Abira 安平町

• Abira (安平): The town takes its name from the Abira River (安平川).⁸ The Ainu name was ar-pira-pet (アㇽピラペッ), often given as "river with a cliff on one side." This reading comes from the Ainu place-name scholar Yamada Hidezō (山田秀三).¹⁹ A Hokkaido Government list of Ainu place names gives two versions. Nagata Hōsei (永田方正) recorded ar-pira-pet, "river of cliffs all along." Yamada preferred ar-pira, "cliff on one side." Yamada also noted that the river runs through low hills and plains and does not feel like a cliff river, so the name may refer to small banks cut by the current. The list rates the explanation "C" on its A–C confidence scale.²⁰
• Choosing the name in 2004: For the merger, the council ruled out both old town names and asked residents for ideas. In a final vote held 1–15 December 2004, "Abira-chō" won 438 votes. "Higashi-Chitose-chō" (東ちとせ町) had 338 and "Shin-Abira-chō" (新安平町) had 170.⁸
• District names: Hayakita (早来) is traced to sak-ru ("summer road") or sak-rupespe ("summer pass"), names for a gentle route toward Atsuma along a stream now called the Tokisaramappu River. The kanji were first read Sakkuru and later Hayakita. A minority theory derives it from hai-ki-to ("marsh with nettles and reeds"), but place-name scholars have rejected it.²¹ Toasa (遠浅) may come from to-asam ("far end of the lake"), according to Yamada.²² The Abira Station area was once called Shiabira (支安平), from si-apira, "the main Abira River."²³ Oiwake (追分) is Japanese for "fork in the road." The area was known as Abira in Uenae Village until 1892, when it was renamed because the Muroran and Yūbari railway lines split here.²⁴

• Ainu era: The sources consulted record the Ainu presence mainly through place names (see Name origin and Ainu heritage). No archaeological sites or Edo-period trading posts inside the town were documented in them.
• First settlers (1889–1900): In 1889 settlers came from Bibi (美々) in Uenae Village and began clearing Fumonke (フモンケ), today's Hayakita-Tomioka. A monument marks the spot as the founding place of Hayakita.⁷⁸ On 1 August 1892 the Hokkaido Colliery and Railway Company (北海道炭礦鉄道) opened its Muroran and Yūbari lines, and Oiwake Station opened with a locomotive depot.⁷²⁵ Hayakita Station followed in 1894, and settlers from Tottori Prefecture and elsewhere came to farm the valley.⁹²¹ Abira Village (安平村) was founded in 1900 with its office at Hayakita.⁷
• Railway boom (1900–1920s): A coke plant said to be the largest in East Asia started operating in 1900.¹² Abira and Toasa stations opened in 1902.²³²² In the same year the forest in today's Shika Park was designated Japan's first health-protection forest (保健保安林).¹² Oiwake grew on railway work, inns and shops, and its population reached about 10,000 by the end of the Meiji era (1912). From the Taishō era (1912–1926) the decline of forestry and the closure of the large coke plant cut the population.²⁴
• Dairy and cheese (1920s–1930s): Settlers from Takikawa started large-scale dairy farming at Toasa in the early Showa era.⁹ In May 1933 Japan's first cheese factory opened at Toasa.⁷ A wooden silo built there in the early Showa era was later called the oldest in Japan. It was delisted as a cultural property and taken down in 2015.¹²⁸
• The split (1952–1957): Oiwake and Hayakita had argued since 1900 over where the village office should be. When the village assembly voted down a plan for Oiwake High School on 30 January 1952, Oiwake residents pushed for a split. Oiwake Village was created on 1 August 1952.²⁴⁹ It became a town in 1953. The rest of Abira Village was renamed Hayakita in 1954 and became a town in 1957.⁸
• The end of steam (1975–1976): More than 60 locomotives were once based at Oiwake, one of the five largest depots in Hokkaido. It saw the last steam-hauled passenger train (14 December 1975, locomotive C57 135) and the last steam freight train (24 December 1975, D51 241). The last steam shunting at Oiwake took place on 2 March 1976.¹² On 13 April 1976 a fire destroyed the roundhouse. Four D51s and a Class 9600 kept there for preservation burned with it. One of them was D51 241, the engine of the last steam freight train.²⁶
• Horses and new roads (1960s–1999): Yoshida Zenya (吉田善哉) founded Shadai Farm Hayakita in 1967. It became Northern Farm in 1994.¹⁵ National Route 234 between Hayakita and Numanohata was completed in June 1966. The JNR Sekishō Line opened through Oiwake in October 1981. The Dōtō Expressway linked Chitose-Eniwa Junction and Yūbari in October 1999.⁷
• Merger (2004–2006): The two towns set up a formal merger council in April 2004 and merged as Abira on 27 March 2006.⁹
• 2018 earthquake: The Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake struck at 3:07 a.m. on 6 September 2018. It reached intensity 7, the maximum, elsewhere and "6 upper" (6強) in Abira.⁷ The Hokkaido Government counts 93 homes destroyed, 366 half-destroyed and 2,481 partly damaged in Abira. Seven people were seriously injured and ten slightly injured. No deaths were recorded in the town.²⁷ Temporary housing opened on 1 November 2018 and the last shelters closed on 30 November. The town's Abira Channel TV service carried updates on water cuts, closed roads and debris collection, and a recovery volunteer center opened on 6 November 2018.⁷ The last evacuation order in the town was lifted on 13 February. The town profile gives the year as 2021, while the Hokkaido Government's damage report gives 2020.⁷²⁷
• Recovery (2019–today): The Michi-no-Eki Abira D51 Station opened on 19 April 2019.²⁸ In November 2019 a disused shop in front of JR Oiwake Station reopened as ENTRANCE, a community space funded partly by crowdfunding. In April 2021 the "Poppo Land" playground opened next to the roadside station.⁷ In December 2021 Abira was among the first five municipalities in Japan approved to carry out the Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI, 子どもにやさしいまちづくり事業).⁷ Construction of a combined compulsory-education school began on 1 July 2021 as a recovery project.⁷ It opened as Hayakita Gakuen (早来学園), and Abira, Toasa and Hayakita elementary schools and Hayakita Junior High closed in 2023.⁸ Children's opinions were taken into account in planning the school.³ On 3 April 2023 Abira became the first municipality in Hokkaido to make an "Organic Village Declaration."³ The town marked the 20th anniversary of the merger on 27 March 2026.²⁹

