is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in

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 ...

Hokkaido 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 ...

. As of September 2016, the town has an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 27,310 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

of 80 persons per km². The total area is 340.46 km². On February 6, 2006, the village of Chūrui (from Hiroo District) was merged into Makubetsu. Makubetsu is the birthplace of

park golf is a form of golf played in a park that was invented in Makubetsu, Hokkaido, Japan in 1983. Aesthetically, it resembles a sport somewhere between golf and croquet. The competitive object of the game is to hit the ball into a hole with a club in t ...

, and as of 2006, has no less than ten individual courses.

Mascots

Makubetsu's mascot is is a blue elephant. He is one of the descendants of Naumann's elephants. His charm points are his trunks, his big ears, his long tusks and his lovely eyes. He is assisted by who is a woodpecker from the local park golf course. They both love to play park golfing and eat lily blubs. Pao-kun is unveiled in 1997 while Kumagera-kun is unveiled in 2006.

Notable people from Makubetsu

Hiromu Arakawa is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for the manga series ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' (2001–2010), which became a hit both domestically and internationally, and was adapted into two anime television series. She is also known for ''Silver ...

, the author of ''

Fullmetal Alchemist is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology magazine ''Gangan Comics#Monthly Shōnen Gangan, Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' between July 20 ...

'' and ''Silver Spoon'' *

Chisato Fukushima is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for Japan. She is the Japanese record holder in the women's 100 metres and 200 metres. Career She began her career with appearances in the sprints at the 2005 World Youth Champi ...

, track and field sprint athlete * Miho Takagi, speed skater *

Nana Takagi (born 2 July 1992) is a Japanese former speed skater who is a member of the Nidec Sankyo speed skating team. Career Takagi has won a pair of silver medals at the World Junior Speed Skating Championships, in two team pursuit events. She made he ...

, speed skater *

Fumio Ueda is the former mayor of Sapporo, capital city of Hokkaido, Japan. Ueda was born in Makubetsu, Hokkaido, and graduated from the law department of Chuo University in 1972. He became an attorney and opened a law practice in 1978. At various times h ...

, former mayor of

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

* Kohei Yamamoto, mountain biker

References

External links

*
Official Website
Towns in Hokkaido {{Hokkaido-geo-stub