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, formerly known as 'Ezo', 'Yezo', 'Yeso', or 'Yesso', is Japan's second largest island and the largest of its 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshū, although the two islands are connected by the underwater Seikan Tunnel. The largest city on Hokkaidō is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city.

Contents

History

Geography

Seismic activity

National Parks and quasi-national parks

Subprefectures

Climate

Major cities and towns

Economy

Transportation

Education

Sports

Town twinning

See also

External links

References

History

The Nihonshoki is often said to be the first mention of Hokkaidō in recorded history. According to the text, Abe no Hirafu led a large navy and army to northern areas from 658 to 660 and came into contact with the Mishihase and Emishi. One of the places Hirafu went to was called Watarishima, which is often believed to be present-day Hokkaidō. However, many theories exist in relation to the details of this event, including the location of Watarishima and the common belief that the Emishi in Watarishima were the ancestors of the present-day Ainu.
During the Nara and Heian periods, people in Hokkaidō conducted trade with Dewa Province, an outpost of the Japanese central government. From the medieval ages, the people in Hokkaidō began to be called Ezo. Around the same time Hokkaidō came to be called Ezochi or Ezogashima. The Ezo mainly relied upon hunting and fishing and obtained rice and iron through trade with the Japanese.
During the Muromachi period, the Japanese created a settlement at the south of the Oshima peninsula. As more people moved to the settlement to avoid battles, disputes arose between the Japanese and the Ainu. The disputes eventually developed into a battle. Takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader and established a Japanese victory. Nobuhiro's descendants became the rulers of the Matsumae Han, which ruled the south of Ezochi until the end of the Edo period.
The Matsumae Han's economy relied upon trade with the Ainu. The Matsumae family was granted exclusive trading rights with the Ainu in the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo periods. The Han gradually changed trade conditions so they came to favor Japanese merchants. As a result, some Ainu rebelled against the Matsumae han, but the rebellions were defeated. During the Meiji Restoration, the Tokugawa Shogunate realized there was a need to prepare northern defenses against Russian aggressions and took over most control of Ezochi. The Shogunate made the Ainu burden slightly easier, but did not change the overall form of rule.

Hokkaidō was known as Ezochi until the Meiji Restoration. Shortly after the Boshin War in 1868, a group of Tokugawa loyalists led by Enomoto Takeaki proclaimed the island's independence as the Republic of Ezo, but the rebellion was crushed in May 1869. Ezochi was subsequently put under control of Hakodate-Fu (箱館府, Hakodate Prefectural Government). When establishing the Development Commission (開拓使), the Meiji Government decided to change the name of Ezochi. Matsuura Takeshirō submitted 6 ideas, including names such as Kaihokudo (海北道) and Hokkaidō (北加伊道) to the government. The government eventually decided to use the name Hokkaidō, but decided to write it as 北海道, as a compromise between 海北道 and because of the similarity with names such as Tōkaidō (東海道). According to Matsuura, the name was thought up because the Ainu called the region "Kai." Historically, many peoples who had interactions with the ancestors of the Ainu called them and their islands ''Kuyi'', ''Kuye'', ''Qoy'', or some similar name, which may have some connection to the early modern form ''Kai''. The ''Kai'' element also strongly resembles the Sino-Japanese reading of the characters 蝦夷 (Sino-Japanese /ka-i/, Japanese ''kun'' /emisi/), which have been used for over a thousand years in China and Japan as the standard orthographic form to be used when referring to Ainu and related peoples; it is possible that Matsuura's ''Kai'' was actually an alteration, influenced by the Sino-Japanese reading of 蝦夷 ''Ka-i'', of the Nivkh exonym for the Ainu, namely ''Qoy''. In 1882, the Development Commission was abolished, and Hokkaidō was separated into three prefectures, Hakodate (函館県), Sapporo (札幌県), and Nemuro (根室県). In 1886, the three prefectures were abolished, and Hokkaidō was put under the Hokkaidō Agency (北海道庁). Hokkaidō became equal with other prefectures in 1947, when the revised Local Autonomy Law became effective. The Japanese central government established the Hokkaido Development Agency (北海道開発庁) as an agency of the Prime Minister's Office in 1949 to maintain its executive power in Hokkaido. The Agency was absorbed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2001. The Hokkaido Bureau (北海道局) and the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau (北海道開発局) of the Ministry still have a strong influence on public construction projects in Hokkaido.