• Location: northeastern Iburi, from 141°44′ to 141°57′ E and 42°41′ to 42°55′ N. The town is about 50 km in a straight line from Sapporo and about 14 km from New Chitose Airport.¹⁰ Four districts run from south to north: Toasa, Hayakita, Abira and Oiwake.⁷
• Landforms: Low hills 100–150 m high, an offshoot of the Maoi Hills (馬追丘陵), run north to south on the west side. The east side rises into hills that lead to the Yūbari Mountains. The soil is volcanic ash from Mount Tarumae.¹⁰ Peaks include Shiabiranupuri (シアビラヌプリ, 364 m), Kumanoatama-yama (熊ノ頭山, 155 m), Anpei-zan (安平山, 166 m) and Koroi-yama (コロイ山, 163 m).⁸
• Land use (1 January 2021): forest 93.33 km² (39.4%), upland fields 58.02 km² (24.5%), rice paddies 12.94 km² (5.5%), wasteland 15.69 km², ranches 7.42 km² and residential land 6.48 km².¹⁰
• Rivers: The Abira River is a class-2 river 49.8 km long, with a basin of 539.2 km². It rises on Shiabiranupuri on the Yuni border, loops west to Oiwake, turns south through Hayakita and the Yūfutsu plain, and reaches the Pacific near Yūfutsu in Tomakomai.¹⁹ The Toasa River forms the border with Tomakomai.⁸ Mizuho Dam (瑞穂ダム) stores irrigation water on a tributary.¹⁹ It has been closed to visitors since the 2018 earthquake.³⁰
• Climate: The town gives an annual average temperature of 6.5°C, which it calls warm for Hokkaido, and annual precipitation of about 1,000 mm, concentrated in July–September. It says winter snow is light for Hokkaido.¹⁰ The south, nearer the Pacific, has a milder maritime climate. The inland north has warmer summers and colder winters.⁸ The Japan Meteorological Agency's Abira rain gauge (1991–2020 normals) records 1,121.0 mm of precipitation a year, heaviest in August (174.3 mm). It records 405 cm of total snowfall a year, including 112 cm in January, and an average maximum snow depth of 69 cm. That station does not measure temperature.³¹
• Protected land: Shika Park's forest was designated in 1902 as Japan's first health-protection forest (保健保安林). The town calls it the oldest such designation in Japan. Some trees there are more than 150 years old.³²¹² No national or quasi-national park land in the town was found in the sources consulted.

• Farming: Farming is the town's core industry. Large-scale field crops, rice, dairy, beef, and light horses (racehorses) for breeding are combined with high-value crops such as Asahi Melon and asparagus. Wheat, sugar beet and soybeans are the main field crops.⁷ The 2020 Census of Agriculture and Forestry counted 204 farm households with 5,185 ha under cultivation (1,071 ha of paddy and 4,110 ha of upland, including 1,064 ha of pasture). It also counted 1,881 dairy cattle, 4,510 beef cattle and about 456,400 laying hens. Pig numbers are withheld for confidentiality.¹⁰ One Abira dairy farm ranked first in Hokkaido in dairy-cow performance testing. Beef farmers specialize in raising calves for fattening elsewhere (素牛).⁷
• Thoroughbreds: Northern Farm, part of the Shadai Group, is based at 275 Hayakita-Genbu. It had 1,146 employees in April 2025.¹⁵ Its horses include Deep Impact (born here on 25 March 2002)¹⁶ and the fillies' Triple Crown winners Apapane (2010), Gentildonna (2012) and Almond Eye (2018).¹⁵ The Shadai Stallion Station is at the same address.³³ The town uses furusato nozei donations to support Hokkaido Keiba, the prefecture's local racing.³⁴
• Industry and energy: Four industrial parks and sites, including the Hayakita Rinkū (airport-side) Industrial Park, are home to large manufacturers.⁷ Their shipments were worth ¥21.1 billion in 2020, from 17 plants with 852 workers.¹⁰ Firms include Iris Ohyama's Hokkaido factory, Ōyama Shunsetsu Saveur's Hayakita plant (formerly Snow Brand Foods) and a Hokkaido Chikusan Kōsha meat plant.⁸ The SoftBank Tomatoh Abira Solar Park has a peak output of about 111 MW. A second plant, Solar Park 2, began operating in 2020 with about 64.6 MW of panels and about 19 MW of lithium-ion battery storage.³⁵ The town stresses that New Chitose Airport and Tomakomai Port are both within about 30 minutes by car.⁷
• Jobs: In 2015, 24.9% of the 4,006 employed residents worked in farming and forestry, 16.6% in the secondary sector (mainly construction and manufacturing), and 58.5% in the tertiary (service) sector.¹⁰
• Tourism: Hokkaido counted 1,008,200 tourist visits to Abira in fiscal 2025, 3.8% more than the 971,400 of fiscal 2024. About 98% were day trips; 65,200 visits came from outside Hokkaido and 19,200 included an overnight stay. May, the canola season, was the busiest month with 144,100.³⁶
• Furusato nozei: Abira received ¥486.35 million from 33,448 hometown-tax donations in fiscal 2024.³⁴ Asahi Melon and local cheese are among the most popular gifts.³
• Population and revival: The population fell from 8,148 in 2015 to 7,340 in 2020 and, in the preliminary count, 6,955 in 2025.¹² In 2022, 37.8% of registered residents were 65 or older and 10.0% were under 15 (calculated from the town's age table).¹⁰ The resident register has been almost flat in recent years: 7,311 on 1 January 2024, 7,214 in 2025 and 7,234 in 2026.³⁷³⁸⁵ In the Hokkaido Government's reference series, the number of foreign residents rose from 200 at the end of January 2026 to 239 at the end of August.⁴ Revival efforts include the "Fanfare Abira" entrepreneur college (since fiscal 2021), a challenge shop and a trial satellite office.⁷ The town takes part in the Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI). In 2023 it issued its Organic Village Declaration, and it runs a branding project called ABILIKE.³²⁹

• Museums: The Abira Railway Museum (安平町鉄道資料館) is inside D51 Station and free. It is open indoors from 1 April to 31 October, and in winter the locomotive can be seen through the glass.¹³ The Hayakita Local History Museum (早来郷土資料館, 156-1 Hayakita-Ōmachi) displays farm tools from the settler era. It is free, open on weekdays, and visits must be booked with the board of education (tel. 0145-29-7036).⁵⁸ The Hashimoto Seiko Memorial Hall inside Seiko Dome displays the speed skater's photos, trophies and plaques.⁵⁹
• Monuments and cultural properties: Town-designated sites include the D51 320 locomotive, the number plate of D51 241, and rails from the 1890s. Also listed are a monument to Ten Point ("名馬テンポイントここに眠る"), the Birthplace of Cheese monument, the ruins of the Hokkaido Colliery and Railway coke plant, the site of the Oiwake locomotive depot, and a monument where terakoya-style schooling began in 1893.⁸
• Shrines and temples: none were described in the sources consulted.
• Community TV: Since 2015 (Heisei 27) the town has run "Abira Channel" (あびらチャンネル). This local digital TV station uses a spare broadcast channel and is produced by town staff.⁷

The Ainu past of the Abira area survives mainly in place names. Abira, Hayakita, Toasa and Shiabira all come from Ainu words for the rivers, cliffs and paths that shaped travel through the hills (see Name origin).^20212223 The sources consulted document no Ainu cultural facility, excavated village site or living Ainu tradition specific to the town. The nearest major center for Ainu culture is Upopoy (National Ainu Museum and Park) in Shiraoi.

• Anping District, Tainan, Taiwan (台南市安平区): friendship exchange agreement (友好交流協定), signed on 27 April 2023. The district's name is written with the same characters as Abira's (安平).⁷⁹
• Domestic: no sister-city agreement was found in the sources consulted.

The Tokyo Abira-kai (東京あびら会), founded in November 2018, is a hometown association for people from Abira and companies connected to the town. It had more than 64 members in 2022.⁷

• Hashimoto Seiko (橋本聖子, b. 1964): born on 5 October 1964 and raised on her family's racehorse farm in Hayakita. Her grandparents were settlers: her father's side came from Sanbongi in Miyagi Prefecture and her mother's from Totsukawa in Nara Prefecture. Born just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, she was named after the Olympic flame (seika). She competed in seven Olympics in speed skating and track cycling, a record for a Japanese woman, and won bronze in the 1,500 m speed skating at Albertville in 1992. She became a member of the House of Councillors, served as the second president of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee (2021–2022), and became president of the Japanese Olympic Committee on 26 June 2025.⁷⁸ Seiko Dome in the town is named after her.⁵⁹
• Nakao Noriyuki (中尾則幸): former member of the House of Councillors, from Abira.⁸
• Ashikaga Kensuke (足利健亮): geographer and professor at Kyoto University, from Abira.⁸