IE-W 2 "Differences Between Hokkaido and Tokyo"

Hokkaido and Tokyo are the prefecture located in Japan. But, to tell the truth, Tokyo is Metropolis and Hokkaido isn’t prefecture but an area which is called Hokkaido. These two areas have a lot of differences. I will explain some of it.

Probably one of the biggest differences are the square measures. Hokkaido has a surface of 83,452.28 square kilometers. That includes the area which is occupied by Russia and called “Hoppo- Ryoudo” in Japanese. It is the biggest prefecture in Japan. However, Tokyo has 2186.84 square kilometers and it is the second smallest prefecture in Japan.

Also, Hokkaido has many natures. Not only the places such as the Toyako Lake which is going to be a place where summit will be held - it was held during this summer- and Kushiro-Shitsugen marshland which is protected by the Ramsar treaty, but there are a lot of huge farmlands or rice fields. In farmlands, there are many milking cows whose milk will be drinkable milk or the materials of dairy products such as butters and yoghurt, and rice which made in there are sold in many other places in Japan. Tokyo does have natures such as the suburbs of Hachiohji city - lake Okutama, as an example - or island areas such as Izu islands and Ogasawara islands, but not so much as Hokkaido. Instead, there are many man-made things such as tall buildings. For example, Tokyo tower, Roppongi hills, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office and many railway lines, not only the JR lines but also private railroad lines, such as Tokyu, Seibu, Tobu, Keikyu, Keisei, Keio, Odakyu and more.

Weathers are different, too. In Tokyo, snowy days are less than Hokkaido and usually, snow melts in two or three days. In Hokkaido, however, there is a lot of snow that we have to shovel , and because of that, there are festivals using snow. Probably one of the famous festivals is the snow festival in Sapporo, but there are many other cities and towns which hold such kind of festivals. Tokyo also holds festivals too, such as sanzya-matsuri festival which is held in Asakusa. But, these festivals are more for the shrines.

There are many other differences between both two prefectures. From the time when Ieyasu Tokugawa built his and his families’ castle in Tokyo, this place has been developing as a place where dispatches new Japanese culture. Hokkaido used to be a place where Ainu peoples lived, but when the Japanese government and many other Japanese started to exploit Hokkaido about 100 years ago, their cultures have been lost for many years. However, recently, it has been looked over again.

As for the lack of papers - or I should say space -, I could not write many differences. But, I think that I could tell some of them. I hope many people get interested in the differences of these two areas.