The Western apple now on tables all over Japan began from this town. At the start of the Meiji era, a single foreigner who came from across the sea planted Western crops at this place next to Hakodate and brought in Western-style farming. The apple, too, took root here then. One of the starting points of Japan’s modern agriculture lies in this suburban town. Without knowing how Western farming began at this place, the numbers by which this town has kept its population cannot be read. Nanae-cho’s numbers record a town inscribed with the history of the Hakodate suburb where the Western apple first took root in Japan.
A town in the southern Oshima Peninsula of Hokkaido, immediately north of Hakodate City — a suburb about sixteen kilometers from its center. At the start of the Meiji era an engineer who came from across the sea planted Western crops here, making it one of the starting points of Japan’s Western-style and modern agriculture, and it is held to be the place where the Western apple was first cultivated in Japan. To the north it holds a quasi-national park with an active volcano and a large lake. Supported by its position within the commuting range of Hakodate, the population was kept almost without falling — from 28,354 in 2000 to 27,686 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "the birthplace of the apple," but the causal thread: how the history of the birth of Western farming and a Hakodate suburb is translated into today’s population and land price.
01 · See the present Nanae-cho in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about twenty-eight thousand (27,686 in 2020). From 28,354 in 2000 it has scarcely fallen over twenty years, keeping its population in a way rare for a regional town in the prefecture. The share aged 65 and over was 35.1% in 2020, but the share of households with children was a comparatively high 20.0% in 2020.
The Official Land Price of residential land is about 35,000 yen per m², and commercial land in the 50,000-yen range — among the high ones for a suburban town. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.45 in fiscal 2023, the highest among the Oshima towns in this batch, with its own tax revenue covering nearly half of expenditure. There were 41 physicians in 2022, and many clinics. Why these "kept / well-resourced" numbers come together in this town cannot be read without tracing the history of the birth of Western farming and a Hakodate suburb.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Official Land Price / Prefectural Land Price Survey (MLIT) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC)
02 · North of Hakodate, the birthplace of Western farming, Lake Onuma and Mt. Komagatake — the history behind the numbers
What sets Nanae down is its position immediately north of Hakodate, the history of Japan’s Western-style farming beginning here, and the nature of an active volcano and a large lake. The starting layer is Western farming. At the start of the Meiji era, a single engineer who came from across the sea planted Western crops at this place. Many Western crops, the apple and the grape among them, were introduced to Japan here. One of the starting points of Japan’s Western-style and modern agriculture was placed at this land. The Western apple in particular is held to have been first cultivated in Japan at this place. A fertile farming land producing fruit and vegetables was thus formed.
That farming land lay immediately north of Hakodate — a suburb about sixteen kilometers from its center. This position gives the town its second character. While at a distance that allows commuting to Hakodate, orchards and vegetable fields spread out, and to the north lies a quasi-national park holding an active volcano and a large lake. Next to a city, yet holding both farming and nature. The land where Western farming first took root in Japan, gaining the position of a Hakodate suburb, came to hold both farming and daily life — Nanae’s present stands atop those two characters.
Source: Birthplace of the Western apple in Japan (in 1869 the Prussian R. Gaertner cultivated Western crops at Nanae [now Nanae-cho], which became the origin of Western-style and modern agriculture in Japan; held to be the place where the Western apple was first cultivated in Japan — overview) / Nanae Town (immediately north of Hakodate City, about 16 km; holds the Onuma Quasi-National Park [the active volcano Mt. Komagatake and Lake Onuma]; keeps its population as a farming town in the Hakodate suburbs — overview)
03 · In a town that keeps its population, the share of households with children also stays comparatively high
In this town that has kept its population almost without falling, the indicators of daily life also move differently from a town in continued decline. The share of households with children was a comparatively high 20.0% in 2020, standing out among the Oshima towns in this batch. This can be read as the expression of a double pull — a place to live within commuting distance of Hakodate, and farming, fruit and vegetables, within the town — that has kept child-rearing-age households in this town.
