is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Kushiro Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. Kushiro is home to a population of red-crowned cranes, estimated in 2022 to number about 1,900. Geography Municipalities Mergers History *November, 1897: Kushiro Subprefecture estab ...

on the island of

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 lar ...

, Japan. It serves as the subprefecture's capital and it is the most populated city in the eastern part of the island.

Geography

Mountains

Mount Oakan is a stratovolcano located in Akan National Park in Hokkaidō, Japan. Geography and geology Mount Oakan sits in the Akan caldera northeast of Lake Akan. The volcano rises some above the surrounding terrain. The top of the volcano is above se ...

Mount Meakan is an active stratovolcano located in Akan National Park in Hokkaidō, Japan. It is the tallest mountain in the Akan Volcanic Complex. The volcano consists of nine overlapping cones that grew out of the Akan caldera, on the shores of Lake Akan. ...

* Mount Akan-Fuji

Rivers

Kushiro River is a river in Hokkaidō, Japan. It is in length and has a drainage area of . The Kushiro originates from Lake Kussharo and flows south across the Kushiro Plain. The river is joined by two tributaries, the Kuchoro River () and the Setsuri R ...

Akan River is a river in Hokkaidō, Japan. Course The Akan River rises from Lake Akan, above sea level. The lake formed when the Akan River was dammed by an eruption of Mount Oakan some 6000 years ago. The river exits the lake at ''Takiguchi'' as a wate ...

* Shitakara River

Lakes

Lake Akan is a lake in Kushiro, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is located in Akan National Park and is a Ramsar Site. History Volcanic activity formed the lake some 6,000 years ago, when a lava dam was formed. The lake used to have a clarity of 8–9 meters i ...

* Lake Harutori * Lake Panketō * Lake Penketō * Lake Shunkushitakara

National Parks

Kushiro-shitsugen National Park is a national park located in the east of the island of Hokkaido, Japan. It was designated as a national park on 31 July 1987. The park is known for its wetlands ecosystems. Kushiro-shitsugen (Kushiro Wetlands or Kushiro Swamp, Marshland) cover ...

Akan National Park is a national park located on the island of Hokkaidō, Japan. Along with Daisetsuzan National Park, these are the two oldest national parks in Hokkaidō. The park was established December 4, 1934. Akan is an area of volcanic craters and for ...

Climate

Kushiro has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(''Dfb'') but its winter temperatures are less severe than those of inland East Asia at the same latitude. Its port is the most reliably ice-free throughout winter in all of Hokkaido, due to the lack of indentation in the coastline and absence of large inflows of cold fresh water nearby. It is also markedly sunnier than the extremely gloomy

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

to its north, being sheltered by Hokkaido's mountains from the heavy snowfalls produced on the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

side by the

Aleutian Low The Aleutian Low is a semi-permanent low-pressure system located near the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea during the Northern Hemisphere winter. It is a climatic feature centered near the Aleutian Islands measured based on mean sea-level press ...

. It receives only a third as much snowfall as

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 cit ...

and almost twice as much sunshine as the Kuril Islands are estimated to.

History

An Imperial decree in July 1899 established Kushiro as an open port for trading with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Kushiro has been an important

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

because it is more reliably ice-free during winter than alternative

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

warm-water port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

s such as

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky ( rus, Петропавловск-Камчатский, a=Петропавловск-Камчатский.ogg, p=pʲɪtrɐˈpavləfsk kɐmˈtɕatskʲɪj) is a city and the administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultu ...

or other ports in Hokkaido such as

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

, which occasionally do freeze for short periods due to the lower salinity of the Sea of Japan. For this reason, Kushiro was considered a valuable target for the

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

s during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

s, but it only became a really important port during the 1920s with the growth of commercial fishing, for which its reliable freedom from ice reduced costs. In addition to its port, Kushiro is serviced by

Kushiro Airport is an airport in Japan, located west northwestAIS Japan
of

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island se ...

