【Hokkaido Cities: Nayoro】Walking around Nayoro Station, the central station of Nayoro City, one of the core cities of Northern Hokkaido

The station building was built in 1927 and has been renovated for use. It has a retro feel with a cute red roof.

Nayoro, with its wide sky, can reach -30 degrees Celsius in winter

The population is about 25,000, making it the 24th most populous city in Hokkaido.
The main industry is agriculture, and it's famous as a production area for glutinous rice.
Since it's located in a basin inland, there's a large temperature difference.
In severe winter, the minimum temperature can exceed -30 degrees Celsius, and phenomena like diamond dust and sun pillars (where sunlight reflects to look like pillars of light) have become local specialties.

The station square is unnecessarily large, giving it a desolate feeling

The Nayoro Main Line and Fukun Line used to connect here, but they were discontinued, and it became a station on the Soya Main Line. Due to this history and the fact that it once functioned as a freight station, the station grounds seem quite large.

There's little foot traffic in front of the station, and perhaps because Hokkaido has plenty of land, the station square is unnecessarily large, which adds to the desolate atmosphere. The roads are wide, and the buildings are generally spacious.
It feels somewhat un-Japanese, but compared to Tokyo, it tends to feel desolate.

Buildings in front of the station with a Hokkaido feel

The road width in front of the station is wide, just a few meters from the station building. It's two lanes on each side, but there are no traffic lights. Crossing the crosswalk leads to the shopping street.
There's an arcade on the sidewalk, making it easy to walk even when it snows.

Something that applies to all shopping streets in Hokkaido: the sidewalks and roads are wide

The sidewalks are wide. The sidewalk width seems to be about 3 meters.
The shopping street is fairly large, but I wonder how many stores there are.
Nayoro City's population peaked at about 37,000, but even so, this shopping street seems too large.
I speculate that people from neighboring cities and towns may have come here to shop.

It's one lane on each side, but there's plenty of room for parking for deliveries and shopping.
The shopping street is called Neyose-dori Shopping Street, but the city name is Nayoro City (nayoro-shi), so I'm not sure why the reading is different.
Why is that?
The name "Nayoro" is derived from the Ainu word "Nay-or-putu" (river-place-mouth), which refers to the confluence of the current Nayoro River and Teshio River, and kanji were applied to it.
So I don't know why the street is called "neyose."

Storehouses made of brick, similar in shape to mainland storehouses but clearly different

Earthen storehouses have white walls, but Hokkaido storehouses are made of brick. It's a bit strange to see a storehouse shaped like those on the mainland but with brick exterior walls.