At this town’s station, two of Hokkaido’s great railway trunk lines part — one inland, one along the coast. So in the Showa era this town was called a “railway town” and prospered. Travelers changing trains bought crab rice at this station. And now a Shinkansen, reaching out beneath the sea, plans once more a station in this town. Without knowing its role on the map — a junction where two trunk lines part — the numbers of this town cannot be read. Oshamambe-cho’s numbers are the record of a town inscribed with a railway junction where two trunk lines part.
A town at the base of Hokkaido’s Oshima Peninsula, facing Uchiura Bay. At this town’s station, two of Hokkaido’s great railway trunk lines part — one toward the inland cities, one toward the coastal industrial belt. In the Showa era this town prospered as a “railway town,” and travelers changing trains bought crab rice at the station. And now a Shinkansen, reaching out into Hokkaido, plans once more a station in this town. The population has fallen by more than three-tenths over twenty years, from 8,032 in 2000 to 5,109 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign “the crab town,” but the causal thread: how the history of being a junction where two trunk lines part is translated into the present population and land prices.
01 · See the present Oshamambe-cho in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about five thousand one hundred (5,109 in 2020). From 8,032 in 2000 it fell by more than three-tenths over twenty years, and the share aged 65 and over rose from 27.9% in 2000 to 40.9% in 2020. A town that prospered as a railway junction has lost population as that role changed.
The Official Land Price of residential areas is about 5,700 yen per m² — the lowest among the eight towns of this batch. Commercial areas are in the fourteen-thousand-yen range. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.22 in fiscal 2023. The elementary schools were greatly consolidated, from seven in 2000 to one in 2023. Why a town that holds the distinctive role of a railway junction came to these numbers cannot be read without tracing back the history of being a junction where two trunk lines part.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Official Land Price / Prefectural Land Price Survey (MLIT) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC)
02 · The base of the Oshima Peninsula, the parting of two trunk lines, the crab rice of the limited express — the history behind the numbers
What anchors Oshamambe is its position at the base of the Oshima Peninsula, its role there as a junction where two great railway trunk lines part, and the crab rice that travelers changing trains bought. The starting layer is position. Facing Uchiura Bay at the base of the Oshima Peninsula, this town lay at a key point of traffic running from the south of Hokkaido toward both the inland and the coast. In the age of railways, at this town’s station, two of Hokkaido’s great trunk lines parted — one reaching toward the inland cities, one toward the coastal industrial belt.
That two trunk lines part means that many travelers change trains here. In the Showa era this town was called a “railway town” and prospered. People who worked on the railway lived here, and the station bustled with travelers waiting for trains. Aimed at those travelers, a rice dish using crab taken in Uchiura Bay was sold at the station and aboard the limited expresses, and it became the town’s specialty. Being a railway junction brought people and bustle to this town. And now a Shinkansen, reaching out into Hokkaido beneath the sea, plans once more a station in this town. The role of a junction where two trunk lines part has given the town bustle and a specialty — Oshamambe’s present lies midway through the change of that role.
Source: Oshamambe Station (flourished as a “railway town” in the early Showa era; the junction where the Muroran Main Line branches from the Hakodate Main Line; the limited express “Hokuto” stops here and connects to the Shinkansen at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto — overview) / Oshamambe Town (at the base of the Oshima Peninsula, facing Uchiura Bay; a producer of hair crab, whose “kanimeshi” crab rice was served aboard limited expresses; Oshamambe Onsen; a Shinkansen station planned with the extension of the Hokkaido Shinkansen — overview)
03 · Even in a railway town, when the children fall the schools come down to one
Even in this town, which prospered as a “railway town,” the flow of a falling number of children appears sharply in the count of living infrastructure. Oshamambe-cho’s elementary schools were consolidated from seven in 2000 to one in 2023. The number of pupils fell from 406 in 2000 to 163 in 2023. The memory of a town that bustled with railways, and the number of children living in the town now, move as separate indicators.
