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 in

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

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 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 25,149, 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 350 persons per km², in 10,423 households. The total area of the town is .

Geography

Oirase is located on the eastern coastline of Aomori Prefecture, facing 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 ...

. The land is mostly flat or slightly hilly, and is watered by the

Oirase River The is a river located in eastern Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. __NOTOC__ The Oirase River is the only river that drains Lake Towada, a large caldera lake that lies on the border of Aomori and Akita Prefectures. Th ...

Neighbouring municipalities

Aomori Prefecture * Misawa *

Hachinohe is a city located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 221,459, and a population density of 725 persons per km2 in 96,092 households, making it Aomori Prefecture's second largest city by population. The city h ...

Rokunohe is a town located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 10,994, and a population density of 130 persons per km², in 4,419 households. The total area of the town is Geography Rokunohe is in east-central Aomori P ...

Gonohe is a town located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 16,880, and a population density of 95 persons per km2 in 7,006 households. The total area of the town is . Geography Gonohe is located in the north-easte ...

Climate

The town has a cold

maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

characterized by cool short summers and long cold winters with heavy snowfall (

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''). The average annual temperature in Oirase is 10.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1158 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around -1.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Oirase has steadily increased over the past 40 years.

History

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 ...

, the area around Oirase was controlled by the

Nambu clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai P ...

Morioka Domain 300px, Ruins of Morioka Castle was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan. It was ruled throughout its history by the Nanbu clan. It was called during the early part of its history. It was located in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū, ...

, becoming part of the territories of

Shichinohe Domain was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan, located in Mutsu Province, Honshū. It was centered at Shichinohe Castle in what is now the modern town of Shichinohe, Aomori in the Kamikita District of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku ...

in the latter half of the Edo period. In the post-

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 ...

establishment of the modern municipalities system on 1 April 1889, the villages of Momoishi and Shimoda were created. Monoishi was elevated to town status on April 20, 1929 and Shimoda on August 1, 1969. The town of Oirase was established by the

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

of the former towns of Momoishi and Shimoda, on March 1, 2006. The town was named after the Oirase River.

Government

Oirase 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 ...

town council of 16 members. Oirase is part of Kamikita District which contributes four members to the Aomori Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Aomori 2nd district Aomori 2nd district (青森県第2区, ''Aomori-ken dai-niku'' or simply 青森2区, ''Aomori-niku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan. It is located ...

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 Oirase is heavily dependent on agriculture, with main crops including

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

Japanese yam ''Dioscorea japonica'', known as East Asian mountain yam, yamaimo, or Japanese mountain yam, is a type of yam ('' Dioscorea'') native to Japan (including Ryukyu and Bonin Islands), Korea, China, Taiwan, and Assam. ''Dioscorea japonica'' is us ...

and

carrots The carrot (''Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nativ ...

. The town has become commercially more vibrant with the construction of

AEON Group is a group of retail and financial services companies based in Chiba, Japan, which is centered on ÆON Co., Ltd. It has sister companies in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The group also trades ...

Jusco is the acronym for Japan United Stores Company, a chain of "general merchandise stores" (or hypermarket) and the largest of its type in Japan. The various JUSCO companies are subsidiaries of the ÆON supermarket chain. The JUSCO name was adopte ...

Shopping center A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

in 1995 and the spin-off retailing this has attracted. The major local industry is Momokawa Brewing, Inc, a nationally-known ''

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 ...

'' brewer. Oirase also serves as 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 nearby cities of Misawa and Hachinohe.

Education

Oirase has five public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the town government. The town has one public high school operated by the Aomori Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

Aoimori Railway Company The is a public-private transport company that operates the Aoimori Railway Line in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Its headquarters are located in the city of Aomori. The government of Aomori Prefecture and the city of Aomori are the primary shareh ...

Aoimori Railway Line The is a regional rail line in Aomori Prefecture, Japan that is operated by the Aoimori Railway Company. It connects the terminal station of the Iwate Galaxy Railway Line, Metoki Station, in the town of Sannohe to Aomori Station, the termi ...

* -

Highway

Momoishi Road The is a 4-laned national expressway in the prefectures of Iwate and Aomori in the Tōhoku region of Japan. It is a spur of the Tōhoku Expressway, primarily serving the city of Hachinohe. Signed as E4A, it is owned and operated by East Nippo ...

Second Michinoku Toll Road The Daini-Michinoku Toll Road (第二みちのく有料道路 ''Daini Michinoku Yūryōdōro'') is a two-lane toll road in Aomori Prefecture that connects the towns Rokunohe and Oirase. The Daini-Michinoku Toll Road was designated in 1987 as par ...

* *

Local attractions

Akōbō Kofun Cluster The is a large group of circular ''kofun'' burial mounds located in the town of Oirase, in Kamikita District of Aomori Prefecture in the far northern Tōhoku region of Japan. It has protected by the central government as a National Historic S ...

, a

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

National Historic SiteAkōbō Kofun Cluster

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The ag ...

Noted people from Oirase

Shingo Mimura is a Japanese Politician who is currently serving as Governor of Aomori Prefecture since June 29, 2003. He previously served as a member of House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries ...

- politician

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Aomori Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan