Hokkaidō (help·info) (北海道, ? literally \"North Sea Circuit\"), formerly famous as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island and the largest, north of its 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshū, though the digit islands are adjoining by the underwater Seikan Tunnel. The largest city on Hokkaidō is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city.When establishing the Development Commission (開拓使), the Meiji Government definite to modify the study of Ezochi. Matsuura Takeshirō submitted sextet ideas, including obloquy such as Kaihokudo (海北道) and Hokkaidō (北加伊道) to the government. The polity eventually definite to use the study Hokkaidō, but definite to write it as 北海道, as a compromise between 海北道 and because of the similarity with obloquy such as Tōkaidō (東海道). According to Matsuura, the study was intellection 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 whatever kindred name, which haw have whatever connection to the early recent form Kai. The Kai element also strongly resembles the Sino-Japanese datum of the characters 蝦夷 (Sino-Japanese /ka.i/, Japanese kun /emisi/), which have been utilised for over a thousand years in China and Nihon as the standard orthographic form to be utilised when referring to Ainu and related peoples; it is possible that Matsuura's Kai was actually an alteration, influenced by the Sino-Japanese datum of 蝦夷 Ka-i, of the Nivkh exonym for the Ainu, namely Qoy.
Geography
Sōunkyō, a gorge in the Daisetsu-zan Volcanic Area.
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 extrusive plateaus, and there are coastal plains in all directions. Major cities include Sapporo and metropolis in the central region and the port of Hakodate facing Honshū.
The governmental powerfulness 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% inferior 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
- See also: Category:Volcanoes of Hokkaidō
National Parks and quasi-national parks
There are still many undisturbed forests in Hokkaidō, including:National parks
Shiretoko National Park*
Akan National Park
Kushiro Shitsugen National Park
Daisetsuzan National Park
Shikotsu-Toya National Park
Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park
* designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on 2005-07-14.
Subprefectures
Map of Hokkaidō showing the subprefectures and the biggest cities.
- Main article: Subprefectures in Hokkaidō
Hokkaidō is digit of eight prefectures in Nihon that hit subprefectures or topical offices (the others being Tokyo, Yamagata Prefecture, Nagasaki Prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture, Kagoshima Prefecture, Miyazaki Prefecture and Shimane Prefecture). However, it is the exclusive digit of the eight to hit such offices covering the whole of its region outside the main cities (rather than having them meet for outlying islands or remote areas). This is mostly due to its great size: many parts of the prefecture are simply likewise far absent to be effectively administered by Sapporo. Subprefectural offices in Hokkaidō circularize discover many of the duties that prefectural offices fit elsewhere in Japan.
- Abashiri
- Hidaka
- Hiyama
- Iburi
- Ishikari
- Kamikawa
- Kushiro
- Nemuro
- Oshima autumn foliage
- Rumoi between abashiri and kushiro
- Shiribeshi
- Sorachi
- Sōya
- Tokachi
Major cities and towns
- See also: List of cities in Hokkaidō
Former Hokkaido Government Office in Chuo-ku, Sapporo
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.
Hokkaidō has the highest rate of depopulation in Japan. In 2000, 152 (71.7%) of Hokkaidō's 212 municipalities were shrinking. Total shrinking municipalities in Japan in the same year number 1,171.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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 bring tourists, and increasingly international tourists, to Hokkaidō.[6]
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 at Chitose, just south of Sapporo. Tokyo-Chitose is in the top 10 of the world's busiest air routes, handling 45 widebody round trips on four airlines each day. One of the airlines, Air Do was named after Hokkaidō. Hokkaidō can also be reached by ferry from Sendai, Niigata and some other cities, with the ferries from Tokyo dealing only in cargo .
Within Hokkaidō, there is a fairly well-developed railway network (see Hokkaidō Railway Company), but many cities can only be accessed by road.
Hokkaidō is home to one of Japan's three Melody Roads, which is made from grooves cut into the ground, which when driven over causes a tactile vibration and audible rumbling transmitted through the wheels into the car body.[7][8]
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.
