Dating in Hokkaido: How to Meet People Beyond Your Small Town

Hokkaido has about 5.0 million people and 179 cities, towns and villages, and many of them are small: 89 (50%) have fewer than 5,000 people, and 4 have fewer than 1,000. If you live in a small one, you already know what dating close to home looks like: you've met most of the single people you'd consider, or you know someone who has.

This page is for everyone in those towns. It covers why the big dating apps make a small town's dating pool even smaller, how Amarbis lets you meet people across all of Hokkaido instead, and, further down, every city, town or village in Hokkaido by district.

Hokkaido by town size

Size of place	Places	People
Under 1,000	4	3,300
1,000 to 4,999	85	247,000
5,000 to 24,999	67	721,000
25,000 or more	23	4.0 million

The typical city, town or village in Hokkaido has about 5,100 people. Its 23 places of 25,000 or more, led by Sapporo (2.0 million), Asahikawa (305,000) and Hakodate (230,000), are home to about 4.0 million of the prefecture's 5.0 million people; everyone else lives in the smaller towns and the countryside.

Why dating close to home runs out in small-town Hokkaido

Dating apps that sort by distance start with the people nearest you. In a small town in Hokkaido that's a short list, and it doesn't take long to see all of it. A few examples:

Okushiri (奥尻町) (about 2,000 people): 2 other cities, towns and villages with 11,000 people between them within 50 km, and the nearest place of 25,000 or more is Hokuto, 102 km away.
Rausu (羅臼町) (about 4,000 people): 2 other cities, towns and villages with 15,000 people between them within 50 km, and the nearest place of 25,000 or more is Abashiri, 73 km away.
Shosambetsu (初山別村) (about 942 people): 7 other cities, towns and villages with 18,000 people between them within 50 km, and the nearest place of 25,000 or more is Asahikawa, 97 km away.

The point stands across Hokkaido: a distance-ranked app fills a small-town deck with the same few faces, and the bigger pools are a long way off.

Why the nearest city is out of reach on the big apps

Dating in a small town is hard, and meeting someone in the nearest city can be harder. Many dating apps lean on distance to decide who you see, and Tinuiti's analysis of Tinder's algorithm says proximity is a key factor in who it shows you. When someone in Sapporo or Asahikawa opens a distance-ranked app, the people who live near them come first. You live farther away, so you land behind their neighbours in their deck, whatever your photos and profile say.

That's the small-town problem twice over: at home you keep seeing the same people, and in the city you're barely seen.

How Amarbis is different

You choose your region

On Amarbis you choose the region you meet people from instead of being limited to whoever lives closest. Choose Hokkaido and your pool is the whole prefecture, about 5.0 million people, whether you live in Sapporo or a village of a few hundred. A member in a town of 1,000 has the same prefecture-wide pool as a member in Sapporo.

Ranking isn't based on distance

On Amarbis, ranking isn't based on distance. Choose Hokkaido as your region and the person you'd like to meet in Sapporo isn't shown their next-door neighbour ahead of you because of where you live. It's the opposite of the proximity problem above, and it matters most to the people the big apps leave behind.

No distance limits, and the whole world if you want it

Amarbis has no distance limits, so you aren't limited to Hokkaido either. You can widen your region to the neighbouring prefectures or meet someone in another country: Amarbis is an international dating app, the app speaks more than 50 languages, and built-in chat translation helps when you don't share one. The km only matter once you both want to meet.

Real people, reviewed by real people

Every member has a real face photo, photos are screened before anyone sees them, and every profile on Amarbis is reviewed by a real person. When your local pool is small, every fake or abandoned profile takes up a bigger share of what you see, so that review step is worth more in a small town than in a big city.

Free to join

Joining is free, with no credit card. The free plan gives you 25 likes a day and unlimited messaging with your matches, so you can find out whether Amarbis works for your town before you pay anything. See plans and pricing for what the paid plans add.