and by the '' Ōzora'' limited express train service, which runs six times per day to the main population centres in the west of Hokkaido. In July 1945 the city of Kushiro was bombed by American naval aircraft, hundreds of people, mostly civilians, were killed. Following the

Invasion of the Kuril Islands The Invasion of the Kuril Islands (russian: Курильская десантная операция, lit=Kuril Islands Landing Operation) was the World War II Soviet military operation to capture the Kuril Islands from Japan in 1945. The inv ...

in August 1945, Kushiro was favoured by the Russians as the eastern cornerstone of a border between an American-occupied south and a Soviet-occupied north-coupled with Rumoi as the western cornerstone. However, these plans were cancelled after pressure by US President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

. On October 11, 2005, the town of

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan language, a language spoken by the Akan people *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan * Central Tano languages, a language group ...

, from Akan District, and the town of Onbetsu, from Shiranuka District, was merged into Kushiro. The town of Shiranuka now lies between the two sections of Kushiro. In 2008, the city had 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 189,539 and a total area of , giving a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

of 140 persons per km² (363 persons per sq. mi.). Kushiro was one of the many Japanese cities to receive a Peace Pagoda. Built by the monks and nuns of the Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji, it was inaugurated in 1959. Kushiro was accorded city status on 1 August 1922. It is the sister city of

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

;

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

; and

Kholmsk Kholmsk (russian: Холмск), known until 1946 as Maoka ( ja, 真岡), is a port town and the administrative center of Kholmsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, on coast of the g ...

. *1869: Kusuri becomes Kushiro. *1900: Kushiro becomes a First Class Municipality as Kushiro Town. *1920: Kushiro Town becomes Kushiro-''ku''.

Kushiro is a city in Kushiro Subprefecture on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. It serves as the subprefecture's capital and it is the most populated city in the eastern part of the island. Geography Mountains * Mount Oakan * Mount Meakan * Mount Akan ...

Village (now Town) splits off. *1922: Kushiro-''ku'' becomes Kushiro City. *1949: Tottori-cho was merged into Kushiro City. *2005: The old city of Kushiro City,

Town, and Onbetsu Town merged was expanded city of Kushiro City.

External relations

Twin Towns – Sister Cities

International

;Sister Cities ;Partner Cities

National

;Sister Cities ;Partner Cities

Sister ports

Port of Kushiro's sister ports are: *

Port of New Orleans The Port of New Orleans is an embarkation port for cruise passengers. It is also Louisiana’s only international container port. The port generates $100 million in revenue annually through its four lines of business – cargo (46%), rail (31%) ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

(since 1984) * Port Stephens,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia (since 1994)

Education

Universities

National

Hokkaido University of Education is a national public university administered by the government of Japan. It has five campuses in Hokkaido, Japan. The main campus is on the outskirts of Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido. Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo (HUES) is the la ...

, Kushiro Campus

Public

Kushiro Public University of Economics is a public university in Kushiro, Hokkaido, 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 Ja ...

Colleges

National

National Institute of Technology, Kushiro college Kushiro National College of Technology（日本語:釧路工業高等専門学校（くしろこうぎょうこうとうせんもんがっこう）is a national college of technology in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan. It was founded in 1965. Departmen ...

Private

Kushiro junior College is a private junior college in Kushiro, Hokkaido, 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 ...

High schools

Public

Hokkaido Kushiro Koryo High School Hokkaido Kushiro Koryo High School (北海道釧路湖陵高等学校, ''Hokkaidō Kushiro Koryō Kōtō Gakkō'') is a high school in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan, founded in 1912. Hokkaido Kushiro High School is one of high schools administrated b ...

* Hokkaido Kushiro Konan High School * Hokkaido Kushiro Meiki High School * Hokkaido Kushiro Commercial High School * Hokkaido Kushiro Technical High School * Hokkaido Kushiro Hokuyo High School * Hokkaido Akan High School (Municipal)

Private

* Bushukan High School * Ikegami Gakuen High School, Kushiro Campus

Transportation

Airways

Airport

Kushiro Airport is an airport in Japan, located west northwestAIS Japan
of

Hokkaido Railway Company The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to using its official abbreviation of . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a s ...

