Muroran

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Muroran" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (June 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (June 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:室蘭市]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|ja|室蘭市}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Muroran 室蘭市
City
Top:View of Muroran Refinery area at night, Cape of Chikyu and view of Pacific Ocean, (left to right) Middle:Muroran Aquarium, View of Muroran Station area and Mount Sokuryō, (left to right) Bottom:Night view of Hakuchō Bridge
Flag Chapter
Location of Muroran in Hokkaido (Iburi Subprefecture)
Muroran Location in Japan
Coordinates: 42°19′N 140°58′E / 42.317°N 140.967°E / 42.317; 140.967
Country	Japan
Region	Hokkaido
Prefecture	Hokkaido (Iburi Subprefecture)
Established	January 1593[citation needed]
City Status	August 1, 1922
Government
• Mayor	Takeshi Aoyama (since May 2011)
Area
• Total	80.88 km2 (31.23 sq mi)
Population  (January 31, 2024)
• Total	76,385
• Density	940/km2 (2,400/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+09:00 (JST)
City hall address	1-2 Saiwaichō, Muroran-shi, Hokkaidō 051-8511
Website	www.city.muroran.lg.jp
Symbols
Bird	Coal tit
Fish	Rockfish
Flower	Azalea
Tree	Japanese rowan

Muroran (室蘭市, Muroran-shi) is a city and port located in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Iburi Subprefecture. As of January 31, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 76,385, with 43,494 households and a population density of 944 people per square kilometre (2,440 per square mile). The total area is 80.88 km² (31.23 sq mi).

The origin of Muroran's name is derived from the Ainu word "Mo Ruerani", which means "the bottom of a little slope". The little slope, in front of the former Senkai Temple in Sakimori-cho, is noted in connection with the name of Muroran.

In the late 16th century, the Muroran region came under the administration of the Matsumae clan. Muroran was developed as a trading post between the Ainu and the Matsumae clan people.

In 1892, the Port of Muroran was opened for the wooden bridge construction at Kaigan (former Tokikaramoi); at the same time, the main road began construction from Hakodate to Sapporo as the first step of Hokkaido Colonization Plan.

An Imperial decree in July 1899 established Muroran as an open port for trading with the United States and the United Kingdom.^[1]

With the opening of a ship route from Muroran to Mori and railroad extension to Iwamizawa, Muroran's municipality was started on August 1, 1922 as the core of the major land and sea traffic in the pioneer era of Hokkaido. Since then, Muroran has been developing as an important transportation hub and a center of the steel industry. This unfortunately earned the town's industrial plants a bombardment by some of the newest American battleships in July 1945, in the closing days of World War II. Muroran was also bombed by American naval aircraft on 14 and 15 July 1945, 525 people were killed.^[2]

Today, there are large cement factories, steel mills, oil refineries, and shipyards clustered around the port of Muroran.^[3]

Muroran features a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb—Cfb Oceanic Climate if the −3 °C or 27 °F isotherm is used), a climate type that is very rare in Japan. Despite it being located on Hokkaido, Muroran typically does not see the very cold winters that the majority of the island is known for, yet it does experience some snowfall in the course of the year, averaging roughly 210 cm (83 in) of snow per season. Summers in Muroran are mild by Japanese standards, not nearly as hot as summers in other Japanese cities. Average high temperatures in August, the city's warmest month, is around 24 °C (75 °F).

• Hakucho Bridge spans the Port of Muroran and is the largest suspension bridge in eastern Japan.
• Itanki Beach
• Mount Washibetsu

Muroran holds eight specific scenic sights called Muroran-Hakke (室蘭八景). The most famous of them is the Earth Cape (地球岬, chikyū misaki).

• 
  A view of Muroran
• 
  Chikyu Misaki
• 
  Chikyu Misaki in winter

There are five JR Hokkaido stations in Muroran, starting from Higashi Muroran and ending in downtown Muroran, which can be used to access both Hakodate to the South West, and Sapporo to the North East.

• Muroran Main Line : Sakimori - Moto-Wanishi - Higashi-Muroran
• Muroran Branch Line : Higashi-Muroran - Wanishi - Misaki - Bokoi - Muroran

Japan Steel Works has its global headquarters in Muroran.

Muroran houses one of the most prominent Marine Biology institutes in Japan, the Institute of Algological Research of Hokkaido University.

• Muroran Institute of Technology

• Hokkaido Muroran Sakae High School
• Hokkaido Muroran Shimizugaoka High School
• Hokkaido Muroran Technical High School
• Hokkaido Muroran Tosho High School

• Hokkaido Ootani Muroran High School
• Kaisei Gakuin High School

• Asami Abe - singer, actress. Younger sister of Natsumi Abe.
• Natsumi Abe - idol, singer, actress. Hello! Project soloist. former Morning Musume member.
• Kaori Iida - singer. Hello! Project soloist. former Morning Musume member.
• Satoru Iwata - Previous CEO of Nintendo, Former HAL lab CEO and Game Designer
• Ikuta Toma - Actor, singer

• Shizuoka, Shizuoka, since 1976
• Knoxville, Tennessee, since 1991^[6]
• Joetsu, Niigata, since 1995

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Muroran, Hokkaido.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Muroran.

• Official Website (in Japanese)