Welcome to the Karuizawa's Home Page

　Karuizawa is a highland town, 1,000 meters above sea level, located in the easternmost part of Nagano Prefecture. It has a total area of 156 square kilometers, and its east-west length is 12.5 kilometers and north-south length is 14 kilometers.

　In 1886, a Canadian-born British Anglican Church Archdeacon Alexander Croft Shaw praised Karuizawa as "a roofless hospital in the forest" and introduced the town to the world as a resort to escape the summer heat. Since then, our forefathers have put forth great effort to conserve our abundant nature spread at the foot of Mt. Asama and to preserve our high quality culture. Over the last 110 years, Karuizawa has grown dynamically into an international health retreat.

　We are honored to be the only town in the world where events from 2 Olympics have been held: the equestrian events in 1964 during the Tokyo Olympic Summer Games and the curling events in 1998 during the Nagano Olympic Winter Games.

　In recent years, the opening of the Joshinetsu Expressway and the Nagano Shinkansen (bullet train) have connected us to Japan's high speed transportation infrastructure. The Nagano Shinkansen (bullet train) connects Karuizawa to the Tokyo metropolitan area in approximately one hour, making commuting from Karuizawa to Tokyo an everyday reality. Karuizawa, an international friendship, culture and tourism town, is endeavoring to continue creating an all year-round resort worth of its name.

　We hope this home page will help you to get to know Karuizawa and discover the many charms of our town.