北の生活文化（Brief Chronological Table of Hokkaido's History ）
| Brief Chronological Table of Hokkaido's History |
| 13th-15th century |
Society and culture of the Ainu people are formed. |
| 15th century |
Japanese immigrants from the Tohoku region to Hokkaido increase. |
| mid 15th-mid l6th century |
Contention between indigenous Ainu people and Japanese continues. |
| 1604 |
Yoshihiro of the Matsumae Clan is granted sole trading rights with the Ainu people Ieyasu, head of the Tokugawa Shogunate,. |
| 1799 |
East Ezo is placed under direct control of the Shogunate. |
| 1807 |
West Ezo is also placed under direct control of the Shogunate. |
| 1821 |
Ezo is returned to the Matsumae clan from the Shogunate. |
| 1854 |
The Shogunate enters into friendly relations with European nations and the USA and opens Hakodate Port for foreign trade. The Hakodate area is directly controlled by the Shogunate through a Hakodate magistrate. |
| 1855 |
The entire island is placed back under the direct control of the Shogunate except for the Matsumae area. |
| 1869 |
The Meiji Government establishes the Hokkaido Development Commission and changes the name of the island from Ezo to Hokkaido. |
| 1882 |
The Commission is abolished and Hakodate, Sapporo and Nemuro are designated as prefectures. |
| 1886 |
The three prefectures are replaced by the Hokkaido Government. |
| 1887-1896 |
Immigration from other prefectures begins to increase, boosting rapid development. |
| 1901 |
The Hokkaido Assembly is established. The Hokkaido ten-year plan is launched. |
| 1910 |
The first development plan for Hokkaido is established. |
| 1927 |
The second development plan for Hokkaido is established. |
| 1950 |
The Hokkaido Development Agency is established. |
| 1952 |
The Hokkaido comprehensive development plan is established. |
| 1972 |
The 11th Winter Olympic Games are held in Sapporo. |
| Location |
Long. 139゜20'-148゜50'E. Lat.41゜21'-45゜33'N |
| Land area |
83,453.04km2
(Shares 22.1% of national total land area-This figure includes northern territorial islands) |
| Climate |
cool with low humidity Hokkaido has no rainy season and is much less affected by typhoons. Snowfall varies by areas and it has little snowfall along the Pacific coast. |
| Population as of December, 2000 |
5,682,950 (representing approx. 4.5% of national total)
Foreign residents as of December, 1999 are 15,267 Asians-75.12%, North Americans-8.72% and Europeans-5.28% |
| Hokkaido's Sister Provinces for friendship and economic cooperation |
Province of Alberta, Canada
Heilungjiang, China
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA
Province of Sakhalin, Russia |
| Bird, Tree and Flower, symbols of Hokkaido |
Red-crested Japanese crane, Ezo-spruce, "Hamanasu" or Japanese Rose |
| Hideshi Seki |
(Chapter1,2,3) |
| Masato Kuwabara |
(Chapter1) |
| Toshihiro Kohara |
(Chapter2,4) |
| Satoshi Yajima |
(Chapter2,5) |
| Hitoshi Ujiie |
(Chapter3) |
| Koji Deriha |
(Chapter3) |
| Nobuko Tsuda |
(Chapter3) |
| Takahiro Miyara |
(Chapter4,9) |
| Masako Odajima |
(Chapter4,6) |
| Takeshi Koshino |
(Chapter5) |
| Yukihiro Kado |
(Chapter5) |
| Takahiro Noguchi |
(Chapter5) |
| Kaoru Tezuka |
(Chapter5) |
| Nobukatsu Takahashi |
(Chapter7) |
| Takao Kubo |
(Chapter7) |
| Osami Okuda |
(Chapter7,8) |
| Yoneichi Ono |
(Chapter8) |
| Masato Mori |
(Chapter9) |
| Translation by Ikuko Mia Kashima |
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