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Chūō-ku, Sapporo

Chūō
中央区
Ward
Chūō Ward
Location of Chūō-ku in Sapporo
Location of Chūō-ku in Sapporo
Country Japan
Prefecture Hokkaido
City Sapporo
Established April 1, 1972
Area
 • Total 46.42 km2 (17.92 sq mi)
Population (2009)
 • Total 216,601
  Estimation as of August 1, 2009
Website www.city.sapporo.jp/chuo

Chūō-ku (中央区 Chūō-ku?) is one of the ten wards in Sapporo city, Japan. Chūō-ku means "central ward" in Japanese. As its name suggests, city administration and entertainment facilities are centred in this ward.

During Meiji Period, Sousei river, precursor of Susukino district, Sapporo Beer company and the drill hall of the former Sapporo Agricultural College were built in the area where Chūō-ku is currently located. After Sapporo was divided into wards (ku, 区), Sapporo Agricultural College, currently Hokkaido University, was moved to what would become Kita-ku, and was replaced by the Sapporo wards administration building.

In 1922, Sapporo was chartered as a city. The 1st Sapporo Snow Festival was held during the Showa period, and Sapporo City Hall was erected in 1971.

Chūō-ku was officially established in 1972, when the Sapporo Olympics was held and Sapporo was accredited as one of the city designated by government ordinance. During the Olympics, Chūō-ku hosted the normal hill ski jumping event and the ski jumping portion of the Nordic combined event. The other 6 wards (Higashi-ku, Kita-ku, Minami-ku, Nishi-ku, Shiroishi-ku and Toyohira-ku) were also established in the same year. The ski jump would be a venue when the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships would be held at Sapporo in 2007.


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