BIBAI

city, Hokkaido, Japan. It is located between the cities of Asahikawa to the northeast and Sapporo to the southwest. It was settled in 1891 by Japanese farmer-soldiers (tondenhei) and has been the main rice-producing centre of the Sorachi region since 1901. Development of the city was spurred by the opening of a national road (1890) and a railway line (1891). Exploitation of the Ishikari Coalfield on nearby Mount Bibai began in 1913, but a decline in yield and the introduction of petroleum brought a decrease in population in the 1960s and '70s. The city's industrial sector produces plastic goods, chemicals, beds, and briquettes. Pop. (1990) 35,176.