One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Toma当麻町
Black watermelons and a limestone cave in the hills
Kamikawa region · Lavender, patchwork hills and the roof of Hokkaido.
Toma grows Densuke — the jet-black luxury watermelon — and hides a limestone cave park in its wooded hills.
Toma is a farming town northeast of Asahikawa on the road toward Sounkyo, known across Japan for Densuke, a jet-black watermelon that sells for luxury prices in summer. Rice grown with Daisetsuzan snowmelt is the everyday crop. In the wooded hills above town a limestone cave, discovered in the 1950s, is open to walk through in the warmer months, and the low peak of Mt. Toma has trails and a lookout. A relaxed stop on the way east rather than a full day out.
- Region
- Kamikawa (上川)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~185 km · 2.8 h summer / 3.4 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~176 km · 2.7 h summer / 3.2 h winter
- Best season in Kamikawa
- July for lavender, September for Japan's first autumn colors on Daisetsuzan, winter for serious snow country.
Toma 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 Toma
Toma Limestone Cave
当麻鍾乳洞
A limestone cave in the hills north of town, a prefectural natural monument with a walkway through chambers of stalactites. Open in the snow-free months and cool even in midsummer.
Mt. Toma and its insect museum
当麻山と昆虫館
A low wooded hill on the edge of town with a summit lookout over the Kamikawa basin and a public museum of insects from around the world at its base.
Densuke watermelon season
でんすけすいかの季節
From late June into August the town's farm stands and cooperatives sell the black-skinned Densuke watermelon, and the first auction of the year makes national news.
Getting to Toma
Asahikawa Airport is about 40 minutes by car. Route 39 from Asahikawa toward Sounkyo passes through town, and the Asahikawa–Monbetsu expressway has an interchange nearby. JR Sekihoku Main Line local trains stop at Toma station; Asahikawa is about 20 minutes by rail.
Kamikawa region: Asahikawa has its own airport and fast JR links from Sapporo (about 85 minutes). Furano and Biei are best by car or the summer sightseeing trains.
When to visit Toma
July and August for watermelon season and the open cave. Late September and October for autumn colors on the hills and the rice harvest. The cave and hill trails close under snow, so winter offers little beyond quiet farmland.
What to eat in Toma
Densuke watermelon is the headline, sold whole in summer and as juice and sweets the rest of the year. Rice is the staple crop, and the town also grows vegetables and produces honey and kimchi-style pickles from local fields.
Toma in context: the Kamikawa region
Click a town to open its page
Kamikawa holds the two images most people picture when they think of Hokkaido in summer: Furano's purple lavender fields and Biei's rolling patchwork hills. Asahikawa, the island's second city, anchors the region with its shoyu ramen and a zoo famous for up-close animal enclosures.
Towns near Toma
Read next
More towns in Kamikawa
Other regions: Ishikari · Sorachi · Shiribeshi · Iburi · Hidaka · Oshima · Hiyama · Rumoi · Soya · Okhotsk · Tokachi · Kushiro · Nemuro