is a city located in Sorachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan.

As of January 31, 2024, the city has an estimated population of 6,374, with 3,863 households. The total area is . Hemmed in by mountains, Yūbari stretches for along a mountain valley.

The city is famous for the Yubari Melon and the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, which skipped a show in 2007 due to the city's financial crisis.

History

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 colliery 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.

Geography

  • Mountain : Mount Yūbari
  • River : Yūbari River

Climate

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population has been rapidly declining since 1960.

Public sector

Police

  • Kuriyama Police Station (Main station is Kuriyama Town)
  • Yubari Police Building (Former Yubari Police Station)
  • Shimizusawa Police Box, Wakana Police Box
  • Nambu Residential Station, Numanosawa Residential Station, Momijiyama Residential Station

Education

High school

  • Hokkaido Yubari High School
  • Hokkaido Yubari Special High School

Junior high school

  • Yubari Junior High School

Elementary school

  • Yubari Elementary High School

Transportation

Rail

thumb|Panorama of Yuni village in Yubari district

The central train station was Yūbari Station on the Yubari branch of the Sekishō Line, formerly operated by JR Hokkaido. However, on March 31, 2019, the Yubari branch line closed after 127 years of operation, requiring passengers from Yubari to take a bus to Shin-Yūbari Station.

  • Sekishō Line (Main Line) : Takinoue - Tomisato - Shin-Yūbari - (Kaede Passing Loop)
  • Sekishō Line (Yūbari Branch Line - now closed): Shin-Yūbari - Numanosawa - Minami-Shimizusawa - Shimizusawa - Shikanotani - Yūbari

Road

  • Dōtō Expressway : Yūbari IC

Bus

  • Hokkaido Chuo Bus
  • Yubari Tetsudo

Sister city

  • Fushun, Liaoning, China (since April 1982)

Notable people from Yūbari

  • Mitsuharu Misawa, professional wrestler
  • Junko Ohashi, singer

See also

  • Furano-Ashibetsu Prefectural Natural Park
  • Ishikari coalfield
  • Ōyūbari Dam

References

Further reading

  • Kazama Kensuke. Kazama Kensuke shashinshū: Yūbari (風間健介写真集：夕張) / Kensuke Kazama Photographic Collection: Yubari. Sapporo: Jyuryousya,<!-- Yes, this very bizarre romanization is what's chosen by the publisher itself --> 2005. . A collection of Kensuke Kazama'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: Shobunsha, 1985. . Black-and-white photo documentary of the last five hundred days of mining in Yūbari, a period during which a disaster occurred.
  • Hiroko Tabuchi. An Aging Japanese Town Bets on a Young Mayor for Its Revival. New York Times, 2012.
  • Official Website