The childcare capacity was 60 in both 2024 and 2025, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both years. The household-with-children share was low at 11.1% in 2020. The crude birth rate was about 4.5 in 2020. Even a town that holds the distinctive role of a railway junction where two trunk lines part, and that plans a future Shinkansen station, lies within a flow common to the small towns of Hokkaido — the very number of children thinning. The bustle of the railway, and a town that goes on raising children there, do not necessarily overlap.
Source: School Basic Survey (MEXT; e-Stat System of Social and Demographic Statistics) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency) / Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC)
04 · A town where two trunk lines part, and that waits once more for a Shinkansen
In Oshamambe, the railway has inscribed its history. One is its character as a junction, at the base of the Oshima Peninsula, where two of Hokkaido’s great railway trunk lines part. The other is the geography by which, owing to that role, it prospered as a “railway town,” and now once more plans a station for a Shinkansen reaching out beneath the sea. The role by which two trunk lines part gave this town bustle and a specialty, and now seeks to draw in a new role — the Shinkansen.
Yet the role of a railway junction also means it is a place that people and goods “pass through.” Travelers changing trains wait for a train in this town, but the place they head for is another city. The town that prospered as a junction where two trunk lines part has lost population as that role changed, and now waits for the next role — the Shinkansen.
Source: Oshamambe Station (flourished as a “railway town” in the early Showa era; the junction where the Muroran Main Line branches from the Hakodate Main Line; the limited express “Hokuto” stops here and connects to the Shinkansen at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto — overview) / Oshamambe Town (at the base of the Oshima Peninsula, facing Uchiura Bay; a producer of hair crab, whose “kanimeshi” crab rice was served aboard limited expresses; Oshamambe Onsen; a Shinkansen station planned with the extension of the Hokkaido Shinkansen — overview)
05 · Atlas note — a town whose rise and fall was held, from the start, by its role as a place to change trains
Lay out Oshamambe’s numbers — a population decline of more than three-tenths, an aging rate of 40.9%, a land price of 5,700 yen, fiscal capacity of 0.22, consolidation from seven schools to one — and the indicators of a small Oshima town come together. But in the habit, as a certified public accountant, of following the rise and fall of a single enterprise, what I (Atlas) want to read first here is the history that this town is a “junction where two of Hokkaido’s great railway trunk lines part.” The position at the base of the Oshima Peninsula placed in this town the parting of a trunk line heading inland and a trunk line heading toward the coast. That two trunk lines part means that many travelers change trains here, and that gave rise to the bustle of the Showa-era “railway town” and to the specialty of the crab rice sold at the station. The rise and fall of a town is often tied to the change of the role it bears within a railway network.
The other thing I want to consider is the figure of a land price of 5,700 yen — the lowest in this batch. In my reading, this lowness can be read as the consequence of the role as a railway junction changing and the bustle thinning. But at the same time, a Shinkansen reaching out beneath the sea plans once more a station in this town. If the role of a junction is handed on from the age of railways to the age of the Shinkansen, the meaning of this town may be rewritten once more. Whether the town known for the limited express’s crab rice can hand on its role from the parting of two trunk lines to the Shinkansen station, no one yet can tell. At the same station where the travelers of the Showa era stepped off to change trains, the coming of the Shinkansen is now awaited — this town’s rise and fall has been held, from the start, by the station’s role as a place to change trains.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Oshamambe Station (flourished as a “railway town” in the early Showa era; the junction where the Muroran Main Line branches from the Hakodate Main Line; the limited express “Hokuto” stops here and connects to the Shinkansen at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto — overview) / Oshamambe Town (at the base of the Oshima Peninsula, facing Uchiura Bay; a producer of hair crab, whose “kanimeshi” crab rice was served aboard limited expresses; Oshamambe Onsen; a Shinkansen station planned with the extension of the Hokkaido Shinkansen — 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_24f