Shinshu University agricultural department

is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

located in

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma 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 village 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 15,463 in 6115 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 371 persons per km². The total area of the village is .

Geography

Minamiminowa is located in the Ina Valley of south-central Nagano Prefecture, bordered by the

Kiso Mountains are a mountain range in Nagano and Gifu prefectures in Japan. They are also called the and they combine with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Akaishi Mountains ("Southern Alps") to form a group collectively known as the Japanese Al ...

to the west. The

Tenryū River The is a river in central Honshū, Japan. With a length of , it is Japan's ninth longest river. Its source is Lake Suwa in the Kiso Mountains near Okaya, Nagano, Okaya in Nagano Prefecture. It then flows through Aichi Prefecture and western Shi ...

flows through the village. The village consists of two separate geographic areas, separated from each other by Ina City.

Surrounding municipalities

*Nagano Prefecture ** Ina ** Shiojiri ** Minowa ** Tatsuno

Climate

The town has a climate characterized by characterized by hot and humid summers, and cold winters (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Minamiminowa is 11.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1370 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around -0.8 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Minamiminowa population statistics
/ref> the population of Minamiminowa has seen strong growth over the past 60 years.

History

The area of present-day Minaminowa was part of ancient

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

. The village of Minamiminowa was established on April 1, 1889 by the establishment of the modern municipalities system.

Economy

The economy of Minaminowa is based on agriculture, with rice, apples, blueberries and

wasabi Wasabi (Japanese: , , or , ; ''Eutrema japonicum'' or ''Wasabia japonica'') or Japanese horseradish is a plant of the family Brassicaceae, which also includes horseradish and mustard in other genera. The plant is native to Japan and the Russian ...

among the major crops.

Education

Minamiminowa has two public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the village government, and one high school operated the Nagano Prefectural Board of Education. The village is also host to the Agricultural Department of

Shinshu University , abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university located in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. As the only university in Japan bearing the name of a former Japanese province, it bears the name "Shinshu" (alternative name for Shinano Pr ...

Transportation

Railway

Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...

Iida Line The is a Japanese railway line connecting Toyohashi Station in Toyohashi, Aichi with Tatsuno Station in Tatsuno, Nagano, operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). The line links eastern Aichi Prefecture and southern Nagano Prefe ...

** -

Highway

Chūō Expressway The is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by NEXCO Central. Naming Officially the expressway is designated as the Chūō Expressway Nishinomiya Route (from Takaido Interchange to Komaki Junction), the Chūō Expressway Nag ...

* *

References

External links

*
Official Website
Villages in Nagano Prefecture {{Nagano-geo-stub