Kitami

Kitami, city, northeastern Hokkaido, northern Japan. It occupies a long corridor of land that stretches roughly southwest-northeast from the Kitami Mountains to the Sea of Okhotsk. The city centre is at the confluence of the Muka River with the Tokoro River.

Originally, there was an Ainu settlement at the site known as Nokkeushi (Edge of a Field), which was first settled by Japanese immigrants in 1897. The town was made a municipality in 1942 and renamed Kitami. The surrounding river valleys produce beans, potatoes, sugar beets, and peppermint. A peppermint refinery in the city (closed in the 1980s) was once among the largest in Japan; a portion of the old plant is now a museum. Other industries produce lumber, paper, iron, and steel products. Kitami has a fishing port and is well connected by road and rail with the rest of Hokkaido. The city is a gateway for Daisetsu-zan National Park in the Kitami Mountains. Area 551 square miles (1,428 square km). Pop. (2010) 125,689; (2015) 121,226.