Nasu, Tochigi

Geography

Nasu is located in the mountainous far northeast of Tochigi Prefecture. The Naka River runs through the southwestern portion of the town and the Kurokawa River through the northeast.

Surrounding municipalities

Fukushima Prefecture

• Nishigō
• Shirakawa
• Tanagura Tochigi Prefecture
• Nasushiobara
• Ōtawara

Climate

Nasu has a Humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Nasu is 9.5 C. The average annual rainfall is 2014.7 mm with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 21.0 C, and lowest in January, at around -1.7 C.

|Jan record high C = 12.7 |Feb record high C = 16.8 |Mar record high C = 21.1 |Apr record high C = 26.8 |May record high C = 29.6 |Jun record high C = 30.3 |Jul record high C = 33.2 |Aug record high C = 32.2 |Sep record high C = 29.5 |Oct record high C = 24.6 |Nov record high C = 20.0 |Dec record high C = 17.4 |Jan record low C = -11.7 |Feb record low C = -12.1 |Mar record low C = -10.4 |Apr record low C = -6.0 |May record low C = -2.3 |Jun record low C = 3.6 |Jul record low C = 8.7 |Aug record low C = 8.9 |Sep record low C = 3.2 |Oct record low C = -1.2 |Nov record low C = -6.1 |Dec record low C = -10.2 | access-date = 2012-08-10 | access-date = 2012-08-10

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Nasu has declined slowly over the past 70 years, with a small uptick around the year 2000.

| 1920 | 20,064 | 1930 | 22,216 | 1940 | 23,069 | 1950 | 31,241 | 1960 | 30,359 | 1970 | 28,121 | 1980 | 26,824 | 1990 | 26,670 | 2000 | 27,027 | 2010 | 26,754 | 2020 | 23,956

History

Nasu and Iouno villages and Ashino Town were created within Nasu District on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. The three municipalities merged to form Nasu Town on November 3, 1954.

Nasu Imperial Villa was built in 1926.

In March 2017 an avalanche killed 8 people.

Government

Nasu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral town council of 13 members. Nasu, together with the city of Nasushiobara collectively contributes four members to the Tochigi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Tochigi 3rd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy

The economy of Nasu is heavily dependent on tourism from its numerous hot spring and ski resorts.

Education

Nasu has six public primary schools and two public middle schools operated by the town government. The town has one public high school operated by the Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education. There is also one private school including junior and high school.

Transportation

Railway

Highway

• – Nasu Interchange, Nasu Kogen Service Area and Smart Interchange

Local attractions

• Ashio Onsen
• Cannabis Museum
• Mount Jeans Nasu Ski Resort, a ski resort to the far north of Nasu
• Naohi-no-miya (直毘宮), Makoto no Michi's "inner temple" (Okumiya 奥宮)
• Mount Nasu
• Nasu Animal Kingdom
• Nasu Highland
• Nasu History Museum (Designed by Kengo Kuma)
• Nasu Imperial Villa
• Nasu Onsen, the collective name given to the various hot springs in the Nasu area surrounding Mt. Chausu. The eight hot springs in this area with accommodation and bathing facilities are sometimes referred to as Nasu Hachiyu () (Shika no yu (), sandogoya onsen (), ōmaru onsen (), kita onsen (), benten onsen (), takao onsen (), yahata onsen (), shin nasu onsen ())
• Nasu Rindō-ko Lake View, an amusement facility based around the rindō lake, with activities such as a zip-line, boat ride, go-karts, and more.
• Ōkanmichi headquarters, the main facility for a Tenrikyo-derived Japanese new religion
• Sessho-seki
• STONE PLAZA (Designed by Kengo Kuma)

References

References

1. NHK Publishing. (24 May 2016)
2. "Nasu Town official home page".
3. [https://www.citypopulation.de/php/japan-tochigi.php Nasu population statistics]
4. (2018-10-26). "概要・地図".
5. "那須歴史探訪館".
6. [http://www.nasukogen.org/nasuonsen/ Nasu tourism guide]. {{in lang. ja Retrieved 24 February 2017.
7. [http://www.rindo.co.jp/index.html Nasu Rindō-ko Lake View] {{in lang. ja Retrieved 24 February 2017.
8. "おうかんみち".
9. "那須芦野・石の美術館 STONE PLAZA【公式】".