Yubari, Hokkaido
Encyclopedia
is a city
in Sorachi Subprefecture
, Hokkaidō
, Japan
.
As of 2008, the city has an estimated population
of 12,068. The total area is 763.20 km². Hemmed in by mountains Yūbari stretches for 25 kilometers along a mountain valley.
The city is famous for the Yubari Melon
and the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
, which skipped a show in 2006 due to the city's financial crisis.
The city was founded on April 1, 1943 as a coal mining town. When the mines were operating Yūbari had as many as 120,000 people. With the closing of the mines in the 1980s, an attempt was made to convert the economic base to tourism. Subsidies were obtained from the central government and huge debts incurred for the building of tourist attractions, but few visitors came. In 2007 the city was in the news due to bankruptcy and the refusal of the national government to bail it out. City services had been severely cut and its white elephant
amusement park and museums were up for sale. The amusement park has begun to be demolished as of June 2008.
Roughly half of Yūbari's government officials resigned in March 2007 as part of an attempt to streamline the local fiscal situation. The majority of officials stepping down who responded to a survey conducted by Mainichi Shimbun say they "feel no sense of responsibility" for the city's financial problems.
The central train station is Yūbari Station
on the Sekishō Line
.
Cities of Japan
||A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of...
in Sorachi Subprefecture
Sorachi Subprefecture
is a subprefecture of Hokkaidō, Japan. As of 2004, its estimated population is 373,736 and its area is 6,558.26 km².-Cities:* Akabira* Ashibetsu* Bibai* Fukagawa* Iwamizawa * Mikasa* Sunagawa* Takikawa* Utashinai* Yūbari...
, Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
As of 2008, the city has an estimated population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 12,068. The total area is 763.20 km². Hemmed in by mountains Yūbari stretches for 25 kilometers along a mountain valley.
The city is famous for the Yubari Melon
Yubari Melon
The is a cantaloupe cultivar farmed in greenhouses in Yūbari, Hokkaidō, a small town close to Sapporo. The Yubari King is a hybrid of two other cantaloupe cultivars: Earl's Favourite and Burpee's "Spicy" Cantaloupe. This hybrid's scientific name is Cucumis melo L. var. reticulatus Naud. cv. Yubari...
and the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
The , also sometimes called YIFFF, is held in a resort-like environment in the small town of Yūbari on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaidō. From 1990 to 1999, the festival was known as the Yubari International Fantastic Adventure Film Festival.-History:...
, which skipped a show in 2006 due to the city's financial crisis.
The city was founded on April 1, 1943 as a coal mining town. When the mines were operating Yūbari had as many as 120,000 people. With the closing of the mines in the 1980s, an attempt was made to convert the economic base to tourism. Subsidies were obtained from the central government and huge debts incurred for the building of tourist attractions, but few visitors came. In 2007 the city was in the news due to bankruptcy and the refusal of the national government to bail it out. City services had been severely cut and its white elephant
White elephant
A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...
amusement park and museums were up for sale. The amusement park has begun to be demolished as of June 2008.
Roughly half of Yūbari's government officials resigned in March 2007 as part of an attempt to streamline the local fiscal situation. The majority of officials stepping down who responded to a survey conducted by Mainichi Shimbun say they "feel no sense of responsibility" for the city's financial problems.
The central train station is Yūbari Station
Yubari Station
is a railway station on the JR Hokkaido Sekishō Line. It is located in Yūbari, Hokkaidō, Japan.-Station structure:* 1-way, 1-track, above-ground station.Platforms-Adjacent stations:Hokkaido Railway Company...
on the Sekishō Line
Sekisho Line
The is a railway line in Japan operated by Hokkaido Railway Company . The main Sekishō Line runs between in Chitose and Shintoku Station in the town of Shintoku. A branch line runs from to...
.
External links and further reading
- Kazama Kensuke. Kazama Kensuke shashinshū: Yūbari (風間健介写真集：夕張) / Kensuke Kazama Photographic Collection: Yubari. Sapporo: Jyuryousya, 2005. ISBN 4-902269-14-7. A collection of KazamaKensuke Kazamais a Japanese photographer who for many years lived in and photographed the one-time mining town of Yūbari, Hokkaidō.Born in Mie Prefecture, Kazama moved to Tokyo in 1978. He held exhibitions in Tokyo two years later...
's black-and-white photographs of Yūbari and its mines after their closure. All text and captions in both Japanese and English. Toda Reiko. Yūbari tankōbushi (夕張炭坑節, Song of the Yūbari mines). Tokyo: Shõbunsha, 1985. ISBN 4-7949-7009-9. Black-and-white photo documentary of the last five hundred days of mining in Yūbari, a period during which a disaster occurred. Official website