I was looking into Sapporo, Japan because I was bored. Then I did a double-take. Check out these odd coincidences between it and Cleveland
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Hey, I love snow, so that's a perk in my books ^_~ The weather I hate the most is the cold, grey dreariness with temperatures hovering around freezing and sleet/freezing rain keeping things damp, which chills to the bone. I actually find lower teens and below much more comfortable than the 20s and 30s.
Cleveland's located at 41°28′N, Sapporo is at 43°4′N.
Similarity in latitude goes a long way toward explaining these:
*Both have similar climates: Cleveland's average highest is 81°F in July and its average lowest is 19°F in January; Sapporo's are 79°F in August and 18°F in January... *Both are snowy in the winter, although Sapporo is snowier.
Both are port cities that are suffering population losses.
Port cities tend to be large. The port is a center of trade, which turns the city into a major hub. None of these things are surprising, given this fact:
*Both metro areas house about 3 million people (2.8 mil for Cleveland, 2.6 mil for Sapporo) *Both are the largest metros in their respective subnational divisions. *Both contain the highest buildings in their respective subnational divisions
Ohio and Hokkaido are similar in size (Ohio is ~45k sq mi, Hokkaido is ~32k sq mi)
Maybe that's similar in absolute terms, but relatively speaking it's pretty different. Ohio is ~50% larger than Sapporo by your figures.
Actually, what more explains there similarity in climate is their proximity to a large body of water. Other cities at the same latitude that are much further inland experience a much more drastic range of temperatures. Also, port cities do not "tend to be large", they range in size just like any cities. Tokyo is a port city that is the largest city in the world, while up and down every coast on Earth are port cities that go down to the size of small villages. As to Terminal Tower and Sapporo JR Tower being strangely similar, Sapporo's is only the second time I've heard of that exact mix of uses in that form of setup before (rail station on bottom, large shopping mall at street level, tower with office space and observation deck above).
What's more odd is that such a similar geographic layout existed in so very disparate locations that gave rise to such similar cities that are worlds apart culturally. Also the whole rivers' names meaning nearly the same thing in the native languages thing.
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That's actually pretty interesting comparing the two.
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Similarity in latitude goes a long way toward explaining these:
*Both have similar climates: Cleveland's average highest is 81°F in July and its average lowest is 19°F in January; Sapporo's are 79°F in August and 18°F in January...
*Both are snowy in the winter, although Sapporo is snowier.
Both are port cities that are suffering population losses.
Port cities tend to be large. The port is a center of trade, which turns the city into a major hub. None of these things are surprising, given this fact:
*Both metro areas house about 3 million people (2.8 mil for Cleveland, 2.6 mil for Sapporo)
*Both are the largest metros in their respective subnational divisions.
*Both contain the highest buildings in their respective subnational divisions
Ohio and Hokkaido are similar in size (Ohio is ~45k sq mi, Hokkaido is ~32k sq mi)
Maybe that's similar in absolute terms, but relatively speaking it's pretty different. Ohio is ~50% larger than Sapporo by your figures.
Terminal Tower in ( ... )
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What's more odd is that such a similar geographic layout existed in so very disparate locations that gave rise to such similar cities that are worlds apart culturally. Also the whole rivers' names meaning nearly the same thing in the native languages thing.
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