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112-467: The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo , which is also its only ordinance-designated city . Sakhalin lies about 43 kilometres (27 mi) to the north of Hokkaidō, and to the east and northeast are the Kuril Islands , which are administered by Russia , though the four most southerly are claimed by Japan . The position of the island on the northern end of the archipelago results in

224-441: A humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfa ), with a wide range of temperature between the summer and winter. Summers are generally warm and humid, but not oppressively hot, and winters are cold and very snowy, with an average snowfall of 4.79 m (15 ft 9 in) per year. Sapporo is one of few metropolises in the world with such heavy snowfall, enabling it to hold events and festivals with snow statues. The heavy snowfall

336-499: A population density of 1,748 persons per km (4,500 persons per mi ). The total area is 1,121.26 km (432.92  sq mi ). Before its establishment, the area occupied by Sapporo (Ishikari Plain,around Ishikari, Hokkaido ) was home to indigenous Ainu settlements. In 1866, at the end of the Edo period , construction began on a canal through the area, encouraging a number of early settlers to establish Sapporo village. In 1868,

448-741: A Ferris wheel) are in Susukino district. The district also has the Tanuki Kōji Shopping Arcade, the oldest shopping mall in the city. The district of Jōzankei in Minami-ku has many resort hotels with steam baths and onsen . The Peace Pagoda , one of many such monuments across the world built by the Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji to promote and inspire world peace, has a stupa that was built in 1959, halfway up Mount Moiwa, to commemorate peace after World War II . It contains some of

560-481: A Japanese traditional song, " Sōran Bushi ". Members of the dancing teams wear special costumes and compete on the roads or stages constructed on the festival sites. In 2006, 350 teams were featured with around 45,000 dancers, and over 1,860,000 people visited the festival. The Sapporo Summer Festival. People enjoy drinking at the beer garden in Odori Park and on the streets of Susukino . This festival consists of

672-536: A colder climate, with the island seeing significant snowfall each winter. Despite the harsher climate, it serves as an agricultural breadbasket for many crops. Hokkaido was formerly known as Ezo , Yezo , Yeso , or Yesso . Although Japanese settlers ruled the southern tip of the island since the 16th century, Hokkaido was primarily inhabited by the Ainu people . In 1869, following the Meiji Restoration ,

784-892: A conducive environment for emigration and settlement. However, the Japanese did not have expertise in modern agricultural techniques, and only possessed primitive mining and lumbering methods. Kuroda Kiyotaka was put in charge of the project, and turned to the United States for help. His first step was to journey to the United States and recruit Horace Capron , President Ulysses S. Grant's commissioner of agriculture. From 1871 to 1873 Capron bent his efforts to expounding Western agriculture and mining, with mixed results. Frustrated with obstacles to his efforts, Capron returned home in 1875. In 1876, William S. Clark arrived to found an agricultural college in Sapporo . Although he only remained

896-515: A large number of ships in ports along Hokkaidō's southern coastline as well as in northern Honshu. In addition, on 15 July a force of three battleships and two light cruisers bombarded the city of Muroran . Before the Japanese surrender was formalized, the Soviet Union made preparations for an invasion of Hokkaidō , but U.S. President Harry Truman made it clear that the surrender of all of

1008-663: A larger international airport located in the city of Chitose 30 mi (48 km) away, connected by regular rapid trains taking around 40 minutes. The Sapporo-Tokyo route between New Chitose and Haneda is one of the busiest in the world. JR Hokkaido Stations in Sapporo An airport shuttle bus servicing hotels in Sapporo operates every day of the year. SkyExpress was founded in 2005 and also provides transport to and from various ski resorts throughout Hokkaido, including Niseko . Sapporo JR Tower adjacent to Sapporo Station . Sapporo Ramen Yokocho and Norubesa (a building with

1120-519: A modern ethnolinguistic point of view, the Ainu people have extended their domain to a large part of Sakhalin and the entire Kuril Islands. Another phrase, yaunmosir (ヤウンモシㇼ) has gained prominence. It literally means the "onshore land", as opposed to the "offshore land" ( repunmosir ), which, depending on context, can refer to the Kuril Islands, Honshu, or any foreign country. If the speaker

1232-460: A non-Japanese identity. In fact, many of the feudal strongmen were descended from Emishi military leaders who had been assimilated into Japanese society. The Matsumae clan were of Yamato descent like other ethnic Japanese people , whereas the Emishi of northern Honshu were a distinctive group related to the Ainu. The Emishi were conquered and integrated into the Japanese state dating back as far as

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1344-520: A number of fairs such as Tanuki Festival and Susukino Festival. September : the Sapporo Autumn Festival Clusivity In linguistics , clusivity is a grammatical distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive " we " and exclusive "we" . Inclusive "we" specifically includes the addressee , while exclusive "we" specifically excludes

1456-474: A settlement at the south of the Oshima Peninsula , with a series of fortified residences such as that of Shinoridate . As more people moved to the settlement to avoid battles, disputes arose between the Japanese and the Ainu. The disputes eventually developed into war. Takeda Nobuhiro (1431 – 1494) killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain, and defeated the opposition in 1457. Nobuhiro's descendants became

1568-406: A special advisor to the commission. Construction began around Odori Park , which still remains as a green ribbon of recreational land bisecting the central area of the city. The city closely followed a grid plan with streets at right-angles to form city blocks. The continuing expansion of the Japanese into around Hokkaido continued, and the prosperity of Hokkaido and particularly its capital grew to

1680-637: A substratum while Dravidian was displaced). It can also be found in the languages of eastern Siberia , such as Tungusic , as well as northern Mandarin Chinese . In indigenous languages of the Americas , it is found in about half the languages, with no clear geographic or genealogical pattern. It is also found in a few languages of the Caucasus and Sub-Saharan Africa , such as Fulani , and Khoekhoe . It is, of course, possible in any language to express

1792-596: A suffix indicates the singular. The exclusive form is used in the singular as the normal word for "I", but the inclusive also occurs in the singular. The distinction is one of discourse : the singular inclusive has been described as the "modesty I" in Tongan. It is often rendered in English as one , but in Samoan, its use has been described as indicating emotional involvement on the part of the speaker. In theory, clusivity of

1904-642: A two-by-two grid: In some languages, the three first-person pronouns appear to be unrelated roots. That is the case for Chechen , which has singular со ( so ) , exclusive тхо ( txo ) , and inclusive вай ( vay ) . In others, however, all three are transparently simple compounds, as in Tok Pisin , an English creole spoken in Papua New Guinea , which has singular mi, exclusive mi-pela , and inclusive yu-mi (a compound of mi with yu "you") or yu-mi-pela . However, when only one of

2016-587: A year, Clark left a lasting impression on Hokkaidō, inspiring the Japanese with his teachings on agriculture as well as Christianity. His parting words, "Boys, be ambitious!" , can be found on public buildings in Hokkaidō to this day. The population of Hokkaidō increased from 58,000 to 240,000 during that decade. Kuroda hired Capron for $ 10,000 per year and paid for all expenses related to the mission. Kuroda and his government were likely intrigued by Capron's previous colonial experience, particularly his involvement in

2128-434: Is seismically active. Aside from numerous earthquakes , the following volcanoes are considered still active (at least one eruption since 1850): In 1993, an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 generated a tsunami which devastated Okushiri , killing 202 inhabitants. An earthquake of magnitude 8.3 struck near the island on September 26, 2003. On September 6, 2018, an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck with its epicenter near

2240-672: Is 83,423.84 km (32,210.12 sq mi) which make it the second-largest island of Japan. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu ( Aomori Prefecture ); La Pérouse Strait separates Hokkaidō from the island of Sakhalin in Russia; Nemuro Strait separates Hokkaidō from Kunashir Island in the Russian Kuril Islands . The governmental jurisdiction of Hokkaidō incorporates several smaller islands, including Rishiri , Okushiri Island , and Rebun . (By Japanese reckoning, Hokkaidō also incorporates several of

2352-635: Is a city in Japan . It is the largest in northern Japan and the largest city in Hokkaido , the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city in Japan with 1,959,750 residents as of July 31, 2023. It is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture and Ishikari Subprefecture . Sapporo lies in the southwest of Hokkaido, within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River , which

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2464-438: Is a destination for winter sports and events and summer activities due to its comparatively cool climate. The city is also the manufacturing centre of Hokkaido, manufacturing various goods such as food and related products, fabricated metal products, steel, machinery, beverages, and pulp and paper. The Sapporo Breweries , founded in 1876, is a major company and employer in the city. Hokkaido International Airlines (Air Do)

2576-576: Is a resident of Hokkaido, yaunmosir can refer to Hokkaido. Yet another phrase, akor mosir (アコㇿモシㇼ) means " our (inclusive) land". If uttered among Hokkaido Ainus, it can refer to Hokkaido or Japan as a whole. During the Jomon period the local culture and the associated hunter-gatherer lifestyle flourished in Hokkaidō, beginning over 15,000 years ago. In contrast to the island of Honshu, Hokkaidō saw an absence of conflict during this time period. Jomon beliefs in natural spirits are theorized to be

2688-546: Is a tributary stream of the Ishikari . It is considered the cultural, economic, and political center of Hokkaido. Sapporo hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics , the first Winter Olympics ever held in Asia, and the second Olympic games held in Japan after the 1964 Summer Olympics . Sapporo recently dropped its bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics . The Sapporo Dome hosted three games during the 2002 FIFA World Cup and two games during

2800-431: Is almost 11 times bigger than the national average of 2.4 hectares. Tourism is an important industry, especially during the cool summertime when visitors are attracted to Hokkaidō's open spaces from hotter and more humid parts of Japan and other Asian countries. During the winter, skiing and other winter sports bring other tourists, and increasingly international ones, to the island. Coal mining played an important role in

2912-604: Is also found in languages of eastern, southern, and southwestern Asia , Americas , and in some creole languages . Some African languages also make the distinction, such as the Fula language . No European language outside the Caucasus makes this distinction grammatically, but some constructions may be semantically inclusive or exclusive. Several Polynesian languages , such as Samoan and Tongan , have clusivity with overt dual and plural suffixes in their pronouns. The lack of

3024-549: Is controversial and not well attested. While clusivity is not a feature of standard English language, it is found in many languages around the world. The first published description of the inclusive-exclusive distinction by a European linguist was in a description of languages of Peru in 1560 by Domingo de Santo Tomás in his Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los Reynos del Perú , published in Valladolid , Spain. Clusivity paradigms may be summarized as

3136-653: Is divided into 179 municipalities. There are 35 cities in Hokkaidō: These are the towns and villages in Hokkaido Prefecture: As Japan's coldest region, Hokkaidō has relatively cool summers and icy/snowy winters. Most of the island falls in the humid continental climate zone with Köppen climate classification Dfb ( hemiboreal ) in most areas but Dfa (hot summer humid continental) in some inland lowlands. The average August temperature ranges from 17 to 22 °C (62.6 to 71.6 °F), while

3248-603: Is due to the Siberian High developing over the Eurasian land mass and the Aleutian Low developing over the northern Pacific Ocean, resulting in a flow of cold air southeastward across Tsushima Current and to western Hokkaido. The city's annual average precipitation is around 1,100 mm (43.3 in), and the mean annual temperature is 8.5 °C (47.3 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Sapporo

3360-761: Is headquartered in Chūō-ku . In April 2004, Air Nippon Network was headquartered in Higashi-ku . Other companies headquartered in Sapporo include Crypton Future Media , DB-Soft , Hokkaido Air System , and Royce' . Greater Sapporo, Sapporo Metropolitan Employment Area (2.3 million people), had a total GDP of US$ 84.7 billion in 2010. In 2014, Sapporo's GDP per capita (PPP) was US$ 32,446. See Japanese national university There are 198 municipal elementary schools, and 98 municipal junior high schools in Sapporo. Sapporo Odori High School provides Japanese-language classes to foreign and Japanese returnee students, and

3472-464: Is home to Hokkaido University , just north of Sapporo Station . The city is served by Okadama Airport and New Chitose Airport in nearby Chitose . Sapporo's name is taken from Ainuic sat poro pet ( サッ・ポロ・ペッ ), which can be translated as "dry, great river", a reference to the Toyohira River. Sapporo is a city located in the southwest part of Ishikari Plain and the alluvial fan of

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3584-450: Is located in the heart of the city and hosts a number of annual events and festivals throughout the year. Moerenuma Park is also one of the largest parks in Sapporo, and was constructed under the plan of Isamu Noguchi , a Japanese-American artist and landscape architect. Neighbouring cities are Ishikari , Ebetsu , Kitahiroshima , Eniwa , Chitose , Otaru , Date , and adjoining towns are Tōbetsu , Kimobetsu , Kyōgoku . Sapporo has

3696-416: Is nonetheless not currently attested. Horst J. Simon provides a deep analysis of second-person clusivity in his 2005 article. He concludes that oft-repeated rumors regarding the existence of second-person clusivity—or indeed, any [+3] pronoun feature beyond simple exclusive we – are ill-founded, and based on erroneous analysis of the data. The inclusive–exclusive distinction occurs nearly universally among

3808-599: 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. Hokkaidō's largest city is the capital, Sapporo , which is a designated city. The island has two core cities: Hakodate in the south and Asahikawa in the central region. Other important population centers include Tomakomai , Iwamizawa , Kushiro , Obihiro , Kitami , Abashiri , Wakkanai , and Nemuro . Although there

3920-544: Is relatively uncommon in the otherwise mountainous geography of Hokkaido. During 1870–1871, Kuroda Kiyotaka , vice-chairman of the Hokkaido Development Commission (Kaitaku-shi), approached the American government for assistance in developing the land. As a result, Horace Capron , Secretary of Agriculture under President Ulysses S. Grant , became an oyatoi gaikokujin and was appointed as

4032-415: Is some light industry (most notably paper milling and beer brewing) most of the population is employed by the service sector. In 2001, the service sector and other tertiary industries generated more than three-quarters of the gross domestic product. Agriculture and other primary industries play a large role in Hokkaidō's economy. Hokkaidō has nearly one fourth of Japan's total arable land. It ranks first in

4144-444: Is the only one of the eight to have such offices covering the whole of its territory outside the main cities (rather than having them just for outlying islands or remote areas). This is mostly because of 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 fulfill elsewhere in Japan. Hokkaidō

4256-607: The 1940 Winter Olympics , but due to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War , this was cancelled the next year. Maruyama Town was integrated as a part of Chūō-ku in 1940, and the Okadama Airport was constructed in 1942. During World War II , the city was bombed by American naval aircraft in July 1945. The first Sapporo Snow Festival was held in 1950. In the same year, adjacent Shiroishi Village

4368-685: The 2019 Rugby World Cup . Additionally, Sapporo has hosted the Asian Winter Games three times, in 1986 , 1990 , and 2017 and the 1991 Winter Universiade . Sapporo is ranked second in the attractiveness ranking of cities in Japan. The annual Sapporo Snow Festival draws more than 2 million tourists. Other notable sites include the Sapporo Beer Museum and the Sapporo TV Tower located in Odori Park . It

4480-463: The Ainu language as critically endangered. Given the Meiji state's full political control over the island, the subsequent subjugation of its indigenous inhabitants, aggressive economic exploitation, and ambitious permanent settlement endeavors, Hokkaido emerged as the sole successful settler colony of Japan. After the Meiji colonization of Hokkaido, Meiji Japan depended on prison labour to accelerate

4592-712: The Austronesian languages and the languages of northern Australia , but rarely in the nearby Papuan languages . ( Tok Pisin , an English-Melanesian creole , generally has the inclusive–exclusive distinction, but this varies with the speaker's language background.) It is widespread in India, featuring in the Dravidian and Munda languages , as well as in several Indo-European languages of India such as Oriya , Marathi , Rajasthani , Punjabi , Dakhini , and Gujarati (which either borrowed it from Dravidian or retained it as

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4704-689: The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force . May : the Sapporo Lilac Festival. Lilac was brought to Sapporo in 1889 by an American educator, Sarah Clara Smith. At the festival, people enjoy the flowers, wine and live music. June : the Yosakoi Soran Festival. The sites of the festival are centered on Odori Park and the street leading to Susukino, and there are other festival sites. In the festival, many dance teams dance to music composed based on

4816-581: The Japanese home islands would be accepted by General Douglas MacArthur per the 1943 Cairo Declaration . Hokkaidō became equal with other prefectures in 1947, when the revised Local Autonomy Act became effective. The Japanese central government established the Hokkaidō Development Agency ( 北海道開発庁 , Hokkaidō Kaihatsuchō ) as an agency of the Prime Minister 's Office in 1949 to maintain its executive power in Hokkaidō. The agency

4928-403: The Kuril Islands .) Hokkaidō Prefecture is the largest and northernmost Japanese prefecture . The island ranks 21st in the world by area . Hokkaidō has the third-largest population of Japan's five main islands, with 5,111,691 people as of 2023. It has the lowest population density in Japan, with just 61 inhabitants per square kilometre (160/sq mi). Hokkaidō ranks 21st in population among

5040-676: The Laxman expedition  [ ru ] of 1793 and the Golovnin Incident of 1804. Once the respective Russian threats appeared to subside, the assimilation programs were halted until 1855. However, in 1855, once the Treaty of Shimoda was signed, which defined the borders between Russian Empire and Tokugawa Japan, the Tokugawa again viewed Russia as a threat to Japanese sovereignty over Hokkaido and reinstated assimilation programs on

5152-530: The Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate realized the need to prepare northern defenses against a possible Russian invasion and took over control of most of Ezochi in 1855-1858. Many Japanese settlers regarded the Ainu as "inhuman and the inferior descendants of dogs". The Tokugawa irregularly imposed various assimilation programs on the Ainu due to the Tokugawa's perception of a threat from Russia. For example, assimilation programs were implemented in response to perceived threats from Russia, which included

5264-647: The Mishihase and Emishi . One of the places Hirafu went to was called Watarishima ( 渡島 ) , which is often believed to be present-day Hokkaidō. However, many theories exist concerning 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 people . During the Nara and Heian periods (710–1185), people in Hokkaidō conducted trade with Dewa Province , an outpost of

5376-803: The Sea of Japan (to the west of the island), the Sea of Okhotsk (to the north), and the Pacific Ocean (to the east). The center of the island is mountainous, with volcanic plateaux . Hokkaidō has multiple plains such as the Ishikari Plain 3,800 km (1,500 sq mi), Tokachi Plain 3,600 km (1,400 sq mi), the Kushiro Plain  [ ja ] 2,510 km (970 sq mi) (the largest wetland in Japan) and Sarobetsu Plain 200 km (77 sq mi). Hokkaidō

5488-409: The Sea of Okhotsk is often complicated by large floes of drift ice . Combined with high winds that occur during winter, this frequently brings air travel and maritime activity to a halt beyond the northern coast of Hokkaidō. Ports on the open Pacific Ocean and Sea of Japan are generally ice-free year round, though most rivers freeze during the winter. Unlike the other major islands of Japan, Hokkaidō

5600-627: The Tohoku Imperial University was established in Sendai Miyagi Prefecture, and Sapporo Agricultural College was controlled by the university. Parts of neighbouring villages including Sapporo Village, Naebo Village, Kami Shiroishi Village, and districts where the Tonden-hei had settled, were integrated into Sapporo-ku in 1910. The Sapporo Streetcar was opened in 1918, and Hokkaido Imperial University

5712-629: The Toyohira River , a tributary stream of the Ishikari River . It is part of Ishikari Subprefecture . Roadways in the urban district are laid to make a grid plan. The western and southern parts of Sapporo are occupied by a number of mountains including Mount Teine, Maruyama, and Mount Moiwa , as well as many rivers including the Ishikari River, Toyohira River, and Sōsei River. Sapporo has an elevation of 29 m (95 ft 2 in). Sapporo has many parks, including Odori Park, which

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5824-554: The University of Florida , prior to 1868 Japan used proximity as its claim to Hokkaido, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands ; however, Japan had never thoroughly explored, governed, or exploited the areas, and this claim was invalidated by the movement of Russia into the Northeast Pacific area and by Russian settlements on Kamchatka (from 1699), Sakhalin (1850s) and the Sea of Okhotsk Coast (1640s onwards). Prior to

5936-684: The "replacement" theory that posits the Jōmon was replaced by the Yayoi. There were numerous revolts by the Ainu against feudal rule. The last large-scale resistance was Shakushain's revolt in 1669–1672. In 1789, a smaller movement known as the Menashi–Kunashir rebellion was crushed. After that rebellion, the terms "Japanese" and "Ainu" referred to clearly distinguished groups, and the Matsumae were unequivocally Japanese. According to John A. Harrison of

6048-498: The 100th anniversary of the foundation of Sapporo and Hokkaido was held in 1968. The Sapporo Municipal Subway system was inaugurated in 1971, which made Sapporo the fourth city in Japan to have a subway system. From February 3 to 13, 1972, the 1972 Winter Olympics were held, the first Winter Olympics held in Asia. On April 1 of the same year, Sapporo was designated as one of the cities designated by government ordinance , and seven wards were established. The last public performance by

6160-500: The 8th century and as result began to lose their distinctive culture and ethnicity as they became minorities. By the time the Matsumae clan ruled over the Ainu, most of the Emishi were ethnically mixed and physically closer to Japanese than they were to Ainu. From this, the "transformation" theory postulates that native Jōmon peoples changed gradually with the infusion of Yayoi immigrants into the Tōhoku region of northern Honshu, in contrast to

6272-521: The Ainu people by forcing them to leave their traditional lands and relocating them to the rugged, mountainous regions in the center of the island. The act prohibited the Ainu from fishing and hunting, which were their main source of subsistence. The Ainu were valued primarily as a source of inexpensive manual labor, and discriminatory assimilation policies further entrenched their sense of inferiority as well as worsened poverty and disease within Ainu communities. These policies exacerbated diasporic trends among

6384-598: The Ainu population, as many sought employment with the government or private enterprises, often earning meager wages that barely sustained their families. The Meiji government embarked on assimilation campaigns aimed not only at assimilating the Ainu but also eradicating their language and culture entirely. They were forced to take on Japanese names and language, and gradually saw their culture and traditions eroded. The Ainu were forbidden to speak their own language and taught only Japanese at school. Facing pervasive stigma, many Ainu concealed their heritage. UNESCO has recognized

6496-617: The Ainu. Prior to the Meiji era, the island was called Ezochi, which can be translated as "land of the barbarians" or "the land for people who did not obey the government." Shortly after the Boshin War in 1868, a group of Tokugawa loyalists led by Enomoto Takeaki temporarily occupied the island (the polity is commonly but mistakenly known as the Republic of Ezo ), but the rebellion was defeated in May 1869. Through colonial practices, Ezochi

6608-574: The Bible as an "ethics" course, introducing Christian principles to the first entering class of the college. In 1880, the entire area of Sapporo was renamed as "Sapporo-ku" (Sapporo Ward), and a railroad between Sapporo and Temiya, Otaru was laid. That year the Hōheikan , a hotel and reception facility for visiting officials and dignitaries, was built adjacent to the Odori Park. It was later moved to Nakajima Park where it remains today. Two years later, with

6720-611: The Development Commission was to secure Hokkaidō before the Russians extended their control of the Far East beyond Vladivostok . The Japanese failed to settle in the interior lowlands of the island because of aboriginal resistance. The resistance was eventually destroyed, and the lowlands were under the control of the commission. The most important goal of the Japanese was to increase the farm population and to create

6832-408: The Japanese central government. From the feudal period , the people in Hokkaidō began to be called Ezo . Hokkaidō subsequently became known as Ezochi ( 蝦夷地 , lit. "Ezo-land") or Ezogashima ( 蝦夷ヶ島 , lit. "Island of the Ezo") . The Ezo mainly relied upon hunting and fishing and obtained rice and iron through trade with the Japanese. During the Muromachi period (1336–1573), the Japanese established

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6944-420: The Japanese was organized and supported through collaboration between the Japanese state and American experts and technology. From the 1870s to the 1880s, Japanese leaders placed their efforts on settling Hokkaido by systematically migrating former samurai lords, samurai retainers, and common citizens, which included farmers and peasants, providing them with "free" land and financial assistance. This transformation

7056-432: The Meiji government decided to change the name of Ezochi. Matsuura Takeshirō submitted six proposals, including names such as Kaihokudō ( 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 北加伊道 because of the similarity with names such as Tōkaidō ( 東海道 ) . According to Matsuura,

7168-413: The Pacific side. The generally high quality of powder snow and numerous mountains in Hokkaidō make it a popular region for snow sports. The snowfall usually commences in earnest in November and ski resorts (such as those at Niseko, Furano, Teine and Rusutsu) usually operate between December and April. Hokkaidō celebrates its winter weather at the Sapporo Snow Festival . During the winter, passage through

7280-508: The Tondenhei, the soldiers pioneering Hokkaido, settled in the place where the area of Tonden in Kita-ku, Sapporo is currently located. Sapporo-ku administered surrounding Sapporo-gun until 1899, when the new district system was announced. After that year, Sapporo-ku was away from the control of Sapporo-gun. The "ku" (district) enforced from 1899 was an autonomy which was a little bigger than towns, and smaller than cities. In Hokkaido at that time, Hakodate-ku and Otaru-ku also existed. In 1907,

7392-400: The US in 1883 but returned to Japan as a secretary of government. William S. Clark , who was the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst ), came to be the founding vice-president of the Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University ) for only eight months from 1876 to 1877. He taught academic subjects in science and lectured on

7504-402: The United States. This included declaring large portions of Hokkaido as ownerless land, providing a pretext for the dispossession of the Ainu people. Japan established the Hokkaido Colonization Board in 1869, a year after the start of the Meiji era, with the goal of encouraging Japanese settlers to Hokkaido. Mainland Japanese settlers began migrating to Hokkaido, leading to Japan's colonization of

7616-525: The abolition of the Kaitaku-shi, Hokkaidō was divided into three prefectures: Hakodate, Sapporo, and Nemuro. The name of the urban district in Sapporo remained Sapporo-ku, while the rest of the area in Sapporo-ku was changed to Sapporo-gun. The office building of Sapporo-ku was also located in the urban district. Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro Prefectures were abolished in 1886, and Hokkaidō government office building , an American- neo-baroque -style structure with red bricks, constructed in 1888. The last squad of

7728-417: The addressee; in other words, two (or more) words that both translate to "we", one meaning "you and I, and possibly someone else", the other meaning "me and some other person or persons, but not you". While imagining that this sort of distinction could be made in other persons (particularly the second) is straightforward, in fact the existence of second-person clusivity (you vs. you and they) in natural languages

7840-430: The ashes of the Buddha that were presented to the Emperor of Japan by Prime Minister Nehru in 1954. Another portion was presented to Mikhail Gorbachev by the Nipponzan-Myohoji monk, Junsei Terasawa. February : the Sapporo Snow Festival The main site is at Odori Park, and other sites include Susukino (known as the Susukino Ice Festival) and Sapporo Satoland . Many of the snow and ice statues are built by members of

7952-496: The average January temperature ranges from −12 to −4 °C (10.4 to 24.8 °F), in both cases depending on elevation and distance from the ocean, though temperatures on the western side of the island tend to be a little warmer than on the eastern. The highest temperature ever recorded is 39.5 °C (103.1 °F) on 26 May 2019. The northern portion of Hokkaidō falls into the taiga biome with significant snowfall. Snowfall varies widely from as much as 11 metres (400 in) on

8064-520: The city of Tomakomai , causing a blackout across the whole island. On May 16, 2021, an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck off Japan's Hokkaidō prefecture. * designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on 2005-07-14. As of April 2010, Hokkaidō has nine General Subprefectural Bureaus (総合振興局) and five Subprefectural Bureaus (振興局). Hokkaidō is one of eight prefectures in Japan that have subprefectures (支庁 shichō ). However, it

8176-915: The colonization process. The Japanese built three prisons and rendered Hokkaido a prison island, where political prisoners were incarcerated and used as prison labour. During the opening ceremony of the first prison, the Ainu name “Shibetsuputo” was replaced with the Japanese name “Tsukigata,” as an attempt to “Japanize” Hokkaido's geography. The second prison opened near the Hokutan Horonai coal mine , where Ainu people were forced to work. Cheap prison labour played an important role in coal and sulphur mining, as well as road construction in Hokkaido. Eventually, several types of indentured labour, Korean labour, child labour and women labour replaced convict labour in Hokkaido. Working conditions were difficult and dangerous. Japan's transition to capitalism depended heavily on

8288-473: The entire island was annexed , colonized and renamed Hokkaido by Japan. Japanese settlers dispossessed the Ainu of their land and forced them to assimilate . In the 21st century, the Ainu are almost totally assimilated into Japanese society; as a result, the majority of Japanese of Ainu descent have no knowledge of their heritage and culture. When establishing the Development Commission ,

8400-482: The exclusive is the regular word for "I", and the singular form of the inclusive may also occur on its own and then also means "I" but with a connotation of appealing or asking for indulgence. In the Kunama language of Eritrea , the first-person inclusive and exclusive distinction is marked on dual and plural forms of verbs, independent pronouns, and possessive pronouns. Where verbs are inflected for person , as in

8512-475: The exclusive, ’oo-be’e , is a separate root. It is not uncommon for two separate words for "I" to pluralize into derived words, which have a clusivity distinction. For example, in Vietnamese , the familiar word for "I" ( ta ) pluralizes to inclusive we ( chúng ta ), and the formal or cold word for "I" ( tôi ) pluralizes into exclusive we ( chúng tôi ). In Samoan , the singular form of

8624-508: The expansion of the Japanese feudal state. Medieval military leaders in northern Honshu (ex. Northern Fujiwara , Akita clan ) maintained only tenuous political and cultural ties to the imperial court and its proxies, the Kamakura shogunate and Ashikaga shogunate . Feudal strongmen sometimes defined their own roles within the medieval institutional order, taking shogunate titles, while in other times they assumed titles that seemed to give them

8736-567: The first round. Fumio Ueda, was elected as Sapporo mayor for the first time in 2003. Sapporo became the home to a Nippon Professional Baseball team, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters , in 2004, which won the 2006 Japan Series , and the victory parade was held on Ekimae-Dōri (a street in front of Sapporo Station ) in February 2007. The 34th G8 summit took place in Tōyako in 2008, and a number of people including anti-globalization activists marched in

8848-669: The forced removal of Native Americans from Texas to new territories after the Mexican–American War . Capron introduced capital-intensive farming techniques by adopting American methods and tools, importing seeds for Western crops, and bringing in European livestock breeds, which included his favorite North Devon cattle . He founded experimental farms in Hokkaido, conducted surveys to assess mineral deposits and agricultural potential, and advocated for improvements in water access, mills, and roads. The settler colonization of Hokkaido by

8960-553: The growth of the coal mining sector in Hokkaidō. The importance of coal from Hokkaidō increased throughout the First World War, and the mines required a large amount of labourers. In mid-July 1945, various shipping ports, cities, and military facilities in Hokkaidō were attacked by the United States Navy 's Task Force 38 . On 14–15 July, aircraft operating from the task force's aircraft carriers sank and damaged

9072-601: The heart of the city to protest. Police officers were gathered in Sapporo from all over Japan, while four people were arrested in the demonstrations. The Hokkaidō Shinkansen line, which currently connects Honshu to Hakodate through the Seikan Tunnel , is planned to link to Sapporo by 2030. Sapporo has twinning relationships with several cities worldwide. Sapporo also cooperates with: The tertiary sector dominates Sapporo's industry. Major industries include information technology, retail, and tourism, as Sapporo

9184-460: The idea of clusivity semantically, and many languages provide common forms that clarify the ambiguity of their first person pronoun (English "the rest of us", Italian noialtri ). A language with a true clusivity distinction, however, does not provide a first-person plural with indefinite clusivity in which the clusivity of the pronoun is ambiguous; rather, speakers are forced to specify by the choice of pronoun or inflection, whether they are including

9296-486: The industrial development of Hokkaidō, with the Ishikari coalfield . Cities such as Muroran were primarily developed to supply the rest of the archipelago with coal. In 2023, Rapidus Corporation announced Hokkaido's largest business investment with a 5 trillion yen plan to build a semiconductor manufacturing factory in Chitose . The site is expected to eventually host over 1,000 employees. Hokkaido's only land link to

9408-528: The island. Motivated by capitalist and industrial goals, the Meiji government forcefully appropriated fertile land and mineral-rich regions throughout Hokkaido, without consideration for their historical Ainu inhabitancy. The Meiji government implemented land seizures and enacted land ownership laws that favored Japanese settlers, effectively stripping Ainu people of their customary land rights and traditional means of subsistence. The 1899 Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act further marginalized and impoverished