Geography

The island of Hokkaidō is located at the north end of Japan, near Russia, and has coastlines on the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Pacific Ocean. The center of the island has a number of mountains and volcanic plateaus, and there are coastal plains in all directions. Major cities include Sapporo and Asahikawa in the central region and the port of Hakodate facing Honshū.
The governmental jurisdiction of Hokkaidō incorporates several smaller islands, including Rishiri, Okushiri Island, and Rebun. (By Japanese reckoning, Hokkaidō also incorporates several of the Kuril Islands.) Because the prefectural status of Hokkaidō is denoted by the ''dō'' in its name, it is rarely referred to as "Hokkaidō Prefecture", except when necessary to distinguish the governmental entity from the island.
The island ranks 21st in the world by area. It is 3.6% smaller than the island of Ireland while Hispaniola is 6.1% smaller than Hokkaidō. By population it ranks 20th, between Ireland and Sicily. Hokkaidō's population is 4.7% less than that of the island of Ireland, and Sicily's is 12% lower than Hokkaidō's.

Seismic activity

Like the rest of Japan, Hokkaidō is seismically active. Aside from numerous earthquakes, the following volcanoes are still considered active (at least one eruption since 1850):

★ Mount Koma

★ Mount Usu and Showashinzan

★ Mount Tarumae

★ Mount Tokachi

★ Mount Meakan
An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 struck near the island on 2003-09-25 at 19:50:07 (UTC). In 1993, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 generated a tsunami which devastated Okushiri, killing 202.

National Parks and quasi-national parks

There are still many undisturbed forests in Hokkaidō, including:

National parks
Shiretoko National Park ★	知床
Akan National Park	阿寒
Kushiro Shitsugen National Park	釧路湿原
Daisetsuzan National Park	大雪山
Shikotsu-Toya National Park	支笏洞爺
Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park	利尻礼文サロベツ

Quasi-national parks (準国立公園)
Onuma Quasi-National Park	大沼
Niseko-Shakotan-Otaru Kaigan Quasi-National Park	ニセコ積丹小樽海岸
Abashiri Quasi-National Park	網走
Hidaka Sanmyaku-Erimo Quasi-National Park	日高山脈襟裳
Shokambetsu-Teuri-Yagishiri Quasi-National Park	暑寒別天売焼尻

★ Twelve prefectural natural parks (道立自然公園).

Ramsar sites
Kushiro Wetland
Kiritappu Wetland
	・別寒辺牛湿原
Sarobetsu Mire
	・
	・

Subprefectures

Hokkaidō is one of 8 prefectures in Japan that are divided into subprefectures (the others being Tokyo, Yamagata Prefecture, Nagasaki Prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture, Kagoshima Prefecture, Miyazaki Prefecture and Shimane Prefecture). This is mostly due to its great size: many parts of the prefecture are simply too far away to be effectively administered by Sapporo. Subprefectural offices in Hokkaidō carry out many of the duties that prefectural offices would fulfill elsewhere in Japan.

★ Abashiri ★ Hidaka ★ Hiyama ★ Iburi ★ Ishikari

★ Kamikawa ★ Kushiro ★ Nemuro ★ Oshima ★ Rumoi

★ Shiribeshi ★ Sorachi ★ Sōya ★ Tokachi

Before the current political divisions and after 1869, Hokkaidō was divided into provinces. See Former Provinces of Hokkaidō.

