Nakasatsunai

Nakasatsunai Village is located in the south-west area of the Tokachi Plain just a 10 minute drive from Tokachi Obihiro Airport. It is a beautiful village which is split by the Satsunai river that flows from the foothills of the Hidaka Mountains through the center of the village. Nakasatsunai Village is just a stone's throw away if you follow the level road, entranced by the magnificent agricultural landscape.
*It is the largest village in Hokkaido by population as of October 2023.

With the Hidaka Mountains at its side, which is said to be Hokkaido's backbone, the airplane arcs towards the sea and slowly lowers its altitude as it approaches land. Looking down from the sky over the Tokachi Plain which gradually appears, you are struck by a spectacular view of vast fields formed by straight lines in grid like patterns, aptly described as a 'patchwork'. Which part of this seemingly endless land is Nakasatsunai? The joy of traveling to this beautiful village had already begun from the time I leaned over to look down.
The Tokachi Plain is a vast basin surrounded by the Hidaka Mountain range, the Daisetsu and Akan cordilleras, and the Shiranuka Hills. Nakasatsunai Village, with a population of 3,850, is located in the south-west area of the Tokachi Plain and became an independent village in 1947 when it was separated from Taisho Village. Nakasatsunai Village was named after its location which spans a distance of the Satsunai River on both sides equally; the river itself originating near the center of the Hidaka Mountains.
The village joined the Most Beautiful Villages in Japan Association in 2016. Their registered local resources are rural landscape protected by windbreak security forests, and the art and culture that adorn its northern lands.
Indeed, if we face the question “What is beauty?”, the scope of the word expands infinitely. Standing on a path through the oak forests of Rokkatei Art Village, which still preserves the landscape of the pioneer days, there is a sense of majestic beauty, and memories of the wilderness seem to well up from the land. And if you head up into the mountains towards the Pyoutan Waterfall, you will see families enjoying walks and camping, as if blending in with the overwhelming beauty of nature. In Nakasatsunai Village, you can immerse yourself in both the beauty of the village created by human hands and the beauty of nature as it really is, while also feeling the deep desire to create a 'beautiful village'.

Interviewed in October, 2023