Toyooka, Hyōgo

Toyooka, Hyōgo

Toyooka (豊岡市, Toyooka-shi) is a city in the northern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on April 1, 1950.

As of 1 April 2015, the city has an estimated population of 81,797 with 29,999 households. The total area of Toyooka city is 697.66 km².

On April 1, 2005, the towns of Kinosaki, Hidaka and Takeno (all from Kinosaki District) and the towns of Izushi and Tantō (both from Izushi District) were merged into Toyooka.

The Sanin Main Line provides a JR rail connection to Kyoto, and direct trains to Osaka are available via Fukuchiyama. Direct Express trains take about 2.5 hours from Osaka to Toyooka.

Tajima Airport serves Toyooka. Tajima airport runs two direct flights a day to Osaka Itami Airport.

Toyooka lies entirely within the San'in Kaigan Geopark. One of Toyooka`s famous geological features is a basalt cave called Genbudo. Genbudo was formed 1.6 million years ago from the eruption of an ancient volcano. In 1926, Professor Motonori Matuyama of Kyoto University first proposed the theory of geomagnetic polarity reversal at Genbudo after discovering it had a reverse magnetization.

The wetlands of Toyooka provide an important habitat for the oriental stork. After becoming extinct in the wild in the 1970s, Toyooka began a captive breeding program. After a quarter of a century of breeding efforts, the first oriental stork chick was born in 1989. In 2005 Toyooka released 5 captively bred storks, which bred successfully in the wild. As of June 2015 there are 72 wild oriental white storks in Toyooka.

The hot spring resort Kinosaki Onsen is located within Toyooka.