The island of Hokkaidō is located in the north of Japan, near Russia (Sakhalin Oblast). It has coastlines on 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 km² (1,500 sq mi), Tokachi Plain 3,600 km² (1,400 sq mi), the Kushiro Plain 2,510 km² (970 sq mi) (the largest wetland in Japan) and Sarobetsu Plain 200 km² (77 sq mi). Hokkaidō is 83,423.84 km² (32,210.12 sq mi) which make it the second-largest island of Japan.

Hokkaidō

Native name: 北海道
Geography
Location	East Asia
Coordinates	43°N 142°E
Archipelago	Japanese archipelago
Area	77,981.87 km2 (30,108.97 sq mi)
Highest elevation	2,290 m (7510 ft)
Highest point	Mount Asahi
Administration
Japan
Prefectures	Hokkaidō
Largest settlement	Sapporo (pop. 1,890,561)
Demographics
Population	5,377,435 (September 30, 2016)
Pop. density	64.5/km2 (167.1/sq mi)
Ethnic groups	Ainu Japanese

The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu (Aomori Prefecture);[1] 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 the Kuril Islands.) Hokkaidō Prefecture is the largest and northernmost Japanese prefecture. The island ranks 21st in the world by area.

Ecology

Flora and fauna

There are three populations of the Ussuri brown bear found on 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.[2] Those on Honshu died out long ago.

The native conifer species in northern Hokkaidō is the Sakhalin fir (Abies sachalinensis).[3] The flowering plant Hydrangea hirta is also found on the island.

Notable flora and fauna[4]

Name	Type	Notes
Ussuri brown bear	Fauna	One of the largest populations by average size of brown bears (Ursus arctos lasiotus)
Steller's sea eagle	Fauna	On average, the heaviest eagle species in the world (Haliaeetus pelagicus)
Hokkaido wolf	Fauna	Extinct subspecies of the gray wolf (Canis lupus hattai).
Yezo sika deer	Fauna	Large subspecies of the sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis)
Ezoris	Fauna	Also called the Ezo squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris orientis)
Ezo red fox	Fauna	Native to northern Japanese archipelago (Vulpes vulpes schrencki)
Ezo tanuki	Fauna	Subspecies of raccoon dog native to Hokkaido (Nyctereutes viverrinus albus)
Hokkaido dog	Fauna	A Spitz-type domesticated hunting dog perhaps descend from introduced Akitas
Dosanko	Fauna	Also called the "Hokkaido horse"
Sable	Fauna	(Martes zibellina) A species of marten which inhabits Hokkaido and Northern Asia.
Viviparous lizard	Fauna	(Zootoca vivipara)
Ezo salamander	Fauna	(Hynobius retardatus)
Dolly Varden trout	Fauna	(Salvelinus malma)
Sasakia charonda	Fauna	National butterfly of Japan (ō-murasaki, "great purple")
Grey Heron	Fauna	(Ardea cinerea) Long legged wading bird.
Chum salmon	Fauna	(white salmon (白鮭 シロサケ) is native to middle and northern Honshu, Hokkaido and the North Pacific.
Sockeye salmon	Fauna	(Oncorhynchus nerka, ベニザケ - Benizake) live in Hokkaido and the North Pacific.
Ezo spruce	Flora	Picea jezoensis
Sakhalin spruce	Flora	Picea glehnii
Japanese rose	Flora	Rosa rugosa

Geology

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

• Hokkaido Koma-ga-take
• Mount Usu and Shōwa-shinzan
• Mount Tarumae
• Mount Tokachi
• Mount Meakan

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 the city of Tomakomai, causing a blackout across the whole island.[5]

On May 16, 2021, an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck off Japan's Hokkaidō prefecture.[6]

Parks

* designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on 2005-07-14.

• 
  Overview of Kushiro Wetland
• 
  Lake Akan and Mount Meakan
• 
  View of Lake Mashū
• 
  Lake Shikotsu
• 
  Sōunkyō, a gorge in the Daisetsu-zan Volcanic Area

• Twelve prefectural natural parks (道立自然公園). The prefectural natural parks cover 146,802 ha, the largest area of any prefecture.[7]
  • Akkeshi Prefectural Natural Park
  • Esan Prefectural Natural Park
  • Furano-Ashibetsu Prefectural Natural Park
  • Hiyama Prefectural Natural Park
  • Kariba-Motta Prefectural Natural Park
  • Matsumae-Yagoshi Prefectural Natural Park
  • North Okhotsk Prefectural Natural Park
  • Nopporo Shinrin Kōen Prefectural Natural Park
  • Notsuke-Fūren Prefectural Natural Park
  • Sharidake Prefectural Natural Park
  • Shumarinai Prefectural Natural Park
  • Teshiodake Prefectural Natural Park

Subprefectures

As of April 2010^[update], 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 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.

1 a 2 3 b 4 c 5 d 6 7 8 9 e (disputed) (disputed)
Subprefecture		Japanese	Main city	Largest municipality	Pop. (2009[update])	Area (km2)	Municipalities
1	Sorachi	空知総合振興局	Iwamizawa	Iwamizawa	338,485	5,791.19	10 cities	14 towns
a	↳ Ishikari	石狩振興局	Sapporo	Sapporo	2,324,878	3,539.86	6 cities	1 town	1 village
2	Shiribeshi	後志総合振興局	Kutchan	Otaru	234,984	4,305.83	1 city	13 towns	6 villages
3	Iburi	胆振総合振興局	Muroran	Tomakomai	419,115	3,698.00	4 cities	7 towns
b	↳ Hidaka	日高振興局	Urakawa	Shinhidaka	76,084	4,811.97		7 towns
4	Oshima	渡島総合振興局	Hakodate	Hakodate	433,475	3,936.46	2 cities	9 towns
c	↳ Hiyama	檜山振興局	Esashi	Setana	43,210	2,629.94		7 towns
5	Kamikawa	上川総合振興局	Asahikawa	Asahikawa	527,575	10,619.20	4 cities	17 towns	2 villages
d	↳ Rumoi	留萌振興局	Rumoi	Rumoi	53,916	3,445.75	1 city	6 towns	1 village
6	Sōya	宗谷総合振興局	Wakkanai	Wakkanai	71,423	4,625.09	1 city	8 towns	1 village
7	Okhotsk	オホーツク総合振興局	Abashiri	Kitami	309,487	10,690.62	3 cities	14 towns	1 village
8	Tokachi	十勝総合振興局	Obihiro	Obihiro	353,291	10,831.24	1 city	16 towns	2 villages
9	Kushiro	釧路総合振興局	Kushiro	Kushiro	252,571	5,997.38	1 city	6 towns	1 village
e	↳ Nemuro	根室振興局	Nemuro	Nemuro	84,035	3,406.23	1 city	4 towns	*
* Japan claims the southern part of Kuril Islands (Northern Territories), currently administered by Russia, belong to Nemuro Subprefecture divided into six villages. However, the table above excludes these islands' data.

Climate

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 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.[8]

The northern portion of Hokkaidō falls into the taiga biome[9] with significant snowfall. Snowfall varies widely from as much as 11 metres (400 in) on 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 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 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 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.

Climate data

Gallery

• 
  Geofeatures map of Hokkaido
• 
  Hokkaido seen from the International Space Station
• 
  Lake Shiretoko Goko in the town of Shari, Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaidō
• 
  The Oyashio Current colliding with the Kuroshio Current off the coast of Hokkaido. When two currents collide, they create eddies. Phytoplankton growing in the surface waters become concentrated along the boundaries of these eddies, tracing out the motions of the water.

See also

• Geography of Japan
• Kuril Islands
• Sakhalin
• Japan Trench

References