270px, Shiobara Onsen 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

Tochigi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi). Tochigi ...

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 115,794 in 48,437 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 67 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Nasushiobara is the northernmost city in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

of Japan, bordering

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...

to the north. It is located in the northern portion of Tochigi Prefecture, in the mountains.

Surrounding municipalities

Ōtawara 270px, View from the ruins of Ōtawara Castle is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 72,189 in 30,136 households, and a population density of 210 persons per km2. The total area of the city is ...

* Yaita * Nikko * Shioya * Nasu

Minamiaizu is a town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 15,158 in 6,575 households, and a population density of 17 persons per km². The total area of the town was . Geography Minamiaizu is located in the m ...

* Shimogō * Nishigō

Climate

Nasushiobara 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 to hot summers and cool winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Nasushiobara 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, the population of Nasushiobara has recently plateaued after a century of strong growth.

History

Before the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, the area which is now Nasushiobara was mostly uninhabited wasteland, due to lack of suitable water for agriculture.

Ōtawara Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Shimotsuke Province (modern-day Tochigi Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Ōtawara Castle in what is now part of the city of Ōtawara, Tochigi. Ōtawara was ru ...

built a number of

irrigation canal An acequia () or séquia () is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest particularly n ...

s 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 ...

, but the scale was small. However, in the Meiji period, the Nasu Canal and other agricultural development projects aimed at opening the region to farming led to rapid development, and many local place names still bear the names of various government officials of the Meiji period. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the villages of Karino, Takabayashi, Nabekake, Nishi-Nasuno, Higashi-Nasuno in Nasu District, and Shiobara in Shioya District were formed. A portion of Higashi-Nasuno became the town of Kuroiso in 1912. Shiobara became a town in 1919, and Nishi-Nasuno in 1932. In 1955, Kuroiso annexed Takabayashi, Nabekake and the remainder of Higashi-Nasuno, and Nishi-Nasuno annexed Kariya. Kuroiso became a city in 1970, and Shiobara was transferred to Nasu District in 1982. The modern city of Nasushiobara was established on January 1, 2005, from the merger of the former city of Kuroiso, and the towns of Nishinasuno and Shiobara (both previously constituent towns of Nasu District).

Government

Nasushiobara 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 assembly of 26 members. Nasushiobara, together with the town of Nasu collectively contributes four members to the Tochigi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Tochigi 3rd district Tochigi 3rd district (栃木 ��第区 ''Tochigi ken dai-an-ku'') is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. Located in north-eastern Tochigi, it covers the cities of Ōt ...

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

Nasushiobara relies heavily on seasonal tourism to its

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

and ski resorts. Agriculture is centered on dairy production. The city mascot, Miruhi, was created to represent the city's dairy production. The city also has several

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

Education

* Utsunomiya Kyowa University *Nasushiobara has 20 public

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

s, ten public

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

s and one combined primary/middle school operated by the city government. The city has four public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s operated by the Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education. The prefectural also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

–

Tōhoku Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line, connecting Tokyo with Aomori in Aomori Prefecture in a route length of , making it Japan's longest Shinkansen line. It runs through the more sparsely populated Tōhoku region of Japan's main is ...

–

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line ( ja, 東北本線, ) is a long railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Utsunomiya, Fukush ...

(

Utsunomiya Line The Utsunomiya Line ( ja, 宇都宮線, ) is the name given to a 163.5 kilometer section of the Tōhoku Main Line between Tokyo Station in Tokyo and Kuroiso Station in Nasushiobara, Tochigi, Japan. It is part of the East Japan Railway Compan ...

) * – –

Highway

* – Nishinasuno Interchange – Kuroiso Interchange * * *

Local attractions

Nasushiobara serves as a gateway for tourism in northern Tochigi. *Shiobara onsen *Itamuro onsen *former house of

Aoki Shuzo may refer to: People *Aoki (surname), a list of people with the surname Places *Aoki, Nagano, a village in the Nagano Prefecture Company * Aoki Corporation, a defunct construction company * Aoki (store), a men's clothing store based in Japan F ...

*Nogi Jinja (former residence of General

Nogi Maresuke Count , also known as Kiten, Count Nogi (December 25, 1849September 13, 1912), was a Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army and a governor-general of Taiwan. He was one of the commanders during the 1894 capture of Port Arthur from Chin ...

) *former Shiobara Imperial Palace *

Hunter Mountain Shiobara is a ski area in Nasushiobara, Tochigi, Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, which was developed by the owners of Hunter Mountain (ski area), Hunter Mountain in New York (state), New York. It is the largest snow resort in the Tokyo Metropol ...

*Momiji-dani Suspension Bridge

Noted people

Hiromi Hara is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. He also managed Japan national team as caretaker. Club career Hara was born in Nasushiobara on October 19, 1958. After graduating from Waseda University, he jo ...

, professional football player *

Yoko Shibui is a long-distance runner from Japan, who is competing in the 5000 and 10,000 metres as well as the marathon race. She holds the Japanese record over 10,000 m with her best time of 30:48.89 minutes. Shibui is one of only a handful of wome ...

, Olympic runner
Sports-Reference.com *

Aya Hirayama is a Japanese actress who has appeared in various films including ''Waterboys'' (2001) and Lovers' Kiss (2003). Hirayama was born in Kuroiso, Tochigi, Japan, which is now part of Nasushiobara. Aya made her acting debut in 1999 with '' Tengoku ...

, actress *

Yoshimi Watanabe is a Japanese politician. He was formerly a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and later the founder of Your Party, after which he became a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai until 2019 when he then became an independent politician. He was a memb ...

, politician * Masayoshi Takayama, three-star Michelin head chef of the Manhattan sushi restaurant

Masa ''Masa'' (or ''masa de maíz'') (; ) is a maize dough that comes from ground nixtamalization, nixtamalized corn. It is used for making corn tortillas, ''gorditas'', ''tamales'', ''pupusas'', and many other Latin American cuisine, Latin American d ...

(born in Kuroiso)

References

External links

Official Website

Shiobara Onsen
{{Authority control Cities in Tochigi Prefecture Nasushiobara