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 ...

and

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 ...

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, an ...

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 is the largest city in the Iburi Subprefecture, and the fourth largest city in Hokkaido. As of 29 February 2012, it 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 174,216, with 83,836

household A household consists of two 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 i ...

s, and 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 310.27 persons per km² (803.60 persons per sq. mi.). The total area is .

History

The name of Tomakomai is derived from Ainu words "to" and "makomai", meaning "Marsh" and "River which goes into the depths of the mountain", respectively. *1879: Yūfutsu branch of Hokkaidō Development Commission was transferred into Tomakomai (Foundation anniversary). *1902: Tomakomai became second class village. *1918: Tomakomai village became Tomakomai town. *1948: Tomakomai town became Tomakomai city. *1963: Tomakomai Port (West) was opened. *1980: Tomakomai Port (East) was opened. *6 September 2018: Tomakomai City is the nearest city from the epicenter of the

2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the moment magnitude scale struck Iburi Subprefecture in southern Hokkaido, Japan, on 6 September 2018 at 3:08 a.m. JST. The earthquake's epicenter was near Tomakomai and occurred at a depth of . The Japan ...

Geography

Mount Tarumae is located in the Shikotsu-Toya National Park in Hokkaidō, Japan. It is located near both Tomakomai and Chitose towns and can be seen clearly from both. It is on the shores of Lake Shikotsu, a caldera lake. Tarumae is a 1,041 metre active and ...

is located in the northwest of Tomakomai and belongs to

Shikotsu-Tōya National Park is a national park in the western part of the island of Hokkaidō, Japan. Named after the volcanic caldera lakes of Lake Shikotsu and Lake Tōya, it has a total area of 993.02 square kilometers. The popular hot spring resort of Noboribetsu is al ...

Climate

Tomakomai 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 ...

typical of Hokkaido.

Transportation

Airport

New Chitose Airport is an international airport located south-southeast of Chitose and Tomakomai, Hokkaidō, Japan, serving the Sapporo metropolitan area. By both traffic and land area, it is the largest airport in Hokkaidō. It is adjacent to Chitose Air Ba ...

Rail

Muroran Main Line The is a railway line in Hokkaido operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), between Oshamambe Station in Oshamambe and Iwamizawa Station in Iwamizawa, approximately paralleling the coast of Iburi Subprefecture. There also is a branc ...

: Nishikioka - Itoi - Aoba -

Tomakomai is a city and port in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the largest city in the Iburi Subprefecture, and the fourth largest city in Hokkaido. As of 29 February 2012, it had an estimated population of 174,216, with 83,836 households ...

- Numanohata *

Chitose Line The is a railway line in Hokkaido operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), connecting Numanohata, Tomakomai and Shiroishi Station in Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo, linking the Muroran Main Line and Hakodate Main Line. There also is a branch ...

: Numanohata - Uenae * Hidaka Main Line: Numanohata - Yūfutsu

Road

Hokkaidō Expressway 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 ...

* Hidaka Expressway

Seaport

* Tomakomai West Port Ferry Terminal: connected with regular ferry services by MOL Ferry, Taiheiyō Ferry,

K Line is a Japanese transportation company. It owns a fleet that includes dry cargo ships (bulk carriers), container ships, liquefied natural gas carriers, Ro-Ro ships, tankers, and container terminals. It used to be the fourteenth largest contai ...

Kinkai.

Education

University

* Hokuyou University

College

* National Institute of Technology, Tomakomai College

High schools

Public

* Hokkaido Tomakomai Higashi High School * Hokkaido Tomakomai Minami High School * Hokkaido Tomakomai Nishi High School * Hokkaido Tomakomai Technical High School * Hokkaido Tomakomai Sogokeizai High School

Private

* Tomakomai Chuo High School * Komazawa University Tomakomai High School

Sports

In 2014, Tomakomai hosted the

World Broomball Championships The World Broomball Championships (WBC) is the premiere international competition for the sport of broomball and is organized and administered by the International Federation of Broomball Associations (IFBA). The competition is organized every ev ...

Sister cities and friendship city

Sister cities

* Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan (since 1973) * Napier,

Hawke's Bay Region Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

(since 1980) * Nikko, Tochigi, Japan (since 1982)

Friendship city

Qinhuangdao Qinhuangdao (; ) is a port city on the coast of China in northern Hebei. It is administratively a prefecture-level city, about east of Beijing, on the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. Its population during the 2020 national ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

, China (since 1998)

Notable people from Tomakomai

Tsutomu Kawabuchi Tsutomu Kawabuchi ( ja, 河渕務; 16 May 1925 – 19 January 2014) was a Japanese ice hockey player, coach and administrator. He won Japanese hockey championships as a player and as a coach with Iwakura, and later coached the Japan men's nati ...

, ice hockey player and coach, member of the

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

Asami Kimura was a Japanese female idol music group that is a part of Hello! Project. On November 5, 2014, Country Musume was renamed .Hello! Project and former

Country Musume was a Japanese female idol music group that is a part of Hello! Project. On November 5, 2014, Country Musume was renamed .Eiichi Kudo was a Japanese film director. Kudo directed 30 films between 1956 and 1998. His notable films are '' 13 Assassins'' (1963) and '' The Great Killing'' (1964). He joined the Toei film company in 1952 and made his film director debut with ''Fukak ...

, film director *Junko Misaki,

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than '' ryūkōka'' music, ...

singer *

Kei Sanbe is a Japanese manga artist born in Tomakomai, Hokkaido and raised in Chiba Prefecture. He has formerly worked under the pseudonym . He is married to illustrator . Sanbe was an honorable mention in the 1990 40th Tezuka Award and a semi-final wi ...

, manga artist *

Naoki Sano (born February 2, 1965) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist most notable for being the generational rival of legendary Japanese pro wrestler Jushin Liger. During the last years of his career he went by the ...

, professional wrestler *Takuya Onodera, professional wrestler best known as T-Hawk *

Hisayoshi Sato is a Japanese swimmer. He won a bronze medal in the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Personal bests In long course: * 50m freestyle: 22.63 (September 5, 2008) * 100m freestyle: 48.91 (September 9, 2007) * 200m ...

, swimmer *Yushiro Hirano, ice hockey player,

Abbotsford Canucks The Abbotsford Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and members of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team began play in the 2021–22 season with home games at Abbotsford Centre as the AHL affilia ...

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Hokkaido Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan