Asakawa



Intro

Geography and Climate
Asakawa is located fairly far South of then prefecture but is still considered Ken-chu. The town is in a valley and is surrounded by mountains. It's a fairly rural town so the outskirts of town are mainly ricefields as far as the eye can see. It gets humid and hot in Summer, and gets a decent amount of Snow in winter. In Spring there are many Cherry Blossoms that bloom in town, and in Autumn, the hills get a decent amount of fall foliage colour changing.

Transportation
Asakawa is on the Suigun Line (水郡線), which runs from Mito in the South (水戸) to Koriyama in the North (郡山). The town's station's name is actually IwakiAsakawa (磐城浅川). Trains from Koriyama take about 1 hour, and costs 820yen. Services on the Suigun line are fairly infrequent, and sometimes don't go all the way to Asakawa.

The nearest major road is the 118 which goes past Ishikawa. Asakawa is a 10-15min drive from Tanakura and Ishikawa, about 30-40min from Shirakawa, 30-40min from Sukagawa, and 1hr15-20min from Koriyama.

There are busses in town but to get to other major towns usually you'd have to catch a bus from Ishikawa or Tanakura.

Schools
Asakawa has 1 Junior High School, 3 Elementary Schools, 2 Kindergartens and at least 1 nursery.

The only Junior High School in Asakawa is 浅川中学校 or 浅中 for short. There are 3 classes per year level with between 20-25 students per class. Special needs students are mostly integrated into regular classes, but also take additional classes with a Special Education teacher. There are three JTEs at this school.

There are three Elementary Schools: 浅川小学校, 里白石小学校, and 山白石小学校. Asasho is the main primary school, with 2 classes per year level and between 25-30 students per class. Satosho is the next largest school; it's located about a 10min drive from the town center. It is nowhere near the size of Asasho; with between 3-10 students per year level; often the classes are taught combined 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6years together. Yamasho is the smallest school, and is a 15-20 drive from the town center. There are fewer students per yera level, between 3-8, and similar to Satosho, the year levels are usually taught combined.

There is a main Kindergarten, 浅川幼稚園, as well as at least one more smaller kindergarten near town. There is also a large nursery school located in the center of the town.



To Do
Asakawa is fairly small, however there are a few things to do in town.

The town is famous for its fireworks, our mascot is even Asamaru-kun who has fireworks sprouting out of his head. We have a fireworks museum (all in Japanese) located in the same building as the Board of Education, which also has an example of an ancient traditional Japanese-style room which is kind of cool. Apparently there's also a museum for a man who researched cancer (though I don't know where).

There's a mountain, Shiroyama, located just on the edge of town, with a Shrine and Park up the top; the area is used for festivals, notably the main fireworks festival, where fireworks are set off from the top.

The town also has Kyuudo, Kendo and Judo, as well as other sporting teams, which operate through the community center.

There are a few small restaurants, mostly near the station, which are all Japanese foods. There are also a couple of Izakayas in town which are tiny.

Also, there are about 5 million barber shops, although I have no idea why given the scarcity of everything else in town.

Festivals and Events
Asakawa is a town that's really proud of its fireworks. There's a fireworks museum in town, and every year there's a fireworks festival in August. In 2013, the fireworks festival will be held on Thursday the 15th of August (I think).

There are also numerous other small festivals in town, as well as a road race held in June.