（JR Hokkaidō） *

Nemuro Main Line is a railway line in Hokkaido operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), connecting Takikawa Station in Takikawa and Nemuro Station in Nemuro, including Obihiro and Kushiro. Higashi-Nemuro is the most easterly situated station on ...

Chok CHOK (1070 AM) is a Canadian radio station, licensed to Sarnia, Ontario and owned by Blackburn Radio. The station broadcasts a country format with local news, talk and sports. CHOK also has an FM translator, CHOK-1-FM, broadcasting at 103.9&nb ...

- Onbetsu - ( Shiranuka, Hokkaido) - Otanoshike - Shin-Otanoshike - Shin-Fuji -

- Higashi-Kushiro -

Musa Musa may refer to: Places * Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon * Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam Province * Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran *Musa, Kerman, Iran * Musa, Bukan, West Azerbaija ...

* Senmō Main Line : Higashi-Kushiro ;

Japan Freight Railway Company , or , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide throughout Japan. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station. The Japan Railways Group was fou ...

（JR Freight） *

：

Kushiro Freight Terminal is a passenger train station of Hokkaido Railway Company in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan. of Japan Freight Railway Company is adjacently located and had also been called Shin-Fuji until the renaming on March 12, 2011. Lines *Hokkaido Railway Comp ...

; Taiheiyō Coal Services * Rinkō Line

Roads

Expressways

Dōtō Expressway * E38 Expressway (Japan)

Kushiro Sotokan Road

Japan National Route

* * * * * *

Seaways

Seaport

*Port of Kushiro File:Kushiro airport01.JPG,

Kushiro Airport is an airport in Japan, located west northwestAIS Japan
of

Kushiro Station File:Kushiro-nishi Interchange.jpg, Kushiro-nishi IC File:Kushiro Fisherman's Wharf EGG and MOO01n.jpg, Port of Kushiro

Sightseeing

Local attractions

* Kushiro Wetland Park * Kushiro City Museum *

** Lake Akan Kotan *Manabot Nusamai **Kushiro City Museum of Art * Moshiriya Chashi（ Castle） * Itsukushima Jinja *Tottori Jinja File:New Akan Hotel.jpg,

File:Ainu Kotan Akan Kushiro Hokkaido Japan22s.jpg, Lake Akan Kotan File:Manabot Nusamai Kushiro Hokkaido Japan02n.jpg, Manabot Nusamai File:鳥取神社.jpg, Tottori Jinja

Culture

Sports

;Ice hockey

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

is one of the most popular winter sports in Kushiro. In addition to several leagues devoted to amateur play of all ages, Kushiro is home to the Asia League Ice Hockey

Nippon Paper Cranes The were an Asia League Ice Hockey team based in Kushiro City in Hokkaidō, Japan. History The club was founded as Jūjō Paper Kushiro Ice Hockey Club in 1949. They adopted the new name Nippon Paper Cranes in 1993 when Jūjō Paper and Sany� ...

, three time Asia League Champions. : Kushiro and many other cities are interested in hosting bandy teams. On January 8, 2017, the township of

hosted the first national championship, although the size of the field was a smaller version than the official rules for a

bandy field A bandy field or bandy rink is a large ice rink used for playing the team winter sport of bandy. Being about the size of a football pitch, it is substantially larger than an ice hockey rink. History Originally, bandy was played on naturally froze ...

. In January 2018, the first championship on a full-sized field took place in Shintoku, with participation from three teams, including FACEOFF Kushiro. The national team for women is based in Kushiro and made its

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

debut in 2020. *

East Hokkaido Cranes The East Hokkaido Cranes ( ja, ひがし北海道クレインズ Higashi Hokkaidō kureinzu) are a professional ice hockey team based in Kushiro, Japan. They are a members of the Asia League Ice Hockey and play their home games at the Kushiro Ic ...

