Consideration of why Hokkaido is attracting foreign investment (21st century)

Consideration of why Hokkaido is attracting foreign investment (21st century)

Hokkaido is attracting attention because of the potential for future geographic shifts brought about by global warming. A temperature increase of 3 to 4 degrees Celsius would transform many tropical and subtropical regions into harsh environments for human life. The future is predicted in which areas such as Honshu in Japan and South China, which are currently in the temperate zone, will also face extreme heat and water shortages. At that time, people will be forced to seek cooler and more stable places in the north to make their living.

At 45 degrees north latitude, the boundary between the temperate and cool zones, this is a location that is considered to be a "new suitable place to live" from a global perspective. Canada, Russia, Scandinavia, and Japan's Hokkaido are often cited as symbolic examples. From the perspective of agriculture and water resources, Hokkaido has abundant potential. Crops such as wheat, corn, and wine grapes, which were previously best suited to the mid-latitudes of North America and Europe, may in the future be grown stably in Hokkaido. Furthermore, the water resources stored by precipitation and snowfall have advantages over those of increasingly arid regions, raising expectations for Hokkaido as a "food production hub" under climate change.

However, there are practical challenges to this ideal. Severe winters and snowfalls still constrain people's lives, and a large-scale national land policy is essential to shift the transportation and economic structure centered on the mainland. While Hokkaido's agricultural potential is bright, the question of how to secure a workforce is also unavoidable, as Hokkaido itself faces a declining population.

Nevertheless, Hokkaido, located at 45 degrees north latitude, continues to be spoken of internationally as a "land of rest" in the era of climate change. Whether or not new lifestyles and cultures will sprout there in the future will have a profound bearing on the course of Japan and humanity in the 21st century.