Kushiro
Kushiro is a city in Kushiro Subprefecture on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. It serves as the subprefecture's capital and it is the most populated city in the eastern part of the island.
History
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.
In addition to its port, Kushiro is serviced by Kushiro Airport with flights from Honshu and by the Super Ōzora limited express train service, which runs seven times per day to the main population centres in the west of Hokkaido.
Following the Invasion of the Kuril Islands in August 1945, Kushiro was favoured by the Russians as the eastern cornerstone of a border between the American-occupied south and a Soviet-occupied north-coupled with Rumoi as the western cornerstone. However, these plans were cancelled after pressure from US 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.
In 2008, the city had an estimated population of 189,539 and a total area of 1,362.75 km2 (526.16 sq mi), giving a population density of 140 persons per km² (363 persons per sq. mi.).
Kushiro was one of the many Japanese cities to receive a Peace Pagoda. Built by the monks and nuns of the Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji, it was inaugurated in 1959.
Kushiro was accorded city status on 1 August 1922. It is the sister city of Burnaby, British Columbia; Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia; and Kholmsk, Russia.
- 1869: Kusuri becomes Kushiro.
- 1900: Kushiro becomes a First Class Municipality as Kushiro Town.
- 1920: Kushiro Town becomes Kushiro-ku. Kushiro Village (now Town) splits off.
- 1922: Kushiro-ku becomes Kushiro City.
- 2005: The old city of Kushiro City, Akan Town, and Onbetsu Town merged were expanded city of Kushiro City.