Hokkaido

American  

[hawk-kahy-daw, ho-kahy-doh] / ˈhɔk kaɪˈdɔ, hɒˈkaɪ doʊ /

noun

1. a large island in northern Japan. 30,303 sq. mi. (78,485 sq. km).

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Hokkaido British  

/ hɒˈkaɪdəʊ /

noun

1. the second largest and northernmost of the four main islands of Japan, separated from Honshu by the Tsugaru Strait and from the island of Sakhalin, Russia, by La Pérouse Strait: constitutes an autonomous administrative division. Capital: Sapporo. Pop: 5 670 000 (2002 est). Area: 78 508 sq km (30 312 sq miles)

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Example Sentences

Brown bears -- which can weigh up to half a tonne and outrun a human -- are found only in the main northern island of Hokkaido.

From Barron's • May 8, 2026

The study, led by researchers at Hokkaido University, was published in Science on April 23, 2026.

From Science Daily • Apr. 25, 2026

Watchful for a Soviet attack from the north, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, as the country’s military is known, were for years concentrated in Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four large islands.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

I especially enjoyed the sweet shrimp and Hokkaido uni served over cold somen noodles.

From Salon • Mar. 7, 2026

From the southern tip of Kyushu to the northern tip of Hokkaido, the Japanese archipelago is nearly 1,500 miles long.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond