Description : Aomori (青森市, Aomori-shi, Japanese: ) is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. As of 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total area of 824.61 square kilometers (318.38 sq mi). Aomori is one of Japan's 60 core cities and the core of the Aomori metropolitan area. After the start of the Edo period, what would become the core of present-day Aomori was a minor port settlement in the Hirosaki Domain called Utō (善知鳥村, Utō-mura). The town was rebuilt in 1626 under orders of the daimyō, Tsugaru Nobuhira and renamed "Aomori", but this name did not come into common use until after 1783; however, the historical accuracy of this claim is debated since there is no written material from the time to definitively connect Utō to Aomori. Some evidence even claims that Aomori and Utō co-existed in different parts the city in its current state. It wasn't until 1909 that a local scholar claimed that the village of Utō became Aomori. After the Meiji Restoration, the feudal domains were abolished and replaced with prefectures, of which a total of six were initially created in the territory of modern Aomori Prefecture. These were merged into the short-lived Hirosaki Prefecture in July 1871. However, due to the historic enmity between the former Tsugaru territories in the west and the former Nambu territories in the east, the prefectural capital was relocated from Hirosaki to the more centrally-located Aomori immediately after the merger and the prefecture was renamed Aomori Prefecture on 23 September 1871. However, the municipality of Aomori was not given town status within Higashitsugaru District until 1 April 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. It was later designated as a city on 1 April 1898.
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