Climate

Hokkaidō is known for its cool summers and icy winters. The average August temperature is around 22°C (72°F), while the average January temperature ranges from −12°C to −4°C (10°F to 25°F) depending on elevation and latitude. The island tends to see isolated snowstorms that develop long-lasting snowbanks, in contrast to the constant flurries seen in the Hokuriku region.
Unlike the other major islands of Japan, Hokkaidō is normally not affected by the June-July rainy season and the relative lack of humidity and typically warm, rather than hot, summer weather makes its climate an attraction for tourists from other parts of Japan.
In winter, the generally high quality of powder snow and numerous mountains in Hokkaidō make it one of Japan's most popular regions for snow sports. The snowfall usually commences in earnest in November and ski resorts (such as those at Niseko, Furano and Rusutsu) usually operate between December and April.
During the winter, passage through the Sea of Okhotsk is often complicated by large ice floes broken loose from the Kamchatka Peninsula. Combined with high winds that occur during winter, this brings air travel and maritime activity almost to a halt on the northern coast of Hokkaidō.

Major cities and towns

Hokkaidō's largest city is the capital, Sapporo. Other major cities include Hakodate in the south and Asahikawa in the central region. Other important population centers include Kushiro, Obihiro, Abashiri, Nemuro.
Hokkaido has the highest rate of depopulation in Japan. In 2000, 152 (71.7%) of Hokkaido's 212 municipalities were shrinking. Total shrinking municipalities in Japan in the same year were the 1,171.

Economy

Hokkaidō is Japan's predominant agricultural area. It leads the country in the production of rice and fish, and shares the lead in vegetable farming.
Although there is some light industry (most notably paper milling, brewing (Sapporo beer), and food production), most of the population is employed by the service sector. Tourism is an important industry, especially during the cool summertime that attracts campers and hot spring-goers from across Japan. During the winter, skiing and other winter sports continue to bring tourists to Hokkaidō (the Winter Olympics were held in Sapporo in 1972).

Transportation

Hokkaidō's only land link to the rest of Japan is the Seikan Tunnel. Most travelers to the island arrive by air: the main airport is New Chitose Airport in Chitose, just south of Sapporo. Tokyo-Chitose is the world's busiest air route, handling 45 widebody round trips on four airlines each day. One of the airlines, Air Do was named after Hokkai'dō'. Hokkaidō can also be reached by ferry from Sendai, Niigata and some other cities.
Within Hokkaidō, there is a fairly well-developed railway network (see Hokkaidō Railway Company), but many cities can only be accessed by bus or car.

Education

The Hokkaidō Prefectural Board of Education oversees public schools in Hokkaidō. The board directly operates public high schools. [1] has a list of public high schools in Japanese.

Sports

The sports teams listed below are based in Hokkaido.
Soccer


★ Consadole Sapporo (Sapporo)
Baseball


★ Nippon Ham Fighters (Sapporo)
Ice Hockey


★ Nippon Paper Cranes (Kushiro)

★ Oji Ice Hockey Team (Tomakomai)

Town twinning

Hokkaido has relationships with several provinces, states, and other entities worldwide.[2]

★ Alberta, Canada, since 1980

★ Heilongjiang, China, since 1980

★ Massachusetts, United States of America, since 1988

★ Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, since 1998

★ Busan, South Korea, since 2005

★ Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea, since 2006

See also

★ Former Hokkaidō government office building

★ Asia League Ice Hockey

★ Sankebetsu brown bear incident

External links

★ Hokkaido Official Website

★ TransGlobal Highway – Proposed Hokkaidō-Sakhalin Friendship Tunnel.

★ Sea-Girt Yezo: Glimpses at Missionary Work in North Japan, by John Batchelor 1902 account of life and Anglican missionary work on Hokkaidō

★ Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Isabella L. Bird, 1878 travelogue of Victorian-era woman traveller, Hokkaido letters

★

References

Much of the content of the history section in this article comes from the 2005-05-10 version of the Hokkaidō article, , at the Japanese-language Wikipedia.