（ Asia League Ice Hockey） *Kushiro Bears（

Women's Japan Ice Hockey League The Women's Japan Ice Hockey League (WJIHL, ) is the premier women's ice hockey league in Japan. Also known by the nickname Smile League () or Smile Japan League, it was founded in 2012 by the Japan Ice Hockey Federation and is contested in addit ...

） *Daishin（

） The

Kushiro Ice Arena The Kushiro Ice Arena (釧路アイスアリーナ) is an arena in the city of Kushiro, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is primarily used for ice hockey, and is the home arena of East Hokkaido Cranes of the Asia League Ice Hockey. The arena was formerly the ...

is the city's biggest stadion for ice hockey, figure skating and shorttrack. ;Speed skating The Yanagimachi Speed Skating Rink hosted the 2003

World Junior Speed Skating Championships In 1971, the ISU congress decided to hold a World Junior Speed Skating Championships. After two test-championships (1972 and 1973), where only a boys' competition was held in the 1972 edition, the first official championship was introduced in Co ...

and several Japanese Championships. It has an asphalt

inline speed skating Inline speed skating is the roller sport of racing on inline skates. The sport may also be called ''inline racing'' by participants. Although it primarily evolved from racing on traditional roller skates, the sport is similar enough to ice sp ...

track on the middle field.

Notable people

* Kazuhiko Chiba, footballer *

Yutaka Fukufuji is a Japanese ice hockey player for the Nikko Ice Bucks of the Asia League Ice Hockey. Fukufuji was the first Japanese player to appear in a National Hockey League (NHL) game. The first Japanese draft pick, Hiroyuki Miura (ice hockey), Hi ...

, ice hockey goaltender *

Yukinobu Hoshino is a Japanese manga artist. Life He was born in Kushiro, Hokkaidō and dropped out of Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music after two years of studying mid-semester from the fine arts department. He moved to Tokyo in order to pu ...

, manga artist *

Akira Ifukube was a Japanese classical and film music composer, best known for his works on the ''Godzilla'' franchise. Biography Early years in Hokkaido Akira Ifukube was born on 31 May 1914 in Kushiro, Japan as the third son of a police officer Toshimi ...

, composer *

Keisuke Itagaki is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his martial arts series ''Grappler Baki'' (1991–1999) and its four sequels, which have sold over 75 million volumes. In 1996, he began working on '' Garōden'', an original work by Baku Yumemaku ...

, manga artist * Saori Kitakaze, sprinter *

Satoshi Kon was a Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter and manga artist from Sapporo, Hokkaido and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art Univer ...

, anime film director * Luna H. Mitani, visual artist * Hiromi Nagakura, photographer *

Maki Nomiya is a Japanese singer and musician. She released her first solo album in 1981, and worked through the 1980s as the lead vocalist of the new wave band . In 1991, she became the lead singer of the band Pizzicato Five. When the group disbanded in 20 ...

, singer (

Pizzicato Five Pizzicato Five (formerly typeset as Pizzicato V and sometimes abbreviated to P5)Yang Jeff, Dina Can, Terry Hong, (1997) ''Eastern Standard Time'' pg 277 New York: Mariner Books was a Japanese pop band formed in Tokyo in 1979 by multi-instrume ...

) *

Shinji Somai is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *Shinji Aoyama (真治), a Japanese film director *Shinji Aramaki (伸志), a Japanese anime director and mechanical designer *Shinji Hashimoto, a Japanese game producer ...

, film director *

Aina Takeuchi is a Japanese ice hockey defender. International career Takeuchi was selected for the Japan women's national ice hockey team in the 2014 Winter Olympics. She played in all five games, recording one assist. Takeuchi also played for Japan in ...

, ice hockey defenseman * Kazuro Watanabe, astronomer

Mascot

Kushiro's mascot is . She is a gentiana triflora flower (though she represents all flowers) from Onbetsu. Her favourite drink is milk.

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kushiro, Hokkaido Cities in Hokkaido Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan