is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in

Tokachi Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, 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 t ...

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 ...

. As of September 2016, the town has 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 27,310 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 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 ...

, 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 elephant ''Palaeoloxodon naumanni'' is an extinct species of elephant belonging to the genus ''Palaeoloxodon'' that was native to the Japanese archipelago during the Middle to Late Pleistocene around 330,000 to 24,000 years ago. It is named after the Germa ...

s. 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

Umeko Ando was an Ainu singer and mukkuri player. Her participation in Oki Kano's second album ''Hankapuy'', helped her gain recognition. She recorded several albums, including her solo debut album, ''Ihunke'', produced by Oki in 2001, that was praised ...

, Ainu singer and

mukkuri The ''mukkuri'' is a traditional Japanese plucked idiophone indigenous to the Ainu. It is made from bamboo and is 10 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. Sound is made by pulling the string and, similar to a Jew's harp, vibrating the reed as it is ...

player *

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, manga anthology magazine ''Gangan Comics#Monthly Shōnen Gangan, Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' between July 2001 and June ...

'' and ''Silver Spoon'' *

Chisato Fukushima is a Japanese 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 You ...

, 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 ...

, 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 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 ...

* Kohei Yamamoto, mountain biker

References

External links

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