Kitami

Kitami is a town in Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the most populous town and the industrial middle within the subprefecture, although the subprefectural capital is Abashiri. Kitami is in central Okhotsk Subprefecture. The Kitami Mountains are nearby. As of April 30, 2017, the metropolis has a population of 119,135, with 61,504 households, and a populace density of 83 people in line with km². The total place is 1,427.56 km2. The town has sturdy associations with the sport of curling, inherited from the previous metropolis of Tokoro absorbed into the metropolis in 2006.

Interest in the sport grew following a friendship go to in 1980 by means of a curling crew from Alberta in Canada. An outdoor curling rink become constructed in Tokoro the following year, and it hosted the 1st NHK Cup Curling Championship. In January 1988, the city built a committed 5-lane curling corridor, the first in Japan. This finally closed in early 2013, replaced by means of a new, larger, all-year-spherical shape. Curling became added in schools in Tokoro as part of the physical training curriculum, and the 2 produced a number of Olympic curlers.