Sapporo
(2002 est. pop. 1.8 million). Sapporo is the capital city of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. It is situated in the southwestern Ishikari Plain, which is one of the island's most productive agricultural areas. Sapporo's site originally was that of an Ainu village. The Ainu, most of whom live in Hokkaido, are an ethnically distinct indigenous people related to the ancient peoples of Siberia. The Meiji government established the Hokkaido Colonization Office in 1869, after changing the island's name from Ezo to Hokkaido. Charged with the island's administration and development, the office stripped the Ainu of their land and fishing and hunting rights.
The office brought in foreign advisers and founded Sapporo Agricultural College, which later became Hokkaido University. Some of these Westerners assisted with laying out the new capital of Sapporo on a grid system, with wide avenues and parks. Here the colonization office promoted the resettlement of unemployed samurai and others from the southern islands.
The office was closed in 1882 after a political scandal over the sale of its assets. In the same year, Hokkaido was divided into the three prefectures of Sapporo, Hakodate, and Namuro. Four years later these were done away with, and Hokkaido was reorganized as a single entity with a prefectural form of government in Sapporo, its administrative center.
After World War II, Sapporo developed into an important commercial and industrial city. The Tohoya mines of its western region produce zinc and lead. Its construction and machinery repair industries are supplemented by printing and food-processing plants, including those brewing Sapporo's noted beer. In February 1972, Sapporo hosted the eleventh Winter Olympic Games, the first to take place at an Asian site.
Visitors are drawn to the Hokkaido University campus and botanical gardens, Nakajima Park, Maruyama Zoological Gardens, and the Jozankei hot spring resort in scenic Hohei Gorge.
Further Reading
"Sapporo." (1993) Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha.
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