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Asahikawa is the second-largest city in Hokkaido, Japan, on the Ishikari River in the Kamikawa Basin, famous for Asahikawa ramen, its snowy winters and the Asahibashi bridge. Its top sights are Asahiyama Zoo, Ueno Farm, the Asahibashi bridge, the Kamuikotan gorge and Tokiwa Park.
Settled in the Meiji period by tondenhei farmer-soldiers, Asahikawa was set up as a village in 1890 and grew as a military city after the Army's 7th Division was posted here. It became a city on 1 August 1922, and on 25 January 1902 it recorded −41 °C, the lowest temperature in Japan's history. Its name comes from the Ainu Chiu Pet, river of waves, misheard as sun river.
Asahikawa covers 747.66 km² and had about 322,000 people in 2011, with some 130 rivers and streams and over 740 bridges. Its Winter Festival is held each February on the banks of the Ishikari River, and in 2019 UNESCO named it a City of Design.
Ueno Farm is a flower garden in Asahikawa, Japan, created by garden designer Sayuki Ueno and seen as a mecca of Japanese gardening. Begun as an English garden and now styled a Hokkaido garden for the local climate, it is a highlight of the Hokkaido Garden Path, open from late April to mid-October.
Tokiwa Park is the first park opened in Asahikawa, Japan, laid out from 1910 on land between the town and the Army's 7th Division and opened in 1916. One of Japan's 100 best city parks and one of the Eight Views of Asahikawa, it has a pond and hosted the first Asahikawa Winter Festival in 1960.
Foreign Tree Species Sample Forest is a 15-hectare national forest by the Biei River in Asahikawa, Japan, planted from 1898 to test foreign trees for Hokkaido's reforestation. Its walking paths wind through pines and larches, and it is famed as the setting of Ayako Miura's novel Hyōten.
Kamuikotan is a scenic gorge of the Ishikari River in Asahikawa, Japan, whose Ainu name means place where the gods live. Its rapids were the hardest stretch for Ainu boats, it has pit dwelling sites back to the Jōmon period, and the old station on the former rail line now serves cyclists.
Asahikawa Museum of Sculpture is the city sculpture museum of Asahikawa, Japan, opened in 1994 in the Former Asahikawa Kaikosha, a 7th Division officers' club and an Important Cultural Property. It shows the work of sculptor Nakahara Teijirō and of winners of the prize named for him.
Ayako Miura Memorial Literature Center opened on 13 June 1998 in Asahikawa, Japan, inside the forest where her best-known novel Hyōten is set. Its polygonal building shows the author's handwritten manuscripts, research notes and her simple study, and an annex opened in 2018 through crowdfunding.
Yasushi Inoue Memorial Hall is a museum in Asahikawa, Japan, honouring the novelist Yasushi Inoue, who was born in the city in 1907, and opened on 24 July 1993 beside the sculpture museum. It shows his books and manuscripts, and since 2012 the study and parlour from his Tokyo home.
Asahikawa City Museum is the history museum in the Taisetsu Crystal Hall in Asahikawa, Japan, which moved here in 1993 from the Former Asahikawa Kaikosha. Its two floors of displays recreate Ainu and tondenhei farmer-soldier homes and trace the history, culture and nature of the region.
Asahibashi is the arch bridge over the Ishikari River in Asahikawa, Japan, completed in 1932 on the road to the old 7th Division headquarters. A Hokkaido Heritage site and one of the Eight Views of Asahikawa, it is the only one of Hokkaido's three famous bridges to keep its original form.
Kamikawa Shrine is the guardian shrine of Asahikawa, Japan, first set up in 1893 to protect the settlement of the Kamikawa region and moved several times before settling at its present site. It enshrines Amaterasu, Ōkuninushi and Sukunabikona, and holds its annual festival each July.
Hokkaido Gokoku Shrine is the shrine to the war dead of Hokkaido and Karafuto in Asahikawa, Japan, begun with a memorial rite led by the 7th Division commander in 1902. Renamed from a shōkonsha in 1939, it enshrines 63,141 people who died from the Boshin War to the Pacific War.
Asahiyama Zoo is the city zoo of Asahikawa, Japan, opened on 1 July 1967 as the northernmost zoo in the country. Its behavioural exhibits, such as the penguin pool with an underwater tunnel and the winter penguin walk, made it famous, and in summer 2004 it drew more visitors than Ueno Zoo.
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