MASTER OF HOKKAIDO TOURISM
English Language Study Guide
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Land Area and Population
The island of Hokkaido has a total land area of 83,000 square kilometers. This comprises 22% of the total land area of Japan which is about 378,000 square kilometers. Hokkaido has about the same land area as the European country of Austria.
Hokkaido has a population of about 5,630,000 people which is only 4.4% of the total population of Japan that has 127,760,000 people and is the tenth largest country in the world. Hokkaido乫s population is a bit larger than that of Denmark with its 5,427,000 people.
Population density in Hokkaido is only 67 people per square kilometer, which is about 1/5 of the national average of 338 persons per square kilometer. This means that Hokkaido has the lowest population density of any region in Japan.
The Cities, Towns and Villages of Hokkaido
The Hokkaido Government has 14 Branch Offices inside of Hokkaido, as well as another 4 business offices outside of Hokkaido. These offices are in Tokyo, Singapore, Sakhalin and Seoul South Korea. In the year 2001, the Hokkaido Prefectural Assembly marked its 100th year of existence. It has 106 assembly members, and is housed in the building right next door to the famous old Red Brick Hokkaido Government Building, which was originally built in 1888. This old building was built in the Neo-Baroque Western Style, and was named an Important National Cultural Asset in 1969.
As of late March of 2007, Hokkaido has 35 cities, 130 towns and 15 villages for a total of 180. Before this latest string of mergers, there were 212 cities, towns and villages.
Symbols of Hokkaido
The flag of Hokkaido design, which was made official in 1967, is a modern arrangement of the seal for Hokkaido which was used during the development era, and symbolizes the rugged endurance of the first pioneers who had to put up with snow blizzards and harsh cold. The dark blue color of the flag represents the sea and the sky. The white seven-pointed star represents the shining brilliance of light, and the blowing snow. The red color inside the star represents the indomitable energy and future development of the residents of Hokkaido.
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The Official Bird of Hokkaido is the Red Crested Crane 僞儞僠儑僂, and was selected in 1964 by a vote of the people. It is widely recognized as a representative of Hokkaido, and is protected as a National Special Nature Commemoration.
The Official Tree of Hokkaido is the Ezo Pine Tree 僄僝儅僣 (scientific name: Picea jezoensis) and was selected by a vote of the people in 1966. It is a representative conifer of Hokkaido.
The Official Flower of Hokkaido is the Japanese Rose 僴儅僫僗 (scientific name: Rosa rugosa) and was selected in 1978 by a general public appeal for suggestions, as a 110 year commemoration. The Japanese Rose is a very tough wild plant which can endure severe cold conditions, and is especially suited to Hokkaido.
Industry and Economy
If we divide the working population by type of industry, we find that the tertiary industries have the most workers at 73 percent. Next are the secondary industries at 19% and least are the primary industries at only 8 percent. With a Gross Domestic Product of 19,700,000,000,000 yen (19 trillion 700 billion) Hokkaido has only 4% of total GDP for Japan, which is 496,200,000,000,000 yen. When looked at from the perspective of goods and services that are sent out of Hokkaido, as opposed to goods and services that are sent into Hokkaido, the amount sent out is 5,300,000,000,000 yen and the amount sent into Hokkaido is 7,300,000,000,000 yen. This means that Hokkaido imports 2 trillion yen worth of goods and services more, than it exports.
Primary Industries
Primary Industries, especially farming, make up a much larger percentage of output than they do in the rest of Japan. Hokkaido can be called the 乬bread basket乭 of Japan. Agricultural output for Hokkaido is about 1,100,000,000,000 yen, and is 13% of total Japanese farm production. The average farm family in Hokkaido manages about 20 hectares (1 hectare equals 10,000 square meters) which is 15 times larger than the national average. There are about 60,000 farming families in Hokkaido among which 74% get their main income from agriculture. This is compared to 21% of families who do so, as a national average.
The forest industry has a total land area of about 5,540,000 hectares which is a full 22% of all forested areas in Japan. In Hokkaido, 27% of these forests are man made, which is way below the national average of 41% for reforested areas. However, lumber exports from Hokkaido, average a total of 48,500,000,000 yen, and comprise 12% of all Japanese lumber output.
As for the fishing industry, the people who work there, and the number of fishing boats of any type, comprise about a 10% share of the national total. Even so, the fishing industry in Hokkaido, produces 284,700,000,000 yen worth of sales every year, making it a solid 19% of national production. Also, the amount of processed marine products adds up to 750,000 tons (1 metric ton equals 1000 kilograms) which is 20% of total Japanese national output.
Secondary Industries
The manufacturing industries of Hokkaido, send out about 5,300,000,000,000 yen worth of products, which is only 2% of the total output of Japan. Since about the middle of the 1970s, the total share of manufacturing jobs in Hokkaido has continued to drop, and is now only 9% of workers in Hokkaido, as compared to 19% of workers nationwide.
When looking at the types of secondary industries, we can see that food products manufacturing (especially marine food products and livestock meat and dairy products) comprise a full 1/3 of all food production.
Formerly, Hokkaido had a vast production of underground mineral resources, especially coal which in 1966, was about 1/2 of all coal production in Japan, at 23,000,000 metric tons. However, after that time, and starting with coal, the underground mining industries as a whole rapidly decreased in scale, until now where the total number or workers employed in the mining industry is only 0.1% of all workers in Hokkaido.
A special feature of investment in Hokkaido is that, the amount of government money invested, and the amount of money invested by private enterprise in plants and equipment, are about the same at 2,000,000,000,000 yen each. Government investment in Hokkaido乫s agriculture forestry and fisheries, as well as in basic manufacturing infrastructure, has a lot of weight when compared to the rest of Japan.
For that reason, the number of people employed in the construction industry in Hokkaido is about 12%, as compared to the nationwide average of 6% for all of Japan.
Tertiary Industries
As for commerce in Hokkaido, the retail sales amount to 6,600,000,000,000 yen per year. This includes, about 1 trillion yen for the big scale department stores and super markets. In recent years, it has been confirmed that the businesses in the centers of the major cities of Hokkaido, have become 乬hollowed out乭, leading to confusion between businesses and city development agencies as to, how best to revive the urban centers.
The service industries which are in the center of the cities, are by comparison, increasing step by step, and now employ 36% of all workers in Hokkaido.
TO BE CONTINUED
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