CL wrote:
> [...] the 
> central business hub of the thriving metropolis of Abashiri [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abashiri%2C_Hokkaid%C5%8D
"Abashiri is best known as the site of the Abashiri Prison, a Meiji-era 
facility used for the incarceration of political prisoners."

For some reason, the french wikipedia has more details, describing 
living conditions for the prisoneers that looked more like siberian 
gulag than anything else.