Asahikawa Shopping

There are many, many Asahikawa shops. The epicentre of shopping in Asahikawa is along Kaimono Koen, the street that is only open to pedestrian traffic. The shopping strip starts opposite the train station and continues for 13 blocks. The large Aeon Mall adjacent to the train station is also a major hub of Asahikawa shopping.

Asahikawa Ski Shops

There are a couple of Asahikawa ski shops in the “suburbs” on route no. 39, approximately 15 minutes from downtown on the right hand side heading out of town. One of these ski and snowboard shops is Xebio Super Sports, and about 500 metres further out of town is Sports Dep.

Both of these shops are huge and have a large range of standard hardware (ski, snowboards, boots), outerwear, après boots, and ski and snowboard accessories. Some of the brands are familiar such as Columbia, North Face, and Descente. They don’t sell much for big people or big feet, there are no fat skis, and negligible backcountry gear.

If you don’t have a car, you can get to these shops from bus stop 18 on 1st street (not far from the Asahikawa station) via a variety of buses (eg. numbers 67, 70, 71, 72, 630, 667) that are very cheap.

Asahikawa Backcountry Ski Shop

On the outskirts of Asahikawa (sort of on the way to Kamui Ski Links) is the Shugakuso Shop, an amazing treasure trove of gear for backcountry ski enthusiasts. They sell a little bit of everything including fat skis, bindings, Black Diamond ski boots, après boots, and backcountry safety gear. They also have lots of great puffer jackets from Mammut and Peak Performance. Ahhhh the fun I could have in this shop…..!

General Shopping Asahikawa

There are large multi-storey department stores along the shopping strip in the first few blocks near the train station and next to the station. Even if you don’t want to shop, they make a great sojourn to get out of the cold as you’re walking along the street! If you’re looking to go clothes shopping, you’ll need to be a small size.

There are also lots of Asahikawa souvenir shops selling typical Japanese kitsch trinkets. Knock yourself out!

Grocery Shopping

It seems as though there’s a convenience store on every second corner in Asahikawa, and there are also many supermarkets. A readily accessed supermarket can be found on the ground floor of the Aeon Mall.

Banking Facilities

International ATMs are often hard to come by in Japan, so thankfully the major revamp of the Asahikawa train station has included the installation of ATMs that accept Cirrus/Maestro cards. There are also various 7-Eleven stores in Asahikawa with ATMs.