How to start from a small town in Hokkaido

Sign up free and build a profile that sounds like you: a clear photo of your face and one specific thing about life in your town. Our profile tips show what works.
Set your region to Hokkaido, or wider if you like.
Message first. One good question about where someone lives works better than "hey", and a conversation can start long before anyone plans a trip.
When you both want to meet, pick a public place about halfway, tell a friend where you're going, and follow our safe-meeting checklist.

Built by someone from a small town

Amarbis's founder, Nick, is from Boardman, Oregon, a small American town of about 4,500 people. The small-town dating problem on this page is one he knows first-hand: a deck full of people you already know, and a nearby city that ranks its own neighbours ahead of you. Amarbis is built so that where you live in Hokkaido doesn't decide who you can meet.

Every city, town or village in Hokkaido

All 179 cities, towns and villages in Hokkaido by district. Wherever yours is on this list, everything on this page applies to you: choose Hokkaido as your region on Amarbis and every place below is in your pool.

Hidaka Subprefecture

Biratori (平取町): 4,331 people
Erimo (えりも町): 3,732 people
Hidaka (日高町): 10,290 people
Niikappu (新冠町): 4,756 people
Samani (様似町): 3,665 people
Shinhidaka (新ひだか町): 19,552 people
Urakawa (浦河町): 11,110 people

Hiyama Subprefecture

Assabu (厚沢部町): 3,098 people
Esashi (Hiyama) (江差町): 6,230 people
Imakane (今金町): 4,387 people
Kaminokuni (上ノ国町): 3,656 people
Okushiri (奥尻町): 2,050 people
Otobe (乙部町): 2,937 people
Setana (せたな町): 6,380 people

Iburi Subprefecture

Abira (安平町): 6,948 people
Atsuma (厚真町): 4,154 people
Date (伊達市): 30,064 people
Mukawa (むかわ町): 7,146 people
Muroran (室蘭市): 73,913 people
Noboribetsu (登別市): 41,947 people
Shiraoi (白老町): 14,564 people
Sobetsu (壮瞥町): 2,354 people
Tomakomai (苫小牧市): 164,286 people
Toyako (洞爺湖町): 7,799 people
Toyoura (豊浦町): 3,404 people

Ishikari Subprefecture

Chitose (千歳市): 98,077 people
Ebetsu (江別市): 119,455 people
Eniwa (恵庭市): 70,874 people
Ishikari (石狩市): 55,706 people
Kitahiroshima (北広島市): 55,772 people
Sapporo (札幌市): 1,961,996 people
Shinshinotsu (新篠津村): 2,731 people
Tobetsu (当別町): 14,933 people

Kamikawa Subprefecture

Aibetsu (愛別町): 2,288 people
Asahikawa (旭川市): 305,430 people
Biei (美瑛町): 9,327 people
Bifuka (美深町): 3,636 people
Furano (富良野市): 19,274 people
Higashikagura (東神楽町): 9,586 people
Higashikawa (東川町): 8,699 people
Horokanai (幌加内町): 1,199 people
Kamifurano (上富良野町): 9,152 people
Kamikawa (上川町): 3,165 people
Kembuchi (剣淵町): 2,642 people
Minamifurano (南富良野町): 2,190 people
Nakafurano (中富良野町): 4,280 people
Nakagawa (中川町): 1,230 people
Nayoro (名寄市): 24,356 people
Otoineppu (音威子府村): 603 people
Pippu (比布町): 3,256 people
Shibetsu City (士別市): 15,761 people
Shimokawa (下川町): 2,742 people
Shimukappu (占冠村): 1,486 people
Takasu (鷹栖町): 6,188 people
Tohma (当麻町): 5,824 people
Wassamu (和寒町): 2,667 people

Kushiro Subprefecture

Akkeshi (厚岸町): 7,861 people
Hamanaka (浜中町): 5,112 people
Kushiro City (釧路市): 151,171 people
Kushiro Town (釧路町): 17,830 people
Shibecha (標茶町): 6,516 people
Shiranuka (白糠町): 6,603 people
Teshikaga (弟子屈町): 6,180 people
Tsurui (鶴居村): 2,394 people

