280px, Wassamu Higashiyama Ski Resort 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 2,804 in 1459 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 12 people per km². The total area of the town is . Wassamu is famous for its pumpkin and cabbage crops.

Geography

Wassamu is spreads out at the foot of Shiokari Pass, which is the source of the Matarukushkenebuchi River, a tributary of the

Teshio River The is a river in Hokkaido, Japan. At , it is the second-longest river on the island (after the Ishikari) and the fourth-longest in the country (after the Shinano, Tone, and Ishikari). A Class A river, the Teshio is the northernmost major rive ...

. It is at the southern end of the Nayoro Basin and has many hilly areas.

Neighbouring municipalities

** Asahikawa ** Shibetsu ** Kenbuchi ** Takasu ** Pipppu ** Horokanai

Climate

Wassamu 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 Wassamu is 5.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1336 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 19.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around -9.0 °C.Wassamu climate: Average Temperature, weather by month
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Demographics

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

History

The area of Wassamu was inhabited by

Ainu people The Ainu are an Indigenous peoples, indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Ku ...

and the name comes from the Ainu word "wat-sam", which means "next to the elm tree". Wassamu was incorporated as a village 1915 after separating from Kunbuchi. It was raised to town status in 1952.

Government

Wassamu 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. Wassamu, 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 Wassamu is overwhelmingly agricultural. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Wassamu was located north of the northern limit of rice cultivation, so

pyrethrum ''Pyrethrum'' was a genus of several Old World plants now classified in either '' Chrysanthemum'' or '' Tanacetum'' which are cultivated as ornamentals for their showy flower heads. Pyrethrum continues to be used as a common name for plants form ...

was the main crop. After the war, when pyrethrum production moved to China, the fields in the mountains fell into disuse, but as the northern limit of rice cultivation moved northward due to improved varieties, rice suitable for cold climates began to be planted, and the chrysanthemum fields in the flatlands were transformed into farmland. Today, in addition to the largest pumpkin cultivation area in Japan, the village is known for producing "winter cabbage," which is preserved under the snow and shipped in winter.

Education

Wassamu has one public elementary school and one public junior high school operated by the town government, and one private 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 The is a national expressway in Hokkaido, Japan. It is owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company. Naming The road is named the Dō-Ō Expressway ( "Central Hokkaidō Expressway") in Japanese; however, it's also known as the Hokkaid ...

Notable people from Wassamu

Osamu Watanabe was a Japanese freestyle wrestler. In 1962, he debuted internationally and retired shortly after the 1964 Olympics. During his brief career Watanabe won all his few hundred bouts. He is considered one of the best wrestlers in Olympic history. In ...

, former freestyle wrestler and Olympic gold medalist

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wassamu, Hokkaido Towns in Hokkaido Wassamu, Hokkaido