Country Japan Website www.city.kitami.lg.jp Population 125,689 (2010) | Region Hokkaido Area 1,428 km² Local time Thursday 6:56 AM | |
 | ||
Prefecture Hokkaido (Okhotsk Subprefecture) Time zone Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) City hall address 1 Higashi Ni-chōme, Kita Go-jō, Kitami-shi, Hokkaido
090-8501 Weather -3°C, Wind NW at 29 km/h, 73% Humidity Colleges and Universities Kitami Institute of Technology, Japanese Red Cross Hokkaido College of Nursing | ||
Kitami (北見市, Kitami-shi) is a city in Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the most populous city and the commercial center in the subprefecture, although the subprefectural capital is Abashiri.
Contents
- Map of Kitami Hokkaido Prefecture Japan
- History
- Economy and industry
- Education
- National
- Private
- Public
- Festivals
- Curling
- Climate
- Road
- Bus
- Rail
- Air
- Sister cities
- References
Map of Kitami, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan
Kitami is in central Okhotsk Subprefecture. The Kitami Mountains are nearby.
As of March 1, 2012, the city has a population of 124,789, with 60,646 households, and a population density of 87.55 persons per km². The total area is 1,427.56 km2 (551.18 sq mi).
History
Economy and industry
Kitami at one time exported mint (known as hakka locally), supplying 70% of the world's mint consumption.
Education
Kitami is home to the Kitami Institute of Technology, an engineering university that originally opened in 1960, and the Japanese Red Cross Hokkaido College of Nursing, established in 1999 by the Japanese Red Cross through consolidation of several other institutions.
National
Private
Public
Private
Festivals
Curling
The city has strong associations with the sport of curling, inherited from the former town of Tokoro absorbed into the city in 2006. Interest in the sport grew following a friendship visit in 1980 by a curling team from Alberta in Canada. An outdoor curling rink was built in Tokoro the following year, and it hosted the 1st NHK Cup Curling Championship. In January 1988, the town built a dedicated 5-lane curling hall, the first in Japan. This eventually closed in early 2013, replaced by a new, larger, all-year-round structure.
Curling was introduced in schools in Tokoro as part of the physical education curriculum, and the two produced a number of Olympic curlers. Five members of the Japanese curling team at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano were from Tokoro, three members of the Japanese curling team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino were from Tokoro, and three members of the Japanese curling team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver were from Tokoro.
Climate
Kitami has a humid continental climate with cold winters and relatively warm summers. The coldest month is January, with an average low of −14.7 °C (5.5 °F), and the warmest month is August, with an average high of 25 °C (77 °F) and a record high of 37 °C (99 °F). Kitami's inland location creates a larger temperature range than some coastal cities. Due to the mountains nearby, the Foehn wind effect occurs in summer when prevailing winds are from the southeast, so that Kitami often has the hottest temperatures in Hokkaido during this season and averages about 5 °C (9 °F) hotter than Kushiro. Traces of snow fall every day during the winter and cover is heavy, usually peaking at 0.82 metres (32.28 in), though Kitami still receives less overall precipitation than any other town in Japan as it is shielded from the heaviest moisture from both the Sea of Japan and Pacific Ocean.
Road
National Route 39 passes through Kitami.
Bus
The Hokkaido Kitami Bus Company has a number of inter-city as well as out-of-city routes.
Rail
The JR Hokkaido Sekihoku Main Line that passes through Kitami reached the city on October 19, 1910 when the town was still called Notsukeushi. The largest station is Kitami Station, with Nishi-Kitami Station, Hakuyo Station, and Itoshino Station also located in Kitami.
Air
The city is served by Memanbetsu Airport in the neighboring town of Ōzora.