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 on the island of

Tanegashima is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 444.99 km2 in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 people. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New ...

, in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

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 ...

. As of June 2013, the city has 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 16,418 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 79.8 persons per km². The total area is 205.75 km².

Geography

Nishinoomote, located on the northern portion of Tanegashima, is bordered by the

East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...

to the west and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

to the east, and by the Osumi Strait separating Tanegashima from the Kyushu mainland. The city also includes the offshore island of

Mageshima , native_name_link = , image_caption = Mageshima , image_size = , map_image = Osumi_Islands_Map_Japan.png , map_caption = Location of Mageshima in the Ōsumi Islands , location = East China Sea , coordinates ...

within its borders.

Climate

Nishinoomote 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 long, hot, humid summers and mild winters. Precipitation is abundant throughout the year, with particularly heavy rainfall in May, June, August and September. The area is subject to frequent

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

Surrounding municipalities

* Nakatane

History

Kitatane Village was established on April 1, 1889. It was elevated to town status on April 1, 1926 and renamed Nishinoomote. Towards the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the town was garrisoned by a 12,000-man force from the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

and was thus subjected to bombing by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1945. It was elevated to city status on October 1, 1958. Nishinoomote06122301

Transportation

Seaport

Nishinoomote Port is a regional transportation hub, with frequent ferry service to Kagoshima, Tokyo, Kobe, and Osaka, as well as Okinawa and the other Osumi islands.

Highway

* National Route 58

Sister cities

* Isa, Kagoshima, since November 10, 1962 *

Sakai, Osaka is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

, since October 18, 1986 *

Nagahama, Shiga is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 116,043 in 46858 households and a population density of 120 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Nagahama is located on the northern ...

, since October 8, 1987 *

Vila do Bispo Vila do Bispo () is a municipality (''concelho'') in the Portuguese Algarve. It has 5,717 inhabitants in an area of 179.06 km2. History The first references to this region referred to the ''Aldeia do Bispo'' in the 14th century, in a char ...

, Portugal, since October 1, 1993 (in recognition of the fact that it was

Fernão Mendes Pinto Fernão Mendes Pinto (; c.1509 – 8 July 1583) was a Portuguese explorer and writer. His voyages are recorded in ''Pilgrimage'' ( pt, Peregrinação) (1614), his autobiographical memoir. The historical accuracy of the work is debatable due t ...

, a Portuguese explorer, who claimed to be the first European to set foot on Japan, and did so on Tanegashima in 1543.)Flagspot.net

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Kagoshima Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan