It reads るもいし — Rumoi Shi. This is one of the harder names in the country: small municipalities are exactly where Japan's nandoku chimei (難読地名, "hard-to-read place names") live.
This place is one of 1,651 in Chimei, our Japan city game. Read the kanji, then pin it on the map.
Play Chimei →Every dot is one of Japan's 1,651 municipalities, plotted at its real coordinates. Rumoi is marked in red.
Rumoi is a city in Rumoi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of 31 January 2025, the city had an estimated population of 18,132 in 10519 households, and a population density of 61 people per km2. The total area of the city is 297.81 km2 (114.99 sq mi). There are several theories about the origin of the name, which comes from the Ainu word for the Rumoi River. The word "rur-mo-ot-pe," means "a river with calm, constant tides," or "a river with deep tides," and this theory has been adopted by the city.
Measured as real great-circle distance from Rumoi.
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留萌市 is read るもいし (Rumoi Shi). It is a city in Hokkaido Prefecture.
市 means "city" and is read shi. A city. 市 is read shi and is the most consistent of the municipal suffixes.
Rumoi has a population of 20,260 across 298 km², making it the 873rd largest of Japan's 1,651 municipalities and the 32nd largest of the 169 in Hokkaido.
The closest municipalities to Rumoi are Obira Cho (7 km), Mashike Cho (14 km), Numata Cho (28 km).