Abashiri

Abashiri is a city in Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Its local government is styled Abashiri-shi in Japanese. The article says it is known as the site of the Abashiri Prison, a Meiji-era facility used for the incarceration of political prisoners, whose old prison has been turned into a museum while the city's new maximum-security prison is still in use. As of 2008 the city had an estimated population of 40,333 and a density of 85.6 persons per square kilometre, across a total area of 470.94 square kilometres. The article also notes that it is the first Japanese city in alphabetical order. The entry is kept apart from other places of the same name by its prefecture, and in the geography atlas the city is placed with the cities of Eastern Asia, under Japan, where its population and area can be compared with those of other Japanese cities.