Shizunai office of Hidaka Subprefecture, Hokkaido Prefecture

is a

subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Counties of Albania, Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several Districts of Albania, district ...

Hokkaido Prefecture is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The west side of the Hidaka mountains occupies most of the area. Hidaka is sparsely populated and has many of Hokkaido's natural resources. The governmental office is located in Urakawa.

History

*1897: Urakawa Subprefecture established. *1932: Urakawa Subprefecture renamed Hidaka Subprefecture. The name Hidaka ("sun high") is derived from the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of the same name established in 1869, which in turn was named after an unknown place in the '' Nihonshoki'', a history book written in 720. There is no direct connection between the Hidaka of the ''Nihonshoki'' and the modern Hidaka.

Geography

Located on the south-east coast of Hokkaido, Hidaka Subprefecture has an area of making it the 7th largest subprefecture in the prefecture and 5.8% of Hokkaido's total area. More than 80% of the area is covered with forest. The prefecture borders

Tokachi Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan corresponding to the old province of Tokachi.Rowthorn, Chris. (2009) ''Japan,'' p. 641 As of 2004, its estimated population is 360,802 and its area is 10,830.99 km2. Tokachi-Obihiro Airpor ...

to the north across the

Hidaka Mountains is a mountain range in southeastern Hokkaido, Japan. It runs from Mount Sahoro or Karikachi Pass in central Hokkaidō south, running into the sea at Cape Erimo. It consists of folded mountains that range from in height. Mount Poroshiri is ...

. To the west is

Iburi Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. Geography Located in south-central Hokkaido, Iburi stretches East-West and North-South. Iburi covers an area of . Iburi borders Oshima Subprefecture to the West, Shiribeshi, Ishikari, and ...

. The south side of the subprefecture is its coast on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The Hidaka Mountains are known as a "Mecca of Mountaineering", with more than 20 mountains including

Mount Poroshiri or sometimes Mount Horoshiri is located in the Hidaka Mountains, Hokkaidō, Japan. Its name was derived from a phonetic kanji transcription of the Ainu words for "great mountain", ''poro-shiri''. It is the highest mountain in the Hidaka range, ...

at . These mountains are part of the Hidaka Sanmyaku-Erimo Quasi-National Park, which include

Mount Apoi is located in the Hidaka Mountains, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is near the town of Samani. It is well known for hosting a large number of plants that are found only on Hokkaidō, such as . The mountain is made from ultramafic rock of unknown age. Mt. ...

alpine vegetation community and

Cape Erimo is a Cape (geography), cape in Hokkaidō, located at . It is the de facto southern tip of Hidaka Mountains. Description Hot and cold fronts meet near the cape, thus creating a dense mist which covers the cape for more than 100 days a year. Wi ...

coast landscape. These areas boast wildlife such as

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...

sika deer The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the Northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south to ...

, and

common seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinnipeds, pinniped (walruses ...

Municipalities

Mergers

Demographics

The population of Hidaka Subprefecture is 81,407 in 33,996 households. In the 2005 census, this represents 1.4% of the total population of Hokkaido. The population of Hidaka peaked in 1960. The current population is down 4,613 from the last census in 2005.

References

External links

Official website
{{Hokkaido Subprefectures in Hokkaido