9520-498: The island. There are more brown bears in Hokkaidō than anywhere else in Asia besides Russia. The Hokkaidō brown bear is separated into three distinct lineages. There are only eight lineages in the world. Those on Honshu died out long ago. The native conifer species in northern Hokkaidō is the Sakhalin fir ( Abies sachalinensis ). The flowering plant Hydrangea hirta is also found on the island. Like many areas of Japan, Hokkaidō

9632-479: The large geographical entity. The phrase aynumosir ( アイヌモシㇼ ) has been a preferred choice among Japanese activists. Its primary meaning is the "land of humans", as opposed to the "land of gods" ( kamuymosir ). When contrasted with sisammosir (the land of the neighbors, often pointing to Honshu or Japanese settlements on the southern tip of Hokkaido), it means the land of the Ainu people, which, depending on context, can refer to Hokkaido, although from

9744-445: The literature as "2+2" and "2+3", respectively (the numbers referring to second and third person as appropriate). Some notable linguists, such as Bernard Comrie , have attested that the distinction is extant in spoken natural languages, while others, such as John Henderson, maintain that a clusivity distinction in the second person is too complex to process. Many other linguists take the more neutral position that it could exist but

9856-557: The mountains adjacent to the Sea of Japan down to around 1.8 metres (71 in) on the Pacific coast. The island tends to have isolated snowstorms that develop long-lasting snowbanks. Total precipitation varies from 1,600 millimetres (63 in) on the mountains of the Sea of Japan coast to around 800 millimetres (31 in) (the lowest in Japan) on the Sea of Okhotsk coast and interior lowlands and up to around 1,100 millimetres (43 in) on

9968-527: The name was thought up because the Ainu called the region Kai . The kai element also strongly resembles the On'yomi , or Sino-Japanese , reading of the characters 蝦夷 ( on'yomi as [ ka.i , カイ], kun'yomi as [ e.mi.ɕi , えみし]) 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

10080-403: The nation in the production of a host of agricultural products, including wheat, soybeans, potatoes, sugar beets, onions, pumpkins, corn, raw milk, and beef. Hokkaidō also accounts for 22% of Japan's forests with a sizable timber industry. The prefecture is first in the nation in production of marine products and aquaculture. The average farm size in Hokkaidō is 26 hectares per farmer in 2013, which

10192-506: The native languages of Australia and in many Native American languages, the inclusive-exclusive distinction can be made there as well. For example, in Passamaquoddy , "I/we have it" is expressed In Tamil, on the other hand, the two different pronouns have the same agreement in the verb. First-person clusivity is a common feature among Dravidian , Kartvelian , and Caucasian languages, Australian and Austronesian languages, and

10304-530: The officially recognized year celebrated as the "birth" of Sapporo, the new Meiji government concluded that the existing administrative center of Hokkaido, which at the time was the port of Hakodate , was in an unsuitable location for defense and further development of the island. As a result, it was determined that a new capital on the Ishikari Plain should be established. The plain itself provided an unusually large expanse of flat, well-drained land which

10416-735: The opera singer, Maria Callas , was in Sapporo at the Hokkaido Koseinenkin Kaikan on 11 November 1974. The Sapporo Municipal Subway was expanded when the Tōzai line started operation in 1976, and the Tōhō line was opened in 1988. In 1989, Atsubetsu-ku and Teine-ku were separated from Shiroishi-ku and Nishi-ku. Annual events in Sapporo were started, such as the Pacific Music Festival in 1990, and Yosakoi Sōran Festival in 1992. A professional football club, Consadole Sapporo ,

10528-442: The origins of Ainu spirituality. About 2,000 years ago, the island was colonized by Yayoi people, and much of the island's population shifted away from hunting and gathering towards agriculture. The Nihon Shoki , finished in 720 AD, 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

10640-453: The plural pronouns is related to the singular, that may be the case for either one. In some dialects of Mandarin Chinese , for example, inclusive or exclusive 我們 ／ 我们 wǒmen is the plural form of singular 我 wǒ "I", and inclusive 咱們 ／ 咱们 zánmen is a separate root. However, in Hadza , the inclusive, ’one-be’e , is the plural of the singular ’ono ( ’one- ) "I", and

10752-572: The point that the Development Commission was deemed unnecessary and was abolished in 1882. In 1871, the Hokkaidō Shrine was built in its current location as the Sapporo Shrine. Edwin Dun came to Sapporo to establish sheep and cattle ranches in 1876. He also demonstrated pig raising and the making of butter, cheese, ham and sausage. He was married twice, to Japanese women. He once went back to

10864-581: The provinces of Oshima , Shiribeshi , Iburi , Ishikari , Teshio , Kitami , Hidaka , Tokachi , Kushiro , Nemuro and Chishima . The initiative to colonize Ezo, which later became Hokkaido, traces back to 1869, where Japanese proponents argued that the colonization of Ezo would serve as a strategic move to enhance Japan's standing and influence on the global stage, particularly in negotiations with Western powers, specifically Russia. The Meiji government invested heavily in colonizing Hokkaido for several reasons. Firstly, they aimed to assert their control over

10976-409: The region as a buffer against potential Russian advances. Secondly, they were attracted to Hokkaido's rich natural resources, including coal, timber, fish, and fertile land. Lastly, since Western powers viewed colonial expansion as a symbol of prestige, Japan viewed the colonization of Hokkaido as an opportunity to present itself as a modern and respected nation to Western powers. The primary purpose of

11088-458: The rest of Japan is the Seikan Tunnel . Most travellers travel to the island by air: the main airport is New Chitose Airport at Chitose , just south of Sapporo. Tokyo–Chitose is in the top 10 of the world's busiest air routes , handling more than 40 widebody round trips on several airlines each day. One of the airlines, Air Do was named after Hokkaidō. Sapporo Sapporo ( 札幌市 , Sapporo-shi , [sapːoɾo ɕi] )

