Otoineppu, Hokkaido

Otoineppu (音威子府村, Otoineppu-mura) is a village located in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan.

The JR Hokkaido Sōya Main Line and Japan National Route 40 runs along the Teshio River through Otoineppu.

In 1857 Matsuura Takeshiro visited the Teshio River basin and stayed with an Ainu elder near the current Osashima neighborhood.

The construction of a road north of Asahikawa, which began in 1896, finally reached the current Otoineppu village area in 1904.

At this time, post office manager Nagamura Hide (a Hokkaido government official from Ishikawa Prefecture) moved to the area, and this marked the founding of Otoineppu village.

[1][4] However, the population dropped sharply due to the privatization of the Japan National Railways in the 1980s, the abolition of the Tenpoku Line in 1989, the reduction in station operations.

Otoineppu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral village council of eight members.

Otoineppu, collectively with the other municipalities of Kawakami sub-prefecture, contributes three members to the Hokkaidō Prefectural Assembly.

In terms of national politics, the village is part of the Hokkaidō 6th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Teshiogawa onsen
Otoineppu Post Office
Otoineppu Station
Otokki, the village's mascot