Lake Tōya

Coordinates: 42°34′44″N 140°51′16″E / 42.57889°N 140.85444°E / 42.57889; 140.85444
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Lake Tōya
洞爺湖
Lake Tōya (September 2013)
LocationIburi Subprefecture, Hokkaidō
Coordinates42°34′44″N 140°51′16″E / 42.57889°N 140.85444°E / 42.57889; 140.85444
Typeoligotrophic crater lake
Primary inflowsŌ River (大川, Ō-gawa), Sōbetsu River (ソウベツ 川, Sōbetsu-gawa)
Primary outflowsSōbetsu River (壮瞥川, Sōbetsu-gawa)
Basin countriesJapan
Max. length10 km (6.2 mi)
Max. width9 km (5.6 mi)
Surface area70.7 km2 (27.3 sq mi)
Average depth117.0 m (383.9 ft)
Max. depth180 m (590 ft) [1]
Water volume8.19 km3 (1.96 cu mi)
Shore length146 km (29 mi) [2]
Surface elevation84 m (276 ft)
Frozennever
IslandsNakano-shima
SettlementsSōbetsu, Hokkaidō, Tōyako, Hokkaidō
References[1][2]
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Tōya (洞爺湖, Tōya-ko) is a volcanic caldera lake in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, Abuta District, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is a part of "Toya Caldera and Usu Volcano Global Geopark" which joins in Global Geoparks Network. The stratovolcano of Mount Usu lies on the southern rim of the caldera. The lake is nearly circular, being 10 kilometers in diameter from east-west and 9 kilometers from North-South. The lake's biggest town, Tōyako is located on its western shore. The town Sōbetsu is located on the other side of the lake.

Tōya Caldera
Lake Tōya, Tōya town and volcano Usu

Lake Tōya is said to be the northernmost lake in Japan that never ices (with competing claim by nearby Lake Shikotsu), and the second most transparent lake in Japan. Nakajima Island (not to be confused with another island of the same name in Lake Kussharo) is an island in the middle of the lake which houses the Tōya Lake Forest Museum.

Lake Tōya was called Kim'un-to (キウン (kim'un) means "in the mountain"[3] and ト (to) means "lake"[3]) by the Ainu. In the Meiji era, Japanese pioneers named the lake Tōya after the Ainu expression to ya, which means "lakeland".[3]

The 2008 G8 Summit was held at Lake Tōya and The Windsor Hotel Toya Resort & Spa.

References

  1. ^ a b Geographical Survey Institute map 25000:1 洞爺
  2. ^ a b Bisignani, J.D. (December 1993). Taran March (ed.). Japan Handbook (Second ed.). Chico, California: Moon Publications, Inc. p. 781. ISBN 0-918373-70-0.
  3. ^ a b c Batchelor, John. (1905) An Ainu-English-Japanese Dictionary (Second ed.). Tokyo: Methodist Publishing House

External links