to uniquely identify Hokkaido, for example as in ?? (dodo, "Hokkaido road") or ??? (Dogikai, "Hokkaido Assembly"), the same way ? (-to) is used for Tokyo. The prefecture's government calls itself the "Hokkaido Government" rather than the "Hokkaido Prefectural Government".

With the rise of indigenous rights movements, there emerged a notion that Hokkaido should have an Ainu-language name. If a decision to change