Hoshimi Station
Encyclopedia
is a rail station of Hakodate Main Line
Hakodate Main Line
is a railway line between the cities of Hakodate and Asahikawa in Hokkaido, Japan. It is one of the trunk lines operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company ....

 of JR Hokkaidō
Hokkaido Railway Company
The is one of the constituent companies of Japan Railways Group , and thus often known as . It operates intercity rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a smart card ticketing system, from autumn 2008....

. It is located in Teine-ku, Sapporo
Teine-ku, Sapporo
is one of the 10 wards in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. The ward is located in northwest of Sapporo, which is neighboured to three other wards in Sapporo and two cities...

, Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

, Japan. It was established in 1995 for the population of northwestern suburbs of Sapporo. In 2005 the station had 774 riding passengers per day.

Location and History

The station is situated near the municipality border between Sapporo and Otaru. The small port town Zenibako sits on the Otaru side and there are some factories on the border. To the south of the station, National Route 5 runs connecting Sapporo, Zenibako and Otaru.

The area surrounding the station was farmland until the last half of the 20th century. It had been vacant country where important road and railway had passed through. The expansion of Sapporo city inspired JR Hokkaido to plan urbanization here. The station opened in 1995. Hoshi in Japanese means 'star' and mi is 'looking' in English, so Hoshimi means 'Looking Stars'. It was named after Hoshimi Bridge (星観橋) of Hoshioki River (星置川) which in its turn was named after the river. The river name originates in some words of Ainu language
Ainu language
Ainu is one of the Ainu languages, spoken by members of the Ainu ethnic group on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō....

but there are multiple interpretations about it.
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