The childcare capacity was greatly increased, from 429 in 2024 to 518 in 2025, with a Childcare Waitlist of zero in both years. While many small towns reduce capacity, this town increases it to match demand. This is not a zero arising from a margin in capacity as the number of children thins, but a zero arising from continuing to fit the provision to growing demand. The thickness of medical care, with 41 physicians, also mirrors the resources of a suburban town that keeps its population. Even with the same "zero Childcare Waitlist," whether its background is shrinking demand or provision catching up to demand makes the town’s real shape entirely different. Nanae’s numbers lie on the latter side.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A town where the birth of Western farming became a place to live in the Hakodate suburbs
In Nanae, two histories overlap. One is its starting point: it is one of the starting points of Japan’s Western-style and modern agriculture, and the place where the Western apple was first cultivated in Japan. The other is its character of lying immediately north of Hakodate — a suburb about sixteen kilometers from its center — and holding a quasi-national park with an active volcano and a large lake. An old layer, the birth of Western farming, and the position of a Hakodate suburb, give this town both farming and daily life.
That said, this town’s power to keep its population leans strongly on its position of being adjacent to the large city of Hakodate. Being a suburb within commuting distance of Hakodate generates demand as a place to live, and that demand supports the land price and the share of households with children. The land where Western farming first took root in Japan now holds both farming and daily life, as a place to live for people commuting to Hakodate.
Source: Birthplace of the Western apple in Japan (in 1869 the Prussian R. Gaertner cultivated Western crops at Nanae [now Nanae-cho], which became the origin of Western-style and modern agriculture in Japan; held to be the place where the Western apple was first cultivated in Japan — overview) / Nanae Town (immediately north of Hakodate City, about 16 km; holds the Onuma Quasi-National Park [the active volcano Mt. Komagatake and Lake Onuma]; keeps its population as a farming town in the Hakodate suburbs — overview)
05 · Atlas note — more than the story of the Western apple, the sixteen kilometers to Hakodate sustain it
Lay out Nanae’s numbers and the indicators that stand out among the Oshima towns in this batch as "kept / well-resourced" come together: a population that scarcely falls, an aging rate of 35.1%, a household-with-children share of 20.0%, a land price of 35,000 yen, fiscal capacity of 0.45. But, to put it in the habit by which I (Atlas), as a certified public accountant, separate out the source of revenue, what I want to read first here is that this town is "one of the starting points of Japan’s Western-style and modern agriculture" and "the place where the Western apple was first cultivated in Japan." The Western apple now on tables all over Japan began when, at the start of the Meiji era, an engineer who came from across the sea planted it at this place next to Hakodate. The first step by which a single crop spread across the country is inscribed in this suburban town.
One more thing to weigh is the point that this power to keep its population leans, more than on the history "the birthplace of Western farming" itself, strongly on the suburban position "about sixteen kilometers immediately north of Hakodate." In my view, both the fiscal capacity of 0.45 — the highest own-source tax base in this batch — and the high household-with-children share of 20.0% can be read as the consequence of the pull of a position with a place to live within commuting distance of Hakodate. The pride of being a birthplace, and the power to keep a population, have separate roots. What sustains this town now is not the story that the Western apple first ripened here, but the commutable distance of about sixteen kilometers to Hakodate.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Birthplace of the Western apple in Japan (in 1869 the Prussian R. Gaertner cultivated Western crops at Nanae [now Nanae-cho], which became the origin of Western-style and modern agriculture in Japan; held to be the place where the Western apple was first cultivated in Japan — overview) / Nanae Town (immediately north of Hakodate City, about 16 km; holds the Onuma Quasi-National Park [the active volcano Mt. Komagatake and Lake Onuma]; keeps its population as a farming town in the Hakodate suburbs — overview)
Editor’s note: all figures and sources are drawn from official statistics. The prose follows Atlas’s voice, and AI (atlas-handcrafted-reverse-v1 (wave29-east 2026-06-04)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: w29e_113