11200-582: The rulers of the Matsumae-han , which was granted exclusive trading rights with the Ainu in the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo periods (1568–1868). The Matsumae family 's economy relied upon trade with the Ainu, who had extensive trading networks. The Matsumae held authority over the south of Ezochi until the end of the Edo period. The Matsumae clan rule over the Ainu must be understood in the context of

11312-418: The same way 都 ( -to ) is used for Tokyo . The prefecture's government calls itself the "Hokkaidō Government" rather than the "Hokkaidō Prefectural Government". With the rise of indigenous rights movements, there emerged a notion that Hokkaido should have an Ainu language name. If a decision to change the name is made, however, whichever Ainu phrase is chosen, its original referent is critically different from

11424-433: The school has special admissions quotas for these groups. The city has two private international schools: Sapporo has one streetcar line, three JR Hokkaido lines, three subway lines and JR Bus , Chuo Bus and other bus lines. Sapporo Subway trains have rubber-tired wheels. The Sapporo area is served by two airports: Okadama Airport , which offers regional flights within Hokkaido and Tohoku, and New Chitose Airport ,

11536-460: The second person should be a possible distinction, but its existence is controversial. Clusivity in the second person is conceptually simple but nonetheless if it exists is extremely rare, unlike clusivity in the first. Hypothetical second-person clusivity would be the distinction between "you and you (and you and you ... all present)" and "you (one or more addressees) and someone else whom I am not addressing currently." These are often referred to in

11648-451: The world's islands. Major cities include Sapporo and Asahikawa in the central region, and the port of Hakodate facing Honshu in the south. Sapporo is Hokkaidō's largest city and the fifth-largest in Japan. It had a population of 1,959,750 as of 31 July 2023 and a population density of 1,748/km (4,530/sq mi). There are three populations of the Ussuri brown bear found on

11760-463: Was 36.3 °C (97.3 °F) on August 23, 2023. The coldest temperature ever recorded was −28.5 °C (−19.3 °F) on 1 February 1929. See or edit raw graph data . Sapporo currently has ten wards ( 区 , ku ) . per km The first census of the population of Sapporo was taken in 1873, when 753 families with a total of 1,785 people were recorded in the town. The city has an estimated population of 1,959,750 as of July 31, 2023 and

11872-609: Was absorbed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2001. The Hokkaidō Bureau ( 北海道局 , Hokkaidō-kyoku ) and the Hokkaidō Regional Development Bureau ( 北海道開発局 , Hokkaidō Kaihatsukyoku ) of the ministry still have a strong influence on public construction projects in Hokkaidō. The island of Hokkaidō is located in the north of Japan, near Russia ( Sakhalin Oblast ). It has coastlines on

11984-674: Was actually an alteration, influenced by the Sino-Japanese reading of 蝦夷 Ka-i , of the Nivkh exonym for the Ainu, namely Qoy or IPA: [kʰuɣɪ] . In 1947, Hokkaidō became a full-fledged prefecture. The historical suffix 道 ( -dō ) translates to "prefecture" in English, ambiguously the same as 府 ( -fu ) for Osaka and Kyoto , and 県 ( -ken ) for the rest of the "prefectures". Dō , as shorthand, can be used to uniquely identify Hokkaido, for example as in 道道 ( dōdō , "Hokkaido road") or 道議会 ( Dōgikai , " Hokkaido Assembly "),

12096-402: Was annexed into Japanese territory. Ezochi was subsequently put under control of Hakodate Prefectural Government. When establishing the Development Commission ( 開拓使 , Kaitakushi ) , the Meiji government introduced a new name. After 1869, the northern Japanese island was known as Hokkaidō, which can be translated to "northern sea route," and regional subdivisions were established, including

12208-576: Was established in 1996. In 1997, Kiyota-ku was separated from Toyohira-ku. In the same year, Hokkaidō Takushoku Bank , a Hokkaido-based bank with headquarters in Odori, went bankrupt. In 2001 the construction of the Sapporo Dome was completed, and in 2002 the Dome hosted three games during the 2002 FIFA World Cup : Germany vs Saudi Arabia, Argentina vs England and Italy vs Ecuador, all of which were in

12320-570: Was established in Sapporo-ku, as the fifth Imperial University in Japan. Another railroad operated in Sapporo, the Jōzankei Railroad, which was ultimately abolished in 1969. In 1922, the new city system was announced by the Tokyo government, and Sapporo-ku was officially changed to Sapporo City. The Sapporo Municipal Bus System was started in 1930. In 1937, Sapporo was chosen as the site of

12432-413: Was facilitated with the expertise of American advisors who introduced various colonization technologies, transforming Hokkaido into land suitable for Japan's capitalist aspirations. Japanese leaders drew inspiration from American settler colonialism during their diplomatic visits to the United States. Japanese colonial officials learned settler colonial techniques from Western imperial powers, particularly

12544-464: Was integrated into Sapporo City, rendered as a part of Shiroishi-ku, and Atsubetsu-ku. In 1955, Kotoni Town, the entire Sapporo Village, and Shinoro Village were merged into Sapporo, becoming a part of the current Chūō-ku, Kita-ku, Higashi-ku, Nishi-ku, and Teine-ku. The expansion of Sapporo continued, with the merger of Toyohira Town in 1961, and Teine Town in 1967, each becoming a part of Toyohira-ku, Kiyota-ku, and Teine-ku. The ceremony commemorating

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