Asahikawa

Asahikawa (旭川市) is a city in Japan located in the Kamikawa Subprefecture which is in the Hokkaido Prefecture. Serving as the capital and largest city in the Hokkaido Prefecture, a 2004 census reported approximately 361,488 people.

Asahikawa has been named “The City of Sculptures” based on its great amount of Japanese cultural sculptures and statues. These special works of art have been distributed throughout the entire city in effort to help those that reside there relax. Many tourists visit Asahikawa just to see these spiritual pieces.

Asahikawa winters are said to be most extreme in the entire country. These winters are very long, lasting from November to March, and often can be as cold as -20C degrees. There have been years where reported temperatures did not rise about -5C degrees.

History

The history of Asahikawa is quite long as it started out as a small village in 1890 and ended as a large capital city in 1922. Here is the basic outline of events taking place in history; all leading to the national empire it has become today.

Asahikawa Village is founded in 1890. It begins great economic growth now evolving into Asahikawa Town, in 1900. In 1914, Asahikawa Town converts to Asahikawa-ku upon great switch in rulers in 1914. Then in 1922, Asahikawa-ku is established as Asahikawa City when a government is established.

Surrounding cities in the Hokkaido Prefecture merge with Asahikawa City beginning in 1955 and ending in 1971. A great population and thriving economy leads to the establishment of Asahikawa City becoming the capital of the Hokkaido Prefecture.

Points of Interest

• Asahiyama Zoo is the largest zoo in Japan. Both tourists and Japan residents often travel great distances to visit it. As of last year, the annual report of visitors is about 1.7million. This number is certainly large considering the city population of only about 350,000 people.
• Asahikawa Sculpture Museum is styled after an earlier ruler of the city Asahikawa and features many beautiful sculptures done by world renowned artists from all over the world.

External Links

• Asahikawa Official Website (English / Japanese)