Sapporo

Sapporo is the fifth largest city of Japan by population and the capital of Hokkaido Prefecture, and the largest city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Overview
Sapporo is home to 4 million people that live in the city. It is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture and Ishikari Subprefecture. It is an ordinance-designated city. Located in the southwestern part of Hokkaido, Sapporo lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary stream of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is also home to the third tallest building in Japan, the other two being the "Arasaka Tower" in Osaka and "Tokyo Skytree" in Tokyo. A base is located north of the city to ensure protection in case of a Soviet Union invasion. The city is also home to the Arasaka Hokkaido Training Camp.

History
The official recognition of the founding of Sapporo was in 1868, when the Meiji government declared it the capital of Hokkaido, having decided that Hakodate, the then-administrative center of Hokkaido, was not a good location for defending and developing the island. Much of the history of the growth of Sapporo can be attributed to its convenient location on the expansive Ishikari Plain, which offered a vast area of flat land in the otherwise mountainous landscape of Hokkaido.

The prosperity of the island, and particularly Sapporo, continued to lure people away from Honshu, Japan's main island directly to the south, as people sought a brighter future in a 'new' land. One of the city's most famous landmarks, the Old Hokkaido Government Building, was constructed in 1888 following the establishment of the Hokkaido Government in 1886.

The early years of the 20th century saw Sapporo develop further, both in size and commercially during its history. The Tohoku Imperial University was established in 1907, and both the Hokkaido Imperial University and the Sapporo Street Car (the city's speedy tram network) were introduced in 1918. In 1930, the Municipal Bus System was launched, while the Okadama Airport came into being in the year of 1942, ensuring that the city now had excellent transport links.

Sapporo Wards
Sapporo has ten wards:

Weather
Sapporo has a humid continental climate, with a wide range of temperature between the summer and winter. Summers are generally warm but not overly humid, and winters are cold and very snowy, with an average snowfall of 5.96 m (19 ft 7 in) per year. Sapporo is one of few metropolises in the world with such heavy snowfall, enabling it to hold events and festivals with snow statues. The heavy snowfall is due to the Siberian High developing over the Eurasian land mass and the Aleutian Low developing over the northern Pacific Ocean, resulting in a flow of cold air southeastward across Tsushima Current and to western Hokkaido. The city's annual average precipitation is around 1,100 mm (43.3 in), and the mean annual temperature is 8.5 °C (47.3 °F).

Economy
The tertiary sector dominates Sapporo's industry. Major industries include information technology, retail, and tourism, as Sapporo is a destination for winter sports and events and summer activities due to its comparatively cool climate. The city is also the manufacturing center of Hokkaido, manufacturing various goods such as food and related products, fabricated metal products, steel, machinery, beverages, and pulp and paper.

Hokkaido Training Camp
Located on the northern island of Japan, this is the main training facility of thousands of potential recruits. They undergo at least four months of intensive training in all aspects of combat, survival, infiltration, security and espionage. Guards, Soldiers and Agents all come out of this facility, with Agents being trained for as long as deemed necessary to ensure they are the perfect candidate. Graduates of this facility are then shipped out for an assignment, or if they fail, shipped home in disgrace.

The Facilities at this camp include a full runway as well as several administrative buildings, a gymnasium, mess hall, class rooms, firing ranges and several athletics and physical training courses. The facility is located in the middle of nowhere, and as such has minimal security around the facility, any intruders are either shot or interrogated and if any larger forces foolishly decided to attack, they will find themselves up against the largest contingent of Arasaka soldiers anywhere on earth and all backed up by the latest equipment. Dozens of light to heavy vehicles are situated at the camp for any number of training exercises as well as several Ospreys, AVs and even two C-25 Cargo planes.

Asahi Rem Tech Sapporo Branch
In the Sapporo branch of Asahi Rem Tech is a science building developed to test out the latest new inventions in secret. It's located near the Ishikari River and is only around eight floors of testing grounds. It's heavily guarded at all times by special Arasaka Spider Bots that patrol the gate into the facility. The CEO is actually a tech engineer Mark J. Straighthold from New Zealand.

Notable people

 * Omega (Netrunner and heir to a FACS corporate vice-president's family in Sapporo, Japan)
 * General Ubo Tanaka (Supervisor of Arasaka training facility in Sapporo, Japan and former member of Japanese Self Defense Forces, currently based in Osaka)

Reference

 * Pacific Rim Sourcebook
 * Nippon Sourcebook