Nemuro Subprefecture

Betsukai (別海町): 13,281 people
Nakashibetsu (中標津町): 21,783 people
Nemuro (根室市): 21,241 people
Rausu (羅臼町): 4,024 people
Shibetsu Town (標津町): 4,610 people

Okhotsk Subprefecture

Abashiri (網走市): 32,737 people
Bihoro (美幌町): 16,691 people
Engaru (遠軽町): 17,031 people
Kitami (北見市): 108,194 people
Kiyosato (清里町): 3,569 people
Koshimizu (小清水町): 4,196 people
Kunneppu (訓子府町): 4,239 people
Mombetsu (紋別市): 19,424 people
Nishiokoppe (西興部村): 913 people
Oketo (置戸町): 2,468 people
Okoppe (興部町): 3,360 people
Oumu (雄武町): 3,858 people
Ozora (大空町): 6,204 people
Saroma (佐呂間町): 4,332 people
Shari (斜里町): 10,671 people
Takinoue (滝上町): 2,093 people
Tsubetsu (津別町): 3,776 people
Yubetsu (湧別町): 7,524 people

Oshima Subprefecture

Fukushima (福島町): 3,182 people
Hakodate (函館市): 230,309 people
Hokuto (北斗市): 40,576 people
Kikonai (木古内町): 3,255 people
Matsumae (松前町): 5,260 people
Mori (森町): 12,833 people
Nanae (七飯町): 26,933 people
Oshamambe (長万部町): 5,305 people
Shikabe (鹿部町): 3,348 people
Shiriuchi (知内町): 3,648 people
Yakumo (八雲町): 14,781 people

Rumoi Subprefecture

Embetsu (遠別町): 2,168 people
Haboro (羽幌町): 5,641 people
Mashike (増毛町): 3,343 people
Obira (小平町): 2,556 people
Rumoi (留萌市): 17,329 people
Shosambetsu (初山別村): 942 people
Teshio (天塩町): 2,534 people
Tomamae (苫前町): 2,554 people

Shiribeshi Subprefecture

Akaigawa (赤井川村): 1,069 people
Furubira (古平町): 2,399 people
Iwanai (岩内町): 10,393 people
Kamoenai (神恵内村): 802 people
Kimobetsu (喜茂別町): 2,006 people
Kuromatsunai (黒松内町): 2,634 people
Kutchan (倶知安町): 14,728 people
Kyogoku (京極町): 2,803 people
Kyowa (共和町): 5,980 people
Makkari (真狩村): 1,967 people
Niki (仁木町): 3,184 people
Niseko (ニセコ町): 5,324 people
Otaru (小樽市): 100,269 people
Rankoshi (蘭越町): 4,293 people
Rusutsu (留寿都村): 1,876 people
Shakotan (積丹町): 1,496 people
Shimamaki (島牧村): 1,169 people
Suttsu (寿都町): 2,495 people
Tomari (泊村): 1,479 people
Yoichi (余市町): 16,464 people

Sorachi Subprefecture

Akabira (赤平市): 8,261 people
Ashibetsu (芦別市): 10,581 people
Bibai (美唄市): 17,641 people
Chippubetsu (秩父別町): 2,110 people
Fukagawa (深川市): 17,671 people
Hokuryu (北竜町): 1,529 people
Iwamizawa (岩見沢市): 72,949 people
Kamisunagawa (上砂川町): 2,319 people
Kuriyama (栗山町): 10,391 people
Mikasa (三笠市): 6,901 people
Moseushi (妹背牛町): 2,332 people
Naganuma (長沼町): 9,468 people
Naie (奈井江町): 4,541 people
Nanporo (南幌町): 7,883 people
Numata (沼田町): 2,653 people
Shintotsukawa (新十津川町): 6,100 people
Sunagawa (砂川市): 14,976 people
Takikawa (滝川市): 35,782 people
Tsukigata (月形町): 2,999 people
Urausu (浦臼町): 1,527 people
Uryu (雨竜町): 2,140 people
Utashinai (歌志内市): 2,448 people
Yubari (夕張市): 5,610 people
Yuni (由仁町): 4,341 people

