Do you want to live in Asahikawa ? Here's our guide!

How about living in Asahikawa ?

If you're reading this article, you may be thinking or planning to move to Asahikawa or maybe Hokkaido.

People move to Asahikawa due to relocation, because they like the cold or the snow, and for many other reasons.

The author moved a lot in his life and will give you various useful informations and advices from the perspective of an immigrant and a local Asahikawa citizen.

■About the housing

If you are looking for a property in Asahikawa, we recommend the housing information website called IRI.

Real estates located in areas other than Asahikawa, only manage the housing and the information about the property the company own.

This is something rare in Japan but in Asahikawa, real estate agents in the city cooperate to create a list of the available properties, making the research process extremely easy for people.

There are only a few areas in Japan where property information is open like this.

If you are looking for a property, first try searching with IRI.

■About the jobs

Apart from relocating due to a job transfer, many people who moved in for the purpose of relocation will be looking for a job in the near future.

The best place to look for a job is Hello Work or looking for informations online.

In Asahikawa, there is a free newspaper called Liner, which features job informations.

The labor shortage is the same in every region, and Asahikawa is no exception. And, as in other areas, jobs in the social and health category like care-giving and nursing are always short on hand

If you are not peculiar about what kind of job you want to do, then yes, there are many jobs.
But if you are a bit peculiar and want to choose between many genres of job, it won’t be easy.

■About the climate

Hokkaido is a land where snow is abundant in winter.

And, even in Hokkaido, Asahikawa is known to be a town where the snowfall is even more abundant. In summer the temperatures often exceeds 30 degrees Celsius, and in winter it often exceeds -20 degrees Celsius.

Unlike some places, the snow is smooth and light, but it is still difficult/a pain to remove snow because of the large amount.

Also, in areas where it snows, kerosene, car tires, wipers, shovels, and other items that are indispensable in winter are required, increasing the cost of life.

Hokkaido, unlike the rest of Japan, is known to not have any rainy season and thus having dry summers. But this changed. Year by year, a rainy season-like period is appearing and people here call that the “Ezo rainy season,” creating not-that-dry summers.

■About the locals

This is our writer’s subjective opinion, but Asahikawa citizens are kinda introverted and tend to avoid big adventures.

For people who want to start a business here, it may be a good environment to do because there are few rivals.

People who come from Osaka and Kansai and often say that "Hokkaido is a place where it is easy to start/do business" this is true in Asahikawa as well.

■Access

Asahikawa Airport has a high departure and arrival rate.

Despite the snow, the arrival and departure rate in winter is 98%.
Only Asahikawa has achieved this number in Hokkaido, and the departure and arrival rate exceeds Chitose Airport’s.

Furthermore, Biei and Furano, representative towns of Hokkaido, are easily accessible from Asahikawa

Asahikawa is located near the center of Hokkaido, it is easier to travel in Hokkaido from it.

Conclusion

Since few years ago, due to the declining population in the countryside, cheap properties and other generous treatments became the norms in small towns.

Moving to a town near Asahikawa and work in Asahikawa, may be the best option for you.

People wanting to raise their children peacefully are moving to Higashikawa and Higashi-kagura while working in Asahikawa.
Other towns like Toma-cho and Takasu-cho have a good access to Asahikawa.

What did you think about the life here? How about moving to a cold countryside-ish Japanese town ?