first in the country to proclaim itself a "Bicycle for Health Town". * 2005 November - The Sarobetsu Plain is designated a Ramsar site.

Origin of the town's name

It is derived from the name "Ebekorobetsu" of the region now referred to as the Shimo-Ebekorobetsu River Valley. In Ainu, the name Ebekorobetsu (''ipe-kor-pet'') means "a river containing fish (food)". Because the area is rich in natural resources such as

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

, and

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s, it was named Toyotomi, which is an alternate reading of the Chinese characters for the word ''houfu'' (豊富), meaning "rich" or "abundant"

Government

Toyotomi 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 ten members. Toyotomi, as part of Soya sub-prefecture, contributes one member to the Hokkaido Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the

Hokkaido 12th district Hokkaidō 12th District (北海道第12区) is an electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the national Diet of Japan. The district was established in 1994 and had major boundary changes in 2002 and 2017. Area 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 local economy of Toyotomi is centered on

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

, forestry,

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

and tourism.

Farming

Toyotomi has a prosperous dairy industry. The area is home to over 16,000 dairy cows, meaning that the bovine population in Toyotomi is four times greater than that of the town's human population. Each year 72,000 tons of dairy milk are produced in the town, making it the largest dairy producer in Hokkaidō. Sold under the brand name of ''Hokkaido Sarobetsu Milk'' (formerly ''Hokkaido Toyotomi Milk''), the milk produced in Toyotomi is widely consumed throughout Hokkaido. The town actively recruits and trains young people interested in becoming farmers. Businesses that produce and sell high quality food products have been growing in Toyotomi, such as Misawa Farm, which produces LTLT pasteurized-milk, Kōbō Retie, which creates authentic dairy products such as cheese and gelato, and Sarobetsu Farm, which makes ham and sausages.

Forestry

With forestland covering 52% of the town's total area, forestry is a key industry in Toyotomi. Through the implementation of the Toyotomi Forest Maintenance Plan, the town systematically preserves and maintains its forests.

Tourism

Facing a decline in population following the closing of its coal mines, the town decided to change its focus to the tourism industry. Over 30,000 people visit Toyotomi for tourism each year. Toyotomi's main tourist attraction is Japan's northernmost

onsen In Japan, are hot springs and the bathing facilities and Ryokan (inn), traditional inns around them. There are approximately 25,000 hot spring sources throughout Japan, and approximately 3,000 ''onsen'' establishments use naturally hot water ...

, Toyotomi Onsen. Because the water from the onsen is considered to help with the treatment of skin disease, many skin disease sufferers seeking to heal their skin as well as tourists visit the onsen each year. The town is home to the Sarobetsu Plain, and opportunities for coming into contact with nature are plentiful. In recent years, with the recognition of the town's vast farmlands as a source of tourism, farm restaurants and the sale of high quality dairy products have been increasing.

Mining

In the past, Toyotomi had a prosperous mining industry, in which coal, petroleum, and natural gas were produced. However, due to the decline in profitability of coal mining, Toyotomi's coal mines have since closed. The amount of petroleum buried in the area is not great enough to justify extraction operations. Natural gas emerges in the area, and in the past it was used to generate electricity which was used in Wakkanai, but due to the aging of the equipment involved and profitability issues, plant operations ceased in 1975. Currently, natural gas is still used to heat the water at Toyotomi Onsen.

Fishing

Wakasakanai Harbor is famous for the ''hokkigai'' which are caught there.

Education

Toyotomi has one public elementary school, one public junior high school and one combined elementary/junior high school operated by the town government. The town has one public high school operated by the Hokkaido Board of Education.

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

Mascot

Toyotomi's mascot is . He is a simple and cute young calf. He was unveiled in 1989.

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toyotomi, Hokkaido Towns in Hokkaido Populated coastal places in Japan