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is the fifth-largest City in Japan by population and the third-largest by geographic area. It is the Capital of Hokkaidō Prefecture and an ordinance-designated city of Japan. Sapporo is best known outside Japan for hosting the 1972 Winter Olympics , and the annual ''yuki matsuri'' in the city, internationally referred to as the Sapporo Snow Festival , which draws more than 2 million tourists from around the world. The city is also home to the Eponym ous Sapporo Breweries . EARLY HISTORY Prior to its establishment, the area occupied by Sapporo (known as the Ishikari Plain) was home to a number of indigenous Ainu settlements. In 1866 at the end of the Edo Period construction began on a canal through the area, encouraging a number of early settlers to establish Sapporo village. The settlement's name was taken from the Ainu language, and can be translated as "large river running through a plain". In 1868 (the officially recognised year celebrated as the 'birth' of Sapporo), the new Meiji government concluded that the existing administrative center of Hokkaidō, which at the time was the port of Hakodate , was in an unsuitable location for defense and further development of the island. As a result it was determined that a new capital on the Ishikari Plain should be established. The plain itself provided an unusually large expanse of flat, well drained land which is relatively uncommon in the otherwise mountainous geography of Hokkaidō. During 1870-71, Kiyotaka Kuroda , vice-chairman of the Hokkaidō Development Commission (kaitakushi) approached the American government for assistance in developing the land resulting in Horace Capron ( O-yatoi Gaikokujin ), Secretary of Agriculture under President Ulysses S. Grant being appointed as a special advisor to the commission. Construction began around a park, Odori Koen, which still remains as a green ribbon of recreational land bisecting the central area of the city. The city closely followed the American-style Grid Plan with streets at right-angles to form city blocks, highly unusual in Japan even today. The continuing expansion of the Japanese into Hokkaidō continued, mainly due to migration from the main island of Honshū immediately to the south, and the prosperity of Hokkaidō and particularly its capital grew to the point that the Development Commission was deemed unnecessary and was abolished in 1882. Edwin Dun (O-yatoi gaikokujin) came to Sapporo to make farms of sheep and cattle in 1876. He also demonstrated pig farming and the making of butter, cheese, ham and sausage. He married a Japanese woman. He once went back to the States in 1883 but returned to Japan as a secretary of government. William Smith Clark (O-yatoi gaikokujin) who was the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now The University of Massachusetts Amherst) came to be the founding vice-president of Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University ) for only eight months from 1876 to 1877. He taught academic subjects in science and lectured on the Bible as an "ethics" course, introducing Christian principles to the first entering class of the College. WARDS Sapporo has ten : ''Color shows the location of each ku in the map above.'' DEMOGRAPHICS The city has an estimated Population of 1,890,561 as of March 2007 and the Density of 1686 persons per Km&2 (4367 persons per Mi&2 ). The total area is 1,121.12 km&2 (432.87 mi&2). TRANSPORTATION Sapporo has one streetcar line, three JR Hokkaidō lines, three subway lines and bus lines of JR-bus, Chuo-bus and other. Trains of Sapporo Subway have rubber-tyred wheels.
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UNIVERSITIES Public ''Please refer to Japanese National University '' Private SPORTS
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SISTER CITIES Sapporo has relationships with several cities worldwide. [http://plaza-sapporo.or.jp/citizen_e/sister_cities/sister_cities.html]
The Sapporo Sister Cities Association The Sapporo Sister Cities Association was founded in April 1986 to foster friendly relations between Sapporo and its sister cities by promoting a wide range of exchange activities. Specifically, the association organizes various exchanges related to education, science, the arts, economics, technology and sports. The Sapporo Sister Cities Association Office is in Sapporo International Communication Plaza Foundation {Link without Title} . SEE ALSO
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