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 central

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

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 ...

, bordering on

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama P ...

to the west. , 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 77,022 in 34,658 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 590 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Nabari is located in the hilly Iga region of northwestern Mie Prefecture.

Neighboring municipalities

Mie Prefecture * Tsu * Iga Nara Prefecture * Uda * Yamazoe * Soni

Climate

Nabari 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 Nabari is 13.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1439 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around 1.5 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Nabari population statistics
/ref> the population of Nabari grew rapidly from the 1950s, but has slightly decreased since the year 2000.

History

The area around Nabari is part of ancient

Iga Province was a province of Japan located in what is today part of western Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Iga" in . Its abbreviated name was . Iga is classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō. Under the ''Engishiki'' cl ...

, and Nabari developed from the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after t ...

as a post station on the Ise Kaidō highway from

Asuka Asuka may refer to: People * Asuka (name), a list of people * Asuka (wrestler), professional wrestler * Asuka (wrestler, born 1998), professional wrestler also known as Veny outside of Japan Places In Japan * , an area in Yamato Province (now ...

and Heijō-kyō to the

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inn ...

s. It is mentioned in ancient works, including the ''

Man'yōshū The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...

''. Nabari Town in Nabari District in Mie Prefecture was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. Nabari District was merged with Iga District in 1896 to form Naga District. The city of Nabari was established on March 31, 1954 by the merger of Nabari town with the neighboring villages of Takigawa, Minowa and Kunitsu. Voters rejected a proposal to merge with the neighboring city of Iga in February 2003.

Government

Nabari 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 14 members. Nabari contributes two members to the Mie Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Mie 2nd 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 economy of Nabari is mixed, with agriculture (especially for fruits) and ''

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

'' production, along with light manufacturing and chemicals production predominant. Due to its proximity to Osaka and Nara, the city is also increasing becoming a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

Education

Kogakkan University is a private university at Ise, Mie, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1882, and it was chartered as a university in 1940. Kogakkan University is one of only two universities in Japan to offer a Shinto studies program, whose gra ...

– Nabari branch campus *Nabari has 14 public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and three public high schools operated by then Mie Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

20px

Kintetsu Railway , referred to as , is a Japanese passenger railway company, managing infrastructure and operating passenger train service. Its railway system is the largest in Japan, excluding Japan Railways Group. The railway network connects Osaka, Nara, Kyot ...

–

Osaka Line is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...

** - - -

Highway

* *

Sister city relations

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, China.

Local attractions

* Akame Forty-eight Waterfalls. Asides from being a popular hiking spot, the waterfalls are rumored to be the training location for ninja hundreds of years ago. * Kuroda House. The Kuroda House was a large manor operated by Todaiji Temple from the Heian to the Muromachi period. * A statue based on the character of

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...

can be found near Kanonji Temple, its mysterious nature attracted the attention of online outlets and fans of the franchise

Notable people from Nabari

Edogawa Rampo , better known by the pen name was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogoro Akechi, who in later books was the lea ...

, Author *

Michiyo Heike , (born (same reading) on April 6, 1979, married name unknown) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter from Osaka Prefecture and raised in Nabari, Mie. She first become known after her appearance on the Japanese talent show ''Asayan'' in the late 19 ...

, singer, songwriter *

Kentaro Kuwahara Kentaro Kuwahara (桑原謙太朗, born October 29, 1985) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama BayStars from 2008 to 2010, the Orix Buffaloes from 2011 to 2014, and ...

, professional baseball player *

Mina Fukui is a Japanese former actress, television personality and gravure model from Nabari, Mie Prefecture. She worked under the Horipro talent agency. Career Even though she had been featured as a guest or assistant in several shows during the 1990 ...

, model * Andou Daisuke, guitarist

References

External links

*
Nabari City official website
{{Authority control Cities in Mie Prefecture