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

Ishikawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama 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 ...

. , 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 52,143 in 23,111 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 3,800 persons per km². The total area of the city was .

Geography

Nonoichi is in central Ishikawa Prefecture, sandwiched between the geographically much larger cities of

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな ...

and Hakusan. The city is located on flatlands on the fertile floodplain of the

Tedori River The is a river in southern Ishikawa Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. The river originates on Hakusan, the highest peak in the Hakusan National Park on the border between Ishikawa and Gifu Prefecture, and flows in a generally north ...

Neighbouring municipalities

*Ishikawa Prefecture **

** Hakusan

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Nonoichi has grown rapidly over the past 50 years.

Climate

Nonoichi has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by mild summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Nonoichi is 14.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2,542 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.0 °C.

History

The area around Nonoichi was part of ancient

Kaga Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the south and western portion of Ishikawa Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Kaga bordered on Echizen, Etchū, Hida, and Noto Provinces. It was part of Hokurikudō Circuit. Its abb ...

. The area became part Kaga Domain under 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 ...

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 ...

, and nonoichi was a post station on the

Hokuriku kaidō Hokuriku may refer to: * ''Hokuriku'' (train), a sleeping car train in Japan * Hokuriku Shinkansen, a high-speed railway line connecting Tokyo with Kanazawa * The Hokuriku region in Japan * ALO's Hokuriku was a Japanese football club based in ...

highway. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, the area was organised into

Ishikawa District, Ishikawa was a district located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. As of February 2011, the district had an estimated population of 51,976 and a density of 3,830 persons per squire kilometer. The total area was 13.56 km2. The day before the dissolution ...

. The village of Nonoichi was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was raised to town status on July 1, 1924. A referendum to merge with the city of Kanazawa was rejected in 1937. On April 1, 1955, Nonoichi expanded by annexing the neighbouring village of Tomioka. Nonoichi was elevated to city status on November 11, 2011. Ishikawa District was dissolved as a result of this merger.

Government

Nonoichi 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 15 members.

Economy

Nonoichi is primarily 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 ...

for the city of Kanazawa. Local industries include agriculture and

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...

Education

College and university

Kanazawa Institute of Technology is an institution of higher learning in Nonoichi City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It is often called KIT, or for short. It is known for its unique educational policy that attaches importance to initiative of students. One of the examples is ...

Ishikawa Prefectural University is a public university in the city of Nonoichi in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1971 as an agricultural junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a ...

Primary and secondary education

Nonoichi has five public elementary schools and two middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Ishikawa Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school.

Transportation

Railway

West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

Hokuriku Main Line The Hokuriku Main Line ( ja, 北陸本線, ) is a 176.6 kilometer railway line owned by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) connecting the Maibara Station in Maibara, Shiga, with the Naoetsu Station in Joetsu, Niigata. The section betwe ...

Hokuriku Railroad Ishikawa Line * - -

Highway

: : :

Sister city relations

* - Gisborne

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, from 1990 * -

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

, China, friendship city

Local attractions

* Okyōzuka Site, a Jomon period archaeological site and National Historic Site * Suematsu temple ruins, a National Historic Site

References

External links

* * Cities in Ishikawa Prefecture {{Ishikawa-geo-stub