Kushiro, Hokkaido
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Kushiro 釧路市 |
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Top:Kushiro Wetland Park, 2nd left:Lake Akan, 2nd right Port of Kushiro, 3rd: Mount Akan-Fuji, Bottom left:Kushiro Ramen, Bottom right:Kushiro Fisherman's Wharf Woo
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 Location of Kushiro in Hokkaido (Kushiro Subprefecture) |
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 Kushiro
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| Coordinates: 42°59′N 144°23′E / 42.983°N 144.383°ECoordinates: 42°59′N 144°23′E / 42.983°N 144.383°E | ||
| Country | Japan | |
| Region | Hokkaido | |
| Prefecture | Hokkaido (Kushiro Subprefecture) | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Ebina Hiroya | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 1,362.75 km2 (526.16 sq mi) | |
| Population (August 31, 2011) | ||
| • Total | 183,757 | |
| • Density | 140/km2 (400/sq mi) | |
| Symbols | ||
| • Tree | Syringa reticulata | |
| • Flower | Nasturtium | |
| Time zone | Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) | |
| City hall address | 7-5 Kuroganechō, Kushiro-shi, Hokkaido 085-8505 |
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| Website | www |
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Kushiro (釧路市 Kushiro-shi?) is a Japanese city in Kushiro Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Kushiro Subprefecture, as well as the most populous city in eastern Hokkaido.
An Imperial decree in July 1899 established Kushiro as an open port for trading with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Kushiro has been an important port because it is more reliably ice-free during winter than alternative Russian Far East warm-water ports such as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky or other ports in Hokkaido such as Hakodate, 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 Tsars during the Russo-Japanese Wars, 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. Following the Soviet invasion of the Kuril Islands 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 declined by President Harry S. Truman.
On October 11, 2005 the town of Akan, 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.
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Wikipedia