Pippu 比布町

• Town's explanation: the name comes from the Ainu words pipu (ピプ) or pipi (ピピ). It is said to mean "a place with many marshes" (沼の多いところ) or "a place with many stones" (石の多いところ)⁷.
• Chiri Mashiho's theory: the Ainu linguist Chiri Mashiho (知里真志保) traced it to pipi-pet (ピピペッ), "the river where stones lie rolling about" (石のごろごろしている・川). In his view it wore down to pippet, pipu or pipi⁶.
• Other Ainu names in town: Ranru (蘭留) comes from ran-ru, "the path going down", after the descent from the Shiokari Pass²¹. Mt. Tosshō (突哨山) comes from tusso, "cliff", which in turn comes from tuk-so, "a cliff that juts out"¹⁸. Pirika in "Yumepirka" is the Ainu word for "beautiful" or "good"¹.
• Shiokari Pass (塩狩峠): the pass on the border with Wassamu takes one character each from the old Teshio (天塩) and Ishikari (石狩) provinces²².

• Ainu era: the Pippu plain is in the upper Ishikari basin, the land of the Kamikawa Ainu. When the first settlers arrived in 1895, they asked the Ainu of Chikabumi (近文, now in Asahikawa) to guide them⁴. The sources consulted document no archaeological sites in the town.
• Edo period: the area was nominally part of the Matsumae domain (松前藩)⁶.
• 1894–1895, settlement: in October 1894, Tani Sadanori (谷定徳) of Shimoda Village (下田村) in Shiga Prefecture visited Asahikawa. He learned that colonial land lots were being laid out on the Pippu plain. In 1895 he led 20 households from Shimoda to settle there⁸. At the same time, groups came from Kagawa (the Sanuki group, 讃岐団体) and Ehime (the Iyo group, 伊予団体). The town traces its origin to these three groups⁴.
• 1898: the government railway's Teshio Line reached Pippu. Pippu Station (比布駅) and Ranru Station (蘭留駅) opened on 25 November²³²¹.
• 1906: Pippu split from Takasu Village as the second-class village of Pippu. 1921: it became a first-class village⁶. The first strawberries were planted the same year².
• 1955: the census population peaked at 8,516⁴.
• 1962: Pippu became a town in January⁸. The town charter was adopted in June⁷.
• 1969: the daffodil and rowan were chosen as town symbols in October⁷. 1979: the Pippu Town Local History Museum (比布町郷土資料館) opened, according to Japanese Wikipedia⁶. This is unverified: the same entry pairs 1979 with Shōwa 48, which is 1973.
• 1980: the Pip Elekiban commercial was filmed at Pippu Station, making the town's name known across Japan¹⁹.
• 1994–1998: the town marked 100 years since its founding in 1994. Exchanges with Shiga, Kagawa and Ehime followed. In 1998 Pippu signed a friendship agreement with Kōsei Town (甲西町), which had absorbed Shimoda Village⁸. Yuyu Pippu opened the same year⁴.
• 1997–2009: Yumepirka was crossed in 1997 at the experiment station in Pippu¹². It was adopted in 2008 and went on sale in 2009¹.
• 2000–2004: the Dō-Ō Expressway reached the town, and Pippu Daisetsu Parking Area opened on 4 October 2000²⁴. In 2000, Asahikawa and Pippu jointly bought about 151 ha of Mt. Tosshō to protect the forest from a golf-course plan¹⁸. Pippu Junction opened on 27 March 2004²⁵. In December 2004 Pippu reaffirmed its friendship with the newly merged Kōnan City⁸.
• 2016: the town rebuilt Pippu Station as a wooden building with a café and souvenir shop²³. A new ski-area centre house, "Skip" (スキップ), opened in FY2016⁴.
• 2021: strawberry centenary events included a commemorative strawberry cider². Minami-Pippu and Kita-Pippu stations closed on 13 March⁶. From April the town took over the upkeep of Ranru Station²¹.
• 2022: the elementary and junior high schools merged into Pippu Chūō School (比布中央学校), a combined compulsory-education school⁶.
• 2023–2024: the ski area's No. 3 single lift was retired because of its age¹⁵. JR ran trial stops of the limited express Sōya at Pippu from 21 August to 3 September 2023¹⁹. FY2024 marked 130 years since settlement⁴.
• 2026: a new depopulation plan (FY2026–2030) aims to hold the registered population at 3,000 until 2035⁴. The Green Park Pippu park-golf course is due to close for good on 3 November 2026; the campground stays open²⁶. In September, Green Park closed for a time after a bear appeared on the grounds, then reopened on 15 September²⁶.

• Setting: Pippu lies near the middle of the Kamikawa region, at the northern end of the Kamikawa Basin. The Daisetsuzan range rises to the southeast⁴. About half the town is forest: 4,429 ha, or 51% of its area. Of that, 2,836 ha is municipal or private forest and the rest is national forest⁴.
• Rivers: the Ishikari River (石狩川), which rises in the Daisetsuzan mountains, forms the southeastern boundary with Toma. The fertile land along it suits high-quality rice⁴. Smaller rivers include the Pippu River (比布川) and the Ranru River (蘭留川)⁴.
• Hills and passes: Mt. Tosshō (突哨山, 239 m) is an isolated hill (残丘) shared with Asahikawa¹⁸. The forests to the northeast centre on Mt. Hokurei (北嶺山, 671 m)⁴⁶. Shiokari Pass (塩狩峠, 263 m), on the Wassamu border, carries National Route 40, the JR Sōya Main Line and the Dō-Ō Expressway. The pass is the setting of Miura Ayako's (三浦綾子) novel Shiokari Pass²².
• Climate: Pippu has an inland basin climate with wide swings in temperature. Days above 30°C run from mid-July to early August. Between January and February, lows can fall below −25°C⁷. Lasting snow cover usually arrives between late November and early December, and the flatlands can hold more than 1 m of snow⁴. The local weather station's 1991–2020 normals give a mean annual temperature of 6.4°C and precipitation of 1,081.7 mm. Records since 1977 run from 36.9°C (August) to −31.4°C (January)⁶.

• Rice-based farming: farming is the town's core industry, and Pippu is part of one of Hokkaido's main rice belts⁴. Gross farm output in FY2023 was ¥2.99 billion. Of that, rice made up ¥1.90 billion, other crops ¥0.96 billion and livestock ¥0.13 billion⁴. The town is also pushing greenhouse vegetables and its strawberry brand⁴.
• Fewer farms: the town had 260 farm households in 2020, down from 642 in 1990. The farm population fell from 2,446 to 727 over the same years⁴.
• Strawberries: about 13 households grow strawberries, and five run pick-your-own farms¹⁶. The varieties grown include Kentarō (けんたろう) and Yukirara (ゆきララ)¹³.
• Manufacturing and retail: manufacturing is small, mainly wood products and earth and stone. The 2023 industrial survey counted 10 plants with 79 workers and shipments of ¥1.22 billion. Retail has shrunk: 29 shops sold ¥2.58 billion in 2021, 65.1% below the 1999 peak, as shoppers go to Asahikawa⁴.
• Tourism: the "Ryōka Village" area (良佳村エリア) groups the ski area, Yuyu Pippu and Green Park Pippu. The town is also developing the area around the rebuilt station as a tourism zone⁴. The ski area draws about 50,000 skiers a season¹⁶.
• Hometown tax (furusato nōzei): the town lists its gifts on eight portals, including Furusato Choice, Rakuten and Satofull²⁷. On Furusato Choice, rice is the largest category (91 listings), and Ezo deer venison has 26 listings²⁸.
• Population and ageing: 41.5% of residents were 65 or older in 2020, and 353 were under 15⁴. Farming's share of workers fell from 77.1% in 1960 to 55.4% in 1975; by 2015 secondary and tertiary industries employed 70.9%⁴. The national population institute (IPSS) projects 1,835 residents by 2045. Subsidies for private apartment building and for buying vacant lots and houses brought net in-migration in 2016–2018, and the town saw net in-migration again in 2022, 2023 and 2024⁴.

• Museums and heritage: the Pippu Town Local History Museum (郷土資料館) opened in 1979, according to Japanese Wikipedia (unverified)⁶. It has no resident staff. Visits must be booked with the board of education by the previous weekday, and the museum is normally closed to visitors from November to April³¹. The former Suzuki Residence (旧鈴木邸) is a historic building designated a town cultural property. The town plans repairs to both⁴⁶.
• Pippu Station: the 2016 wooden station was modelled on the old building and doubles as a community space¹⁹. The old station signboards were kept²³.
• Links with the settlers' home regions: exchanges continue with Kōnan City in Shiga, where the first settlers came from, and with a hometown society (ふるさと会)⁴.

Little Ainu heritage is documented inside Pippu itself. The sources consulted list no Ainu cultural facility or excavated site in the town. The Ainu presence shows mainly in place names: Pippu, Ranru and Tosshō⁷²¹¹⁸. It also shows in the settlement story: in 1895 the pioneer groups were guided onto the plain by Ainu from Chikabumi⁴. Chikabumi is now part of Asahikawa; see that entry for Kamikawa Ainu history and culture.

• Kōnan City (湖南市), Shiga Prefecture: a domestic friendship partner. The tie goes back to the 1895 settlers from Shimoda Village. A friendship agreement with Kōsei Town followed in 1998, and it was reaffirmed with Kōnan City, formed by a merger, in December 2004⁸. The town lists the partnership in its current development plan⁴.
• No international sister cities were found.

• Sokabe Masahiro (曽我部正博): biophysicist, professor emeritus at Nagoya University and former president of the Biophysical Society of Japan; from Pippu⁶.
• Yoshizawa Yasuyuki (吉澤靖之): physician and former president of Tokyo Medical and Dental University; from Pippu⁶.