is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located on Dōgo, in Oki District,

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...

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 town 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 14,849 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 61.1 persons per km². The total area was 242.95 km².

Etymology

Okinoshima Town takes its name from Okinoshima, the traditional name for all four inhabited Oki Islands. There is no single island named Okinoshima.

History

Okinoshima Town was formed from the merger of the town of Saigō, and the villages of

Fuse Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protect ...

, Goka and Tsuma on October 1, 2004, all from Oki District.

Geography

Okinoshima occupies all of the island of Dōgo, in the

Oki Islands The is an archipelago in the Sea of Japan, the islands of which are administratively part of Oki District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The islands have a total area of . Only four of the around 180 islands are permanently inhabited. Much of the ...

archipelago in 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 ...

, along with numerous offshore uninhabited islands and rocks. For administrative purposes, the Japanese government officially considers the disputed islet of Takeshima (

Liancourt Rocks The Liancourt Rocks, also known by their Korean name of Dokdo or their Japanese name of Takeshima,; ; . form a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The Liancourt Rocks comprise two ...

) to be a part of the town of Okinoshima.

Climate

Okinoshima 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 very warm summers and cool winters. Precipitation is abundant throughout the year. The average annual temperature in Okinoshima is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Okinoshima was on 14 August 1994; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 26 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Okinoshima in 2020 is 13,433 people. Okinoshima has been conducting censuses since 1920.

Economy

The town economy is primarily 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 ...

Transportation

Airport

Oki Airport 240px, Aerial view of Oki Airport is an airport on Dōgo, one of the Oki Islands in the Shimane Prefecture of Japan. It is located approximately three kilometers south of the center of Okinoshima, the most populous town on these islands. Ok ...

(OKI), a Class III facility with a 1991 m runway, is located within the town. It provides air service to

Osaka International Airport , often referred to as is the primary regional airport for the Kansai region of Japan, including the major cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. Classified as a first class airport, it is the airport closest to Kyoto, southwest of Kyoto Station. ...

("Itami") and

Izumo Airport is an airport in the Hikawa area of Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan, about 20–30 minutes by car from central Izumo or Matsue city centre. This airport is also known as ; meaning Izumo Airport of Romantic Fate. History The airport ope ...

Highway

* Japan National Route 485

Sea Port

*Saigō Port is the major seaport and ferry terminal in the Oki Islands

Local attractions

* A set of two

station bell Under the Japanese ritsuryō system, were bells of red copper issued by the central government or by local provincial government offices to travelling officials or messengers known as . Functioning as a proof of identity, they allowed them to proc ...

s designated as

Important Cultural Property of Japan An The term is often shortened into just is an item officially classified as Tangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs ( Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and judged to b ...

is located at the ( in Okinoshima.

Notable people from Okinoshima

Okinoumi Ayumi is a retired Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Okinoshima, Shimane. He joined professional sumo in 2005, reaching the top division in 2010. He was runner-up in ''makuuchi'' three times in the January 2011, March 2013, and November 2017 ...

– sumo wrestler, the first wrestler from Shimane Prefecture to reach the top

makuuchi , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

division in 88 years *

Kai Hirano is a Japanese football player. Club career In 2013 Kai Hirano moved from Kataller Toyama to Buriram United in Thai Premier League. In October, he scored his first goal for Buriram United against Ratchaburi FC. In the next game he scored his ...

– professional soccer player

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Towns in Shimane Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan