Shikabe, Hokkaido

Shikabe is a town in Oshima Subprefecture on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, in the Kayabe District, with a total area of 110.61 square kilometres. It lies in the northeast of the Oshima Peninsula, below the volcano Hokkaido Koma-ga-take, and borders Hakodate, Mori and Nanae. The name comes from the Ainu word sikerpe, meaning a place with Amur cork trees. By 2019 the town had an estimated 3,920 residents. Its history is tied to hot springs: in 1666 a retainer of the Tsugaru shogunate is said to have seen a deer healing itself in a spring here, the legend behind Shikabe Onsen. It became a second class village in 1906 and a town in 1983. The economy is dominated by fishing from three ports, with octopus, flounder, salmon and sea cucumber landed and pollack roe a winter speciality.