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

Oshima Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. As of 2004, it had a population of 456,621 and an area of 3,715.38 km2. Hakodate Airport is located in the City of Hakodate is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port lo ...

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 has a total area of .

Geography

Shikabe is located in northeast of

Oshima Peninsula The Oshima Peninsula (渡島半島 ''Oshima-hantō'') is the southernmost part of Hokkaidō, the northernmost of the Japanese islands. Where the peninsula starts is open to interpretation. A more generous interpretation is to draw a line southea ...

. There is

Hokkaido Koma-ga-take , also , , or just is a andesitic stratovolcano on the border between Mori, Shikabe, and Nanae, all within the Oshima Subprefecture of Hokkaidō, Japan. Occurrence of volcanic activity started some 30,000 years ago. Following roughly 5,000 ...

on northwest of the town. The name of "Shikabe" is derived from Ainu word "sikerpe", meaning "Place with

Phellodendron amurense ''Phellodendron amurense'' is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae, commonly called the Amur cork tree. It is a major source of ''huáng bò'' ( or wiktionary:黄, 黄wiktionary:檗, 檗), one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Ch ...

Neighboring municipalities

Hakodate is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of January 31, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 239,813 with 138,807 househol ...

Mori Mori is a Japanese and Italian surname. It is also the name of two clans in Japan, and one clan in India. Italian surname * Camilo Mori, Chilean painter * Cesare Mori, Italian "Iron Prefect" * Claudia Mori, Italian actress, singer, televisio ...

* Nanae

Demographics

On August 1, 2019, 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 3,920 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 37 persons per km².

History

*1666: Ito Genguro, Shogunate of Tsugaru, discovers a deer healing itself in a hot spring in the area now called Shikabe. The legend of Shikabe Onsen begins. *1906: Shikabe became a Second Class village. *1945:

Hakodate Main Line The is a railway line connecting the cities of Hakodate, Hokkaido, Hakodate and Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Asahikawa via Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan. It is one of the trunk lines that is operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). The Sawa ...

Sawara Branch Line and

Shikabe Station is a railway station in Shikabe, Hokkaidō, Shikabe, Kayabe District, Hokkaidō, Kayabe District, Hokkaidō, Japan. Lines *Hokkaido Railway Company **Hakodate Main Line (Sawara branch line) Station N68 Adjacent stations

Railway ...

were opened. *1983: Shikabe village became Shikabe town. *1990: The founding of Shikabe Park.

Education

* Shikabe Elementary School * Shikabe Junior High School

Economy

The economy of Shikabe is dominated by fishing, with 3 large and small fishing ports in the town. The sea animals fished in Shikabe are

octopus An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...

pleuronectidae Pleuronectidae, also known as righteye flounders, are a family of flounders. They are called "righteye flounders" because most species lie on the sea bottom on their left sides, with both eyes on their right sides. The Paralichthyidae are the o ...

(righteyed flounder),

okhotsk atka mackerel The Okhotsk Atka mackerel (''Pleurogrammus azonus''), also known as the Arabesque greenling, is a mackerel-like species in the family Hexagrammidae. It is commonly known as ''hokke'' (法華) in Japan and ''imyeonsu'' in Korean. The primary popul ...

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

, as well as

sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class (biology), class Holothuroidea ( ). They are benthic marine animals found on the sea floor worldwide, and the number of known holothuroid species worldwide is about 1,786, with the greatest number be ...

. During the wintertime, Shikabe's famous pollack roe is produced. Besides fishing, Shikabe has many

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 ...

, as well as a Michi no Eki where visitors can relax with a warm foot bath. In the general area, there are various hotels and

ryokan A is a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically features ''tatami''-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear nemaki and talk with the owner. Ryokan have existed since the eighth century A.D. du ...

for visitors to stay at.

Fisheries

* Honbetsu Fishery * Shikabe Fishery

Post Offices

* Shikabe Post Office

Delivery Companies

Japan Post was a Japanese statutory corporation that existed from 2003 to 2007, offering postal and package delivery services, Retail banking, banking services, and life insurance. It is the nation's largest employer, with over 400,000 employees, and ru ...

* Segawa *

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...

Transportation

* Hakodate Bus: Shikabe Branch Office *

Railway ...

* Japan National Route 278

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shikabe, Hokkaido Towns in Hokkaido Shikabe, Hokkaido