Hokkaido Island, Japan: description, details, interesting facts and reviews

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Japan is a country that is one of the most beloved by many tourists. The magnificent nature of Japan, its unique rich history and unique culture attract many people from all over the Earth.

The peculiarity of the location below the described corner of the Earth in geographical terms is that it is both the easternmost and northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago.

Japan: Hokkaido Island

This is the second largest island in Japan. Its northernmost extreme point, like the whole of Japan, is Cape Soya, and the easternmost is Nosappu-Saki.

The closest neighboring island is Honshu, separated by the Sangar Strait. The waters of the Sea of Okhotsk wash its northern coast, the Sea of Japan - the western, and the Pacific Ocean - the east.

Honshu is an island larger than Hokkaido. It was previously known as Hondo and Nippon. It makes up 60% of the area of the entire territory of the country. But only Hokkaido, which is one of the 4 largest islands in Japan, has best preserved its pristine nature. Approximately 10% of its territory is occupied by national parks (there are 20 in total). SoHokkaido is the center of ecological tourism.

Hokkaido has a total area of more than 83,453 km2.

It has a population of 5,507,456 (2010 statistics).

A Brief History of Hokkaido

The settlement of the territories of Hokkaido began about 20 thousand years ago. In those days, the Ainu lived here - one of the oldest peoples of the Japanese islands. The history of the development of the Japanese island still keeps a huge number of mysteries. The very first reference known to scholars today was in the pages of the Hon Shoki, a Japanese written monument dating back to the eighth century CE

There is one fairly common theory according to which the island of Watarishima (which is discussed in this chronicle) is Hokkaido, which was named that only in 1869.

The islanders (Ainu) were engaged in fishing and hunting in those days, and the trade relations existing at that time with neighboring islands gave them the opportunity to provide themselves with rice and iron.

Their peaceful, calm life ended in XIV-XV centuries, when the Japanese began to gradually populate the neighboring Oshima Peninsula (southwest of Hokkaido). This was aggressively accepted by the Ainu, which led to hostilities that ended in 1475, when their leader died.

During the heyday of the reign of Prince Matsumae, whose territories were located mainly on Oshima, the island of Hokkaido gradually became part of their domain. And again, from that moment on, the long-term struggle broke out on the island between localnatives and Japanese. The Ainu rebelled until the 2nd half of the 18th century, but these actions did not bring any results. The Japanese confidently held the important island in their hands, especially since then there was still the possibility of a Russian attack from the west.

In 1868-1869 there was an independent republic of Ezo in Hokkaido, which was proclaimed after the resettlement of thousands of military men who, after the first Japanese elections, elected the head of the republic, Admiral E. Takeaki, after the first Japanese elections.

The emperor did not tolerate such arbitrariness in his territories, and in March 1869 Ezo was abolished, and its head was condemned.

The hard times for the island were in 1945, when its territories were subjected to a terrible bombing. As a result, many cities and villages were badly damaged.

Relief, mined minerals

Hokkaido is mostly mountainous. More than half of the territory is occupied by mountains, the rest is covered with plains. Mountain ranges (Khidaka, Tokati, etc.) are elongated in the submeridional direction. The highest point in Hokkaido is Mount Asahi (2290 meters). There are 8 active volcanoes on the island. Earthquakes often occur here, as in Japan.

Coal, iron ore and sulfur are mined on the island.

Cities and ethnic composition of the population

Hokkaido (prefecture) is administratively divided into 14 sub-prefectures.

The island's capital is Sapporo, which has a population of 1,915,542 (2010 statistics).

Sapporo is the largest city in Hokkaido. FromThe Kuril Islands are separated by the Straits of Treason and Kunashir.

The major cities of the island are Muroran, Tomakomai, Otaru. The ethnic composition is quite simple: Japanese - 98.5% of the total population, Koreans - 0.5%, Chinese - 0.4% and other nationalities (including the Ainu) - only 0.6%.

Rivers and lakes

The largest rivers of the island are Ishikari (length 265 km) and Tokachi (length 156 km).

The largest lakes are Shikotsu, Toya and Kuttyaro (crater) and Saroma (lagoon origin). There are a significant number of small volcanic lakes in Hokkaido, which are fed by mineral hot springs.

Climate

Hokkaido has a slightly different climate than other Japanese areas. Here the average annual temperature is only +8 °C. In connection with the proximity to the Pacific Ocean, these places have an average of only 17 full sunny days per year. But in summer periods, about 149 rainy days are recorded, and in winter - about 123 snowy days.

And yet, by Japanese standards, the summer climate in Hokkaido is drier, and the winter is more severe than in other areas of the country.

Yes, and the concept of "north" in Hokkaido is quite relative. For example, the city of Wakkanai, located in the far north of the island, is located south of the city of Paris. In general, this island in Japan is considered the "harsh North".

Plant and animal life

Most of the land cover of Hokkaidorepresent coniferous forests (fir and spruce) interspersed with bamboo (occupy 60% of the island's area). Cedar, birch forests and scrublands are common in the mountains.

Foxes, bears, sables, ermines and weasels are found here among mammals. All Japanese islands (Hokkaido among them) are inhabited by an amazingly diverse world of birds, and their coastal waters abound with numerous species of fish.

Attractions

What else can be seen on the island of Hokkaido besides amazing unique nature? Traveler reviews about this island, as well as about all of Japan, are the most positive.

There are several notable places in Sapporo: the clock tower of the same name is one of the few surviving buildings of the late 19th century in the American colonial style; a botanical garden with a preserved piece of natural forest that once grew on the site of the city; boulevard Odori; television tower (height 147 meters); Mount Moiva, 8 kilometers from the capital; beer museum (once a beer factory); Nakajima Park.

In the city of Hakodate there is a five-bastion fortress (1864); Koryuji Monastery; the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord and the Catholic Church Momomachi; Higashi-Honganji Monastery.

There are national parks on the island of Hokkkaido: Shikotsu-Toya, Kushiro-Shitsugen, Akan, Shiretoko, Rishiri-Rebun and Taiseiuzan. Quasi-national parks - Hidaka, Abashiri, Onuma, Akkeshi Prefectural Nature Park.

In conclusion, some interesting facts

• BeforeIt was believed that Hokkaido is a Russian island. Japan did not show any interest in either the Kuril Islands or Sakhalin until the end of the 18th century. The island used to be officially considered foreign territory in Japan. In 1786, the Japanese who arrived met there with local residents who bore Russian surnames and names. These were the ancestors of those same Ainu who once accepted Russian citizenship and Orthodoxy in the early 18th century.



The Ainu used to live on the territory of Russia (on Sakhalin, in the south of Kamchatka and on the Kuril Islands). This people has a distinctive feature - European appearance. Today, about 30,000 of their descendants live in Japan, but over this long period they managed to assimilate with the Japanese.

Sapporo hosts an annual Snow Festival, which was first held in 1950. This is a kind of exhibition of snow figures