ふるさとには愛がある！

愛すべき町、愛すべき風景、愛すべき人々。

伊予八藩大洲藩の城下町として発展し、今もなお古い町並みの残る「伊予の小京都」大洲市の東端に「伊予のふるさと」河辺町はあります。

県都松山から車で約2時間、大洲市中心部から車で約1時間の場所に位置する河辺町は、標高800ｍ～1,200ｍの雄大な山々に囲まれ、その山々から溢れ出す清らかな水をあつめた清流河辺川が流れる自然豊かな地域です。古くは愛媛県と高知県のひとびとの交流や、物資流通の拠点として栄え、多くの日本人がいつか見た・どこかで見たと感じる「あの日のふるさとの風景」が数多く残っています。

現在は少子化・高齢化・人口減少が進んでいますが、「地域で協力し合い、地域が子どもを育てる」といった、近年の日本人が忘れ、今最も必要とされている地域間の絆、たがいに助け合う心、たがいを思いやる愛情が残る、愛にあふれた町です。

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There is love in your hometown! A town to love, a scenery to love, and the people to love. Kawabe-cho developed from a castle town of Iyo-Ozu Han*. “Iyo’s hometown” Kawabe-cho is located at east end of “Little Kyoto of Iyo” in Ozu-city where an old townscape still remains.

Kawabe-cho is approximately a 2 hour drive from Matsuyama, the prefectural capital, and approximately a 1 hour drive from the center of Ozu-city. It is a town that is full of nature, surrounded by the magnificent mountains with altitude 800m-1,200m (2,625-3,937ft.), and the beautiful Kawabe River flowing through. The town used to prosper as a central location for people in Ehime prefecture and Kochi prefecture to socialize and also for business logistics. You will experience the old sceneries that many of Japanese people are familiar with from their olden days.

Declining birth rate, aging of population, and decreasing overall population are current issues of Kawabe. However, the warm and caring people in the town have the spirit of “regional cooperation and the region raising the children”, which has been forgotten in recent Japanese society. It still has regional bonds, spirit to help, care, and love each other.

*Han: Equivalent to current prefecture