Tomakomai was a small fishing village until in 1910 the Oji Paper Company (now New Oji Paper Company) opened its Tomakomai plant. Since then, population in Tomakomai, the City of Paper, has grown to 170,000. After Oji moved into town, many other paper companies opened their plants in Tomakomai which led to the increase in population and an opening of a major port. Tomakomai still produces the largest volume of paper in Japan.
