270px, Rice fields in the Noshiro Plain 270px, Yoneshiro River 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 ...

located in

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

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 49,935 in 24,200 households.

Geography

Noshiro is located in the flat coastal plains northwestern Akita Prefecture, bordered by the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

to the west. The Yoneshiro River flows through the city and empties into the

near

Noshiro Port 270px, Rice fields in the Noshiro Plain 270px, Yoneshiro River is a city located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 49,935 in 24,200 households. Geography Noshiro is located in the flat coastal plains nor ...

. The highest point is Mount Yakeyama at .

Neighboring municipalities

*Akita Prefecture **

Kitaakita is a city located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 31,504 in 14,021 households, and a population density of 27 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kitaakita is located in the mountain ...

** Fujisato ** Mitane ** Happō ** Kamikoani

Climate

Noshiro 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 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'') with large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. Precipitation significant throughout the year, but is heaviest from August to October. The average annual temperature in Noshiro is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Noshiro population statistics
/ref> the population of Noshiro has been declining over the past 60 years.

History

Per the '' Nihon Shoki'' and other ancient chronicles, Noshiro is the location where an expedition sent by the Yamato Court led by

Abe no Hirafu was a Japanese military strategist and commander of the Asuka period. Some sources say he lived from c.575-664 Biography Events in his life are accounted in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki, both written several decades after his death. His father ...

landed in 658 AD with orders to force the local

Emishi The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean "shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contemp ...

tribes into submission. Trade vessels from

Balhae Balhae ( ko, 발해, zh, c=渤海, p=Bóhǎi, russian: Бохай, translit=Bokhay, ), also rendered as Bohai, was a multi-ethnic kingdom whose land extends to what is today Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East. It wa ...

were calling at Noshiro Port as late as 771 AD. The area of present-day Noshiro was part of ancient

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

, dominated by the

Satake clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. Its first power base was in Hitachi Province. The clan was subdued by Minamoto no Yoritomo in the late 12th century, but later entered Yoritomo's service as vassals ...

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 ...

, who ruled

Kubota Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Akita Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Kubota Castle in what is now the city of Akita and was thus also known as the . It was governed for the whole of its his ...

under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. The town of Nishirominato was established on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. The city of Noshiro was created by the merger of the town of Noshirominato and the villages of Shinonome and Sakaki (all formerly from

Yamamoto District is a rural district located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. At present time (as of August 2013), the district has an estimated population of 29,254 and an area of 764.27 km2. All of the city of Noshiro was formerly part of Yamamoto District. ...

) on October 1, 1940. On March 21, 2006, the town of Futatsui (from

) was merged into Noshiro.

Government

Noshiro 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 legislature of 20 members. The city (together with the towns of

contributes four members to the Akita Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Aichi District 2 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 economy of Noshiro 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 ...

. Tohoku Electric operates the Noshiro Thermal Power Station, a coal /

biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...

power plant in the city.

Education

Noshiro has ten public elementary schools and seven public junior high schools operated by the city government, and five public high schools operated by the Akita Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped. *

Noshiro Technical High School is a high school located in Noshiro, Akita, Japan. It was established in 1912. Noshiro Tech is best known for their powerhouse basketball and won Japanese high school championship 58 times. Notable alumni * Shinji Akiba * Keishi Handa *Mako ...

Transportation

Airport

* Odate-Noshiro Airport - opened in 1998

Railway

East Japan Railway Company -

Ōu Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Fukushima Station through Akita Station to Aomori Station. Since the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen on July 1, 1992, the Fukushima–Yama ...

* - - - JR logo (east)

East Japan Railway Company -

Gonō Line The is a railway line in Japan linking Higashi-Noshiro Station in Akita Prefecture with Kawabe Station in Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of Honshu. The line stretches 147.2 km (91.5 mi) along the Sea of Japan coast ...

* - - - -

Highway

* * *

Seaports

* Port of Noshiro

Sister city relations

* -

Wrangell, Alaska The City and Borough of Wrangell ( tli, Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw, russian: Врангель) is a borough in Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 2,127, down from 2,369 in 2010. Incorporated as a Unified Home Rule Bor ...

, United States, since December 16, 1960

Local attractions

* Kaze no Matsubara - one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment *Noshiro Swimming Beach *Noshiro Onsen

Festivals

*Noshiro Yakutanabata *Tenku no Fuyajo
Noshiro Port Fireworks Festival
in 2008 had 150,000 visitors.
Onagori Festival in Noshiro
Kanto matsuri,

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri The is a Japanese summer festival that takes place in Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan in early August. The festival attracts the most tourists of any of the country's nebuta festivals, and is counted among the three largest festivals in the T� ...

, Samba Carnival and more. In 2008, 250,000 people visited.

Noted people from Noshiro

* Ando Chikasue,

Daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally ...

Masumi Asano is a Japanese voice actress, singer and narrator who worked for Aoni Production, but now as of January, 2021 a Freelancer. Biography Asano was born on August 25, 1977 in Noshiro, Akita and studied at the Kokugakuin University Faculty of Litera ...

, voice actress *

Hosei Norota was a Japanese politician of the People's New Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Noshiro, Akita and graduate of Chuo University he joined the Ministry of Construction in 1953. Leav ...

, politician * Shuji Ono, Basketball head coach * Takashi Ono, Olympic gymnast *

Sadatoshi Sugawara is a Japanese former volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a p ...

, Olympic volleyball player *

Hisashi Yamada is a retired Japanese professional baseball submarine pitcher. He played with the Hankyu Braves in Nippon Professional Baseball from to . Yamada won the Pacific League MVP for three years in a row (1976–1978), sharing a record with Ichiro S ...

, professional baseball player

Notes

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Akita Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Port settlements in Japan