is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in the southern part of Awaji Island in

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

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 city 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 45,489 kn 19856 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 200 persons per km².The total area of the city is .

Geography

The city of Minamiawaji occupies the southern third of Awaji Island. It is connected to

Tokushima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 728,633 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,146 km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the north, E ...

to the south by the

Ōnaruto Bridge The is a suspension bridge on the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway connecting Minamiawaji, Hyogo on Awaji Island with Naruto, Tokushima on Ōge Island, Japan. Completed in 1985, it has a main span of . Although it is one of the largest bri ...

, and is located facing the

Kii Channel The , also called the Kii Strait, is a strait separating the Japanese island of Shikoku from the Kii Peninsula on the main island of Honshū. This strait connects the Inland Sea with the Pacific Ocean. The name of the strait derives from Ki ...

and the Gulf of Harima on the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...

. There are no large rivers in the city, but there are many agricultural ponds. In the eastern part of the city is Mt. Yuzuruha, the highest peak in Awaji Island with an elevation of 607.9 meters. Minamiawaji also includes the small island of off the southeast coast of Awaji Island, which is only accessible by ferry.

Surrounding municipalities

Hyogo Prefecture * Sumoto

Climate

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Minamiawaji has been declining steadily over the past 30 years.

History

The city of Minamiawaji is situated in ancient Awaji Province. It was ruled as part of

Tokushima Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Awa Province and Awaji Province in what is now Tokushima Prefecture and Awaji Island of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Tokushima ...

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 ...

. After 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 ...

, it became part of

Mihara District, Hyōgo was a district located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district had an estimated population of 53,638 and a density of 234.05 persons per km2. The total area was 229.17 km2. Former towns and villages * Midori * Mihara * Nan ...

. The town of Yura was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system April 1, 1889. On April 29, 1955 it changed its name to Nandan. The city of Minamiawaji was established on January 11, 2005, from the merger of all four towns of the former Mihara District: Nandan, Mihara,

Midori Midori (みどり, ミドリ, , , ) is the Japanese word for "green" and may refer to: Places * Midori, Gunma * Midori-ku, Chiba * Midori-ku, Nagoya * Midori-ku, Sagamihara * Midori-ku, Saitama * Midori-ku, Yokohama People Given name * M ...

, and Seidan.

Government

Minamiawaji 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 ...

city council of 20 members. Minamiawaji contributes one member to the

Hyogo Prefectural Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Hyogo Prefecture. The assembly's 87 members are elected every four years in 40 districts by single non-transferable vote. Nine of the electoral districts correspond with the wards of Kobe city and the rema ...

. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Hyōgo 9th district 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

The local economy is largely rural, and is based on agriculture and

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 ...

. Minamiawaji's soil and climate make it ideal for growing onions. As such,

Awaji onion Awaji may refer to: *Awaji Island, an island in Hyōgo Prefecture **Awaji Province **Awaji, Hyōgo *Awaji Station, a station in Osaka Prefecture *Awajichō, Tokyo, a district of Tokyo *3380 Awaji, a main-belt Asteroid *Awaji ware *Japanese ship Awa ...

s are renowned across Japan as sweet and delicious.

Education

Minamiawaji has 14 public elementary schools and four public middle schools operated by the city government and one public high school operated by the Hyōgo Prefectural Department of Education. There are also one private elementary school and one private middle school.

Kibi International University is a private university in Takahashi, Okayama is a city located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on May 1, 1954. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 31,556, with 14,519 households and a population den ...

's Faculty of Regional Creation Agriculture and the

Kobe University , also known in the Kansai region as , is a leading Japanese national university located in the city of Kobe, in Hyōgo Prefecture, Hyōgo. It was established in 1949, but the academic origins of Kobe University trace back to the establishment of ...

Faculty of Maritime Sciences International Maritime Education and Research Center Awaji Marine Training Facility are located in Minamiawaji.

Transportation

Railway

Minamiawaji does not have any passenger rail service.

Highways

Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway The is a tolled expressway that connects Hyōgo and Tokushima prefectures in Japan by crossings of the Akashi Strait and Naruto Strait. Built between 1970 and 1998, it is one of the three routes of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company ...

Other

Jointly with Awaji and Sumoto, the city operates a low-cost

electric bike An electric bicycle (e-bike, eBike, etc.) is a motorized bicycle with an integrated electric motor used to assist propulsion. Many kinds of e-bikes are available worldwide, but they generally fall into two broad categories: bikes that assist ...

rental scheme, designed to attract visitors to stay for more than one day in order to explore the island.

Local attractions

Awaji Kokubun-ji is a Ritsu-sect Buddhist temple in the Yagikokubu neighborhood of the city of Minamiawaji, Hyōgo, Japan. It the successor of the provincial temple established by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710–794). Due to this connection, the fo ...

, National Historic Site *

Naruto whirlpools The are tidal whirlpools in the Naruto Strait, a channel between Naruto in Tokushima and Awaji Island in Hyōgo, Japan. The strait between Naruto and Awaji island has a width of about . The strait is one of the connections between the Paci ...

, which form when the changing tidal currents are forced through the

Naruto Strait is a strait between Awaji Island and Shikoku in Japan. It connects Harima Nada, the eastern part of the Inland Sea and the Kii Channel. A famous feature of the strait is the Naruto whirlpools. Ōnaruto Bridge, the southern part of the Kobe-A ...

. * Mihara town in Minamiawaji is home to a

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

museum which houses numerous examples of locally crafted puppets. This art originated in the area.

Notable people from Minamiawaji

Kiichiro Higuchi was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Biography Higuchi was born in what is now part of Minamiawaji City on Awaji Island, Hyōgo Prefecture, as the eldest of nine siblings. When he was eleven years old, his p ...

, general in the Imperial Japanese Army *

Tokubei Kuroda was a Japanese scientist and academic. He is best known as a pioneering taxonomist and malacologist specializing in Japanese marine and terrestrial Mollusca. Early life Kuroda was born at Fukura (now Nandan-cho in Minami-Awaji-Shi) on the is ...

, marine biologist * Shohé Tanaka, physicist *

Ōuchi Hyōei was a Japanese economist. Early life and education Ōuchi was born on August 29, 1888 in what is now Minaminawaji, Hyogo, Japan. After graduating from schools in Hyogo and Kumamoto, and earned a degree from Tokyo Imperial University. Career ...

, economist *

Yoichirō Hirase was a Japanese malacologist and business man. His son, Shintarō Hirase, (1884-1939) was also a malacologist. The majority of his collection of molluscs were destroyed during World War II World War II or the Second World War, ...

, marine biologist * Shintarō Hirase, marine biologist *

Kazuyuki Okitsu is a Japanese voice actor and narrator. After he graduated from the Osaka University of Arts, he was initially represented by the REM talent agency. However, since May 2007, he has been affiliated with Kekke Corporation. Filmography TV anime ;2 ...

, voice actor

References

External links

* *
Minamiawaji City official website
Cities in Hyōgo Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan Minamiawaji, Hyōgo {{Hyogo-geo-stub