One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Kamisunagawa上砂川町
A coal valley at the end of the road
Sorachi region · Coal country turned wine valley — Hokkaido's quiet middle.
Kamisunagawa packs coal-mine museums and a retro drama-set station into one tiny valley town at the end of a branch line.
Kamisunagawa is a tiny valley town in the hills east of Sunagawa, reached by one road up the Pankeutashinai River. It was a company town for a large Mitsui coal mine until the 1980s, and it keeps the memory deliberately: a museum of the mine, a preserved station building used as a set for a television drama, and a hot spring at the foot of Mt. Kamisunagawa. The population is small and the valley is silent, which is exactly what draws the people who come.
- Region
- Sorachi (空知)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~107 km · 1.6 h summer / 1.9 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~91 km · 1.4 h summer / 1.7 h winter
- Best season in Sorachi
- Late spring for canola blooms, summer to early autumn for vineyards and melon season.
Kamisunagawa at a glance
Drive estimates: straight-line × 1.35, at 65 km/h (summer) / 55 km/h (winter). How we calculate
What to see in Kamisunagawa
Kamisunagawa Coal Mine Museum
上砂川炭鉱館
The town's museum of the Mitsui Sunagawa mine, with tools, safety lamps, photographs and models of the underground workings, standing on the former company ground in the centre.
Kanashibetsu station building
悲別駅（旧駅舎）
The old wooden station building from the days when trains ran up the valley, kept as it appeared under the fictional name 'Kanashibetsu' in a television drama. A quiet, photogenic relic of the rail age.
Kamisunagawa-dake Onsen
上砂川岳温泉
A town-run hot spring at the head of the valley below Mt. Kamisunagawa, surrounded by forest. The place to end a day in the valley, and the last stop before the road runs out.
Getting to Kamisunagawa
Kamisunagawa has no railway. Sunagawa station on the JR Hakodate Main Line is about 15 minutes away by bus or car along the prefectural road up the valley. From Sapporo it is about 1.5 hours by car via Route 12 or the Do-o Expressway (Naie-Sunagawa IC); Asahikawa Airport is about an hour.
Sorachi region: An easy detour off the Sapporo–Asahikawa corridor by car or JR. Wineries are best reached by car.
When to visit Kamisunagawa
June to October, when the valley road is easy and the trail up Mt. Kamisunagawa is open; October adds colour on the slopes. Winter closes the valley in snow, and the hot spring is the only reason to make the trip.
What to eat in Kamisunagawa
The valley grows little of its own, so the table is Sorachi's: rice from Sunagawa and Naie, vegetables from the plain, and the grilled-offal and hot-pot habits of the old mining towns. Mountain vegetables come off the slopes in spring.
Kamisunagawa in context: the Sorachi region
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Sorachi is the Hokkaido most travelers drive straight through — and that's exactly why it stays wonderful. A century ago this valley powered Japan with coal; towns like Yubari and Mikasa still carry that industrial memory in museums, rail relics and quiet main streets.
Towns near Kamisunagawa
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More towns in Sorachi
Other regions: Ishikari · Shiribeshi · Iburi · Hidaka · Oshima · Hiyama · Kamikawa · Rumoi · Soya · Okhotsk · Tokachi · Kushiro · Nemuro