Sapporo is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city in Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city in Japan. It is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture and Ishikari Subprefecture. Sapporo lies in the southwest of Hokkaido, within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, which is a tributary stream of the Ishikari. It is considered the cultural, economic, and political center of Hokkaido.
Image: Sapporo City Skylines 2020
Image: Sapporo Clock Tower (16144265946)
Image: Sapporo Beer Museum
Image: 131103 Hokkaido University Sapporo Hokkaido Japan 12s 5
Ainu, or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu, is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isolate with no academic consensus of origin. It is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
Multilingual sign in Japanese, Ainu, English, Korean, and Chinese. The Ainu text, in katakana, is second down from the top on the right side of the sign. It reads イヤイライケㇾ (iyairaiker), meaning "thank you".
Pirka Kotan Museum, an Ainu language and cultural center in Sapporo (Jozankei area)