is a

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

located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 26,449 in 10963 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

of 270 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Miki is located in eastern Kagawa Prefecture on ten island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), ...

. The town area is long from north to south, and consists of hilly areas in the north, plains in the center, and mountainous areas in the south. It borders the prefectural capital, Takamatsu City, to the north, west, and southwest, Sanuki City to the east, and Mima City, Tokushima Prefecture to the southeast. From the northern part to the central and southern part, it is the basin of the Shinkawa River system, which originates from Mt. Kosen.

Neighbouring municipalities

Kagawa Prefecture * Takamatsu * Sanuki Tokushima Prefecture * Mima

Climate

Miki has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Miki is 15.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1606 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in January, at around 26.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.0 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Utazu population statistics
/ref> the population of Utazu has been increasing steadily since the 1960s.

History

The area of Miki was part of ancient Sanuki Province. 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 character ...

, the area was part of the holdings of Takamatsu. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

, the area was organized into villages with the creation of the modern municipalities system on February 15, 1890. The village of Hirai was raised to town status on April 1, 1919. The town of Miki was created on October 1, 1954 by merging the town of Hirai and the villages of Hikami,

Kamiyama 270px, Kamiyama Town Hall 270px, Amagoi Falls 270px, Spring in Kamiyama is a town in Myōzai District, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 4,930 in 2404 households and a population density of 28 person ...

, Shimotakaoka and Tanaka. In 1956 the village of Ido also merged into Miki, but in 1959 residents in the northern part of Ido requested their portion be transferred to the town of

Nagao was a Japan, Japanese samurai clan.Edmund Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Nagao," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 39 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Nag ...

(present-day Sanuki city).

Government

Miki 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 multi ...

town council of 16 members. Miki contributes one member to the Kagawa Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Kagawa 2nd district of the lower house 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 paral ...

Economy

The local economy is based on admixture of agriculture (rice, strawberries, asparagus, tomatoes, and other agricultural products), food processing and light manufacturing.

Education

Miki has four public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Kagawa Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad Kotoden Nagao Line * - - - - - -

Highways

Takamatsu Expressway The is an expressway in the Shikoku region of Japan. The expressway is numbered E11. Overview The expressway is an important route connecting the greater Osaka area with Takamatsu, the capital of Kagawa Prefecture. Beyond Takamatsu, the route f ...

* * *

References

External links

*
Miki official website

Towns in Kagawa Prefecture Miki, Kagawa {{Kagawa-geo-stub