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 Ishikari,

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 ...

. As of July 31, 2023 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 15,347, 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 36.3 persons per km². The total area is 422.86 km².

Geography

Located in the north part of Ishikari Subprefecture of Hokkaido, the shape of the municipality is elongated from north to south. It overlaps with the catchment area of the Tōbetsu river approximately. Tōbetsu means "river from marsh" in

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 ...

, and in Japanese, it is called "Tōbetsu Gawa (river)". Low mountains occupy the northern area of the municipality. The southern area is a part of the Ishikari Plains.

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

, the largest city of Hokkaido, lies southwest of Tōbetsu. The large river of Ishikari divided Tōbetsu from Sapporo until 1934 when the Sasshō Line railroad connected the two cities. Several more bridges built in the latter half of the 20th century have reduced the traffic obstacle. Tōbetsu has produced rice and, recently, flowers. Residential buildings are increasing modestly because of their better access to Sapporo.

History

*1902 - Tōbetsu village was founded. *1947 - Tōbetsu village became Tōbetsu town.

Sister cities

Leksand Leksand () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Leksand Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 5,934 inhabitants in 2010. Leksand is situated on the southern branch of lake Siljan (lake), Siljan, where it flows into river Öst ...

Dalarna Dalarna (; ), also referred to by the English exonyms Dalecarlia and the Dales, is a (historical province) in central Sweden. Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland. It is also bordered by Nor ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

(since 1987) * Osaki, Miyagi (since 2000) * Uwajima, Ehime (since 2009)

Education

University

* Health Sciences University of Hokkaido

High schools

* Hokkaido Tobetsu High School

Transportation

* Sasshō Line: Ishikari-Futomi - Ishikari-Tōbetsu - Hokkaidō-Iryōdaigaku

Mascot

Tōbetsu's mascot is who is a 5-year-old Eurasian tree sparrow who lives in the forests of Tōbetsu. Not only is he is a Jidaigeki actor, but he also has samurai ancestors that belong to the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date fam ...

. Despite his age, he will arm himself with a golden katana if anyone tries to mess with an innocent. He wears a kimono made from an annual baby's breath with an obe made from an Asian white birch and a green and gold kabuto with the kanji "tō" (当) painted on it as good luck. He also wears white war paint around his eyes to strike fear amongst his enemies. As a result, he is mistaken for a ural owl. His birthday is October 2. He is designed by Yasuka Arai.

Notable people from Tōbetsu

* Tatsunori Arai,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player

References

External links

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