Soya Subprefecture

Esashi (Soya) (枝幸町): 7,021 people
Hamatonbetsu (浜頓別町): 3,046 people
Horonobe (幌延町): 2,012 people
Nakatombetsu (中頓別町): 1,415 people
Rebun (礼文町): 2,179 people
Rishiri (利尻町): 1,766 people
Rishirifuji (利尻富士町): 2,140 people
Sarufutsu (猿払村): 2,502 people
Toyotomi (豊富町): 3,432 people
Wakkanai (稚内市): 30,064 people

Tokachi Subprefecture

Ashoro (足寄町): 5,600 people
Hiroo (広尾町): 5,504 people
Hombetsu (本別町): 5,688 people
Ikeda (池田町): 5,587 people
Kamishihoro (上士幌町): 4,470 people
Makubetsu (幕別町): 24,199 people
Memuro (芽室町): 17,212 people
Nakasatsunai (中札内村): 3,801 people
Obihiro (帯広市): 160,563 people
Otofuke (音更町): 41,942 people
Rikubetsu (陸別町): 1,992 people
Sarabetsu (更別村): 2,996 people
Shihoro (士幌町): 5,379 people
Shikaoi (鹿追町): 4,860 people
Shimizu (清水町): 8,360 people
Shintoku (新得町): 5,223 people
Taiki (大樹町): 5,124 people
Toyokoro (豊頃町): 2,700 people
Urahoro (浦幌町): 3,851 people

Frequently asked questions

What is the best dating app for small towns in Hokkaido?

We think it's Amarbis. You choose the region you meet people from, so a small town in Hokkaido gets the same prefecture-wide pool as Sapporo; ranking isn't based on distance; there are no distance limits; every profile is reviewed by a real person; and joining is free.

Why do I keep seeing the same people on dating apps in my town?

Many dating apps lean on distance to decide who you see, and in a small town the closest people are a short list. Tinuiti's analysis of Tinder's algorithm says proximity is a key factor, which is why a small-town deck fills with the same neighbours. On Amarbis you choose your region, so your pool isn't limited to your postcode.

Can I meet people from all over Hokkaido?

Yes. Choose Hokkaido as your region and you meet people across the prefecture, from wherever you live, without being ranked behind someone's neighbours.

Can I meet people outside Hokkaido?

Yes. Amarbis has no distance limits, so you can widen your region or meet someone in another country, with built-in chat translation when you don't share a language. Start with the international dating guide.

Is Amarbis free?

Yes. Joining is free, with no credit card, and the free plan includes 25 likes a day and unlimited messaging with your matches. Create your profile.

More prefectures in Japan

See every state, province and region. New here? Read why Amarbis is the best dating app for small towns.

More from Amarbis

Population figures: Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2025 Population Census (令和7年国勢調査), final basic tabulation, population as of 1 October 2025; prefecture total: Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2025 Population Census, prefecture population as of 1 October 2025. Units are Japan's 1,718 municipalities plus Tokyo's 23 special wards; the 20 designated cities are one entry each (their wards are not listed). Sub-headings: 'Cities' for every 市, the rural district (郡) for towns and villages, and in Hokkaido the subprefecture (振興局) for all municipalities; Tokyo's island towns/villages are under their subprefecture (支庁) and its 23 wards under 'Special wards'. English names are the Statistics Bureau's official romanizations (e.g. 'Hombetsu', 'Gotemba'); district names are romanized from official kana readings. The six Northern Territories villages are not enumerated by the census and are excluded. Mishima, Toshima (Kagoshima) and Taketomi have their village/town offices outside their own islands, so their coordinates are a point on their largest island. Census counts include foreign residents; towns in Fukushima's former evacuation zone (e.g. Futaba, 211) show very small populations because residents are still returning. Distances are straight-line between town locations, so road distances are longer.