is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

located in Ishikari,

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The city's name has a literal meaning of "North Hiroshima City". As of July 31, 2023, the city had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 57,019, with 27,221

household A household consists of one or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

s, and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 479 persons per km². The total area is .

History

On September 1, 1996, Hiroshima Town was upgraded to be classified as a city, but as the city of

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

in Hiroshima Prefecture already existed, the municipality was renamed to Kitahiroshima to prevent two cities having the same name. *1884: 25 families, 107 people migrated from

. *1894: Hiroshima Village was founded. *1968: Hiroshima Village was renamed to Hiroshima Town. *1996: Hiroshima Town gained city status and was renamed Kitahiroshima.

Education

Universities

Private

*
Seisa Dohto University Official website（星槎道都大学公式サイト）

High schools

Public

* Hokkaido Kitahiroshima High School * Hokkaido Kitahiroshima Nishi High School

Private

* Sapporo Nihon University High School

Transportation

Rail

Chitose Line The is a railway line in Hokkaido operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), connecting Numanohata Station, Numanohata, Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Tomakomai and Shiroishi Station (JR Hokkaido), Shiroishi Station in Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo, link ...

: Kita-Hiroshima

Road

It is accessed by routes 36,

274 Year 274 (Roman numerals, CCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelianus and Capitolinus (or, less frequently, year 1027 ''Ab urbe condita''). The d ...

and the expressway interchange in the west. In 1981, the bypass of route 274 was opened and the bypass of route 36 was opened in 1986. The

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

of the

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

area in the western part of the city is bypassed.

Sports

The

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō, in the Sapporo metropolitan area. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the major ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

moved into the new

Es Con Field Hokkaido is a baseball stadium located in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Japan. The ballpark is owned by and operated by Nippon Ham, which has used it as the home field for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) since its openin ...

in March 2023. The Fighters had previously played in the

Sapporo Dome The , currently known as for sponsorship reasons, is a stadium located in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, and is primarily used for association football. It is the home field of the association football club Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo, and was also h ...

, but moved to Kita-Hiroshima after disagreements with Sapporo City Consul about Sapporo Dome rental fees and needed upgrades. The Sapporo-Eniwa Cycle Road follows the route of the decommissioned Chitose Railway Line from Sapporo City to Kitahiroshima, making it suitable for recreational and professional cyclists alike. Near the Kitahiroshima Classe Hotel, tennis and golf are popular summer activities, while skiing and tobogganing is available in the winter months.

Mascot

Kitahiroshima's mascot is is a 10-year-old energetic rice. She is from Shimamatsu, Kitahiroshima (it is the same place where rice farmer Kuzo Nakayama studied the science of cold rice). As a result, she can communicate with not just the ghost of Kuzo Nakayama's but also the ghosts of other people. She is the mascot of the Kitahiroshima City Society of Commerce and Industry. However, as a result of her getting a resident card, she became the mascot of the whole city as a whole. She likes running on Elfin Road while researching nature. Though sporty, she does not have fast reflexes. Her hair is her charm point. As red is her favourite colour, she collects red ribbons. She has a sweet tooth, and her favourite sweet is strawberry cream puff.

Sister cities

* Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture

Notable people

* Sakura Koiwai * Satoru Noda

References

External links

Official Website
Cities in Hokkaido Ishikari Subprefecture {{Hokkaido-geo-stub