SAPPORO ONLINE: Sapporo , city (1990 pop. 1,671,742), capital of Hokkaido prefecture, SW Hokkaido, Japan. It is one of Japan's most rapidly growing urban centers. Food processing, electronics, beer, lumbering, woodworking, and printing are the major industries. Sapporo is also a tourist and winter-sports center. It is famous for its annual Snow Festival and played host to the 1972 winter Olympics. Hokkaido Univ. and Sapporo Agricultural School are in the city.

Hokkaido , island (1990 pop. 5,643,515), c.30,130 sq mi (78,040 sq km), N Japan, separated from Honshu island by the Tsugaru Strait and from Sakhalin, Russia, by the Soya Strait. It is the second largest, northernmost, and most sparsely populated of the major islands of Japan. Once called Yezo, it received the name Hokkaido [region of the northern sea] in 1869. Its rugged interior with many volcanic peaks rises to 7,511 ft (2,289 m) in Asahi-dake and, like all of Japan, the island is subject to earthquakes. The Ishikari, second longest river of Japan, traverses W Hokkaido; its valley is an important urban and industrial region. Hokkaido has a humid continental climate and receives much snow. Forests, covering most of the island, are a source of lumber, pulp, and paper (milled in Hokkaido). Coal, iron, and manganese are mined; the Ishikari coal field produces a major part of Japan's supply. Although large areas of the island are unsuited to farming, agriculture is an important occupation. Hokkaido is one of the major fishing centers of the world. The island is the chief winter resort and sports area in Japan; the 1972 Winter Olympics were held there, at Sapporo. Hokkaido's scenic beauty is preserved in several national parks. The population is concentrated largely in the west and southwest. Sapporo, Hakodate, and Otaru are the chief cities. Kushiro is the main port for E Hokkaido.

Sapporo is located on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. Sapporo is the business district for Hokkaido and Sapporo supports a variety of businesses. Made in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo Gifts, Sapporo Shopping, Shop Sapporo. Japanese visit Sapporo Tower and shop Sapporo for a variety of gifts, and is the gateway to the island of Hokkaido. Sapporo Online is a great place to shop for gifts from Sapporo Japan.

The island was originally inhabited by Ainu , aborigines of uncertain ancestry. Until 1800 the Ainu outnumbered the Japanese, who had begun (16th cent.) to settle the southwest peninsula; there are now c.16,000 Ainu in Hokkaido. With the Meiji restoration (1868) Japan began the first serious effort to people the island as a means of strengthening the northern frontier. Under a government-sponsored plan to develop the island, Horace Capron, an American agriculturalist, introduced (1872-76) scientific methods of farming. In 1885, Hokkaido was made an administrative unit and was granted a central government. The growth of the railroads helped speed settlement, but despite subsidies, the severe winters discouraged emigration from S Japan. Parts of the island, particularly in the north, are still relatively underpopulated. The completion of the Seikan Tunnel (1988), which carries a rail line connecting Hokkaido and Honshu, has further decreased the isolation of Japan's northernmost island.