260px, Kujūkuri Sardine Museum is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. , the town had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 15,343 in 7,092 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of 650 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Kujūkuri owes its name to its beach,

Kujūkuri Beach is a sandy beach that occupies much of the northeast coast of the Bōsō Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The beach is approximately long, making it the second longest beach in Japan. Kujūkuri Beach is a popular swimming and surfing dest ...

, which is Japan's second longest. The word "Kujūkuri" roughly translates to mean "ninety-nine ri", with "kujūku" meaning "ninety-nine" and " ri" being an old unit of measurement equating to approximately 600 meters.

Geography

Kujūkuri is located on the east-central

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

, on the shore of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It is about 30 kilometers from the prefectural capital at

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

and 60 to 70 kilometers from central Tokyo.

Surrounding Municipalities

Chiba Prefecture *

Tōgane is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 57,780 in 26,907 households and a population density of 650 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Tōgane is home to the ''Kurenai-kai'' Scho ...

* Sanmu *

Ōamishirasato 260px, Area around Ōami Station is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 49,019 in 21,860 households and a population density of 840 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ō ...

Climate

Kujūkuri has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kujūkuri is 15.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1609 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kujūkuri population statistics
/ref> the population of Kujūkuri has declined in recent decades.

History

During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, the area was noted for its product of

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...

es. In the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, the villages of Katakai and Toyoumi were established within

Sanbu District, Chiba is a Districts of Japan, district located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of January 2013, the district had a population of 49,488 and a population density of 369 persons per km2. The total area is . Towns and villages *Kujūkuri, Chiba, Kujūkuri ...

with the creation of the modern municipalities system. on April 1, 1889. Katakai was raised to town status on April 10, 1926 and Toyoumi on February 11, 1940. The two towns merged with a portion of the village of Naruhama on March 31, 1955 to form the town of Kujūkuri.

Government

Kujūkuri has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

town council of 14 members. Kujūkuri, collectively with the city of Sanmu and the other municipalities of Sanmu District, contributes two members to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Chiba 11th district Chiba 11th district (千葉県第11区, ''Chiba-ken dai-jūikku'' or simply 千葉11区, ''Chiba-jūikku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan. It is located in the eastern portion of Chi ...

of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

Economy

Commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

and

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...

(particularly sardine processing) remain the primary industries of Kujūkuri, although the town is primarily known as a beach resort, from its seaside location and mild climate, and attracts more than million tourists each year. Kujūkuri and surrounding towns are also popular surfing destinations. Efforts are underway to raise its profile including the establishment of the Tōgane Kujūkuri Toll Road to improve the town's accessibility and the opening of the Kujūkuri Sardine Museum as a point of cultural interest.

Education

Kujūkuri has three public elementary schools and two public middle schools operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Despite its popularity as a beach resort, Kujūkuri is not served by either railway or highway connections.

Local attractions

* Kujūkuri Sardine Museum

Sister city relations

Kamiichi, Toyama 270px, Panorama of Kamiichi is a town located in Nakaniikawa District, Toyama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,827 in 7958 households and a population density of 88 persons per km². The total area of the town was ...

since July 1965

Noted people from Kujūkuri

Inō Tadataka was a Japanese people, Japanese surveying, surveyor and cartographer. He is known for completing the first map of Japan using modern surveying techniques. Early life Inō was born in the small village of Ozeki in the middle of Kujūkuri beach, ...

, Edo period mapmaker

Gallery

Image:Typical_Kujukuri_residential scene.JPG, A typical Kujūkuri residential scene. Image:Kujukuri_Agriculture.jpg, An agricultural scene from the Kujūkuri area. Image:Kujukuri_Beach_3.jpg, Kujūkuri Beach.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kujukuri, Chiba Towns in Chiba Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Kujūkuri