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

Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

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 34,704 in 12,758 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 224 persons per km². The total area of the city was .

Geography

Ojiya is located in an inland region of central Niigata Prefecture at the southern end of the Echigo Plain. The

Shinano River The , known as the in its upper reaches, is the longest and widest river in Japan and the third largest by basin area (behind the Tone River and Ishikari River). It is located in northeastern Honshu, rising in the Japanese Alps and flowing g ...

flows through the city. The area has very heavy snow in winter.

Surrounding municipalities

** Nagaoka **

Uonuma is a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 35,027 in 13,289 households, and a population density of 37 persons per km2. Its total area is . The city is famous for its ''koshihikari'' rice, which comm ...

** Tokamachi

Climate

Ojiya has a Humid climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ojiya is 12.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2263 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.5 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Ojiya population statistics
/ref> the population of Ojiya has declined over the past 40 years.

Government

Ojiya 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 16 members.

Economy

Ojiya is known as the birthplace of ''Nishikigoi'' carps, along with Yamakoshi.

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 ...

Jōetsu Line The is a major railway line in Japan, owned by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Takasaki Station in Gunma Prefecture with Miyauchi Station in Niigata Prefecture, linking the northwestern Kanto region and the Sea of Japan c ...

** *

Iiyama Line The is a railway line in Japan linking Toyono Station in Nagano, Nagano Prefecture and Echigo-Kawaguchi Station in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture. It is operated by East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japa ...

** -

Highway

Kan-Etsu Expressway The is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and managed by East Nippon Expressway Company. Naming is the ''kanji'' acronym of and the old comprising modern-day Niigata Prefecture. Officially, the Kan-Etsu consists of two routes. Bot ...

– Ojiya IC * * * * *

Notable people from Ojiya

Uchiyama Gudō was a Sōtō Zen Buddhist priest and anarcho-socialist activist executed in the High Treason Incident. He was one of few Buddhist leaders who spoke out against the Meiji government in its imperialist projects. Gudō was an outspoken advocate f ...

, Zen priest and anarcho-socialist activist *

Junzaburō Nishiwaki was a contemporary Japanese poet and literary critic, active in Shōwa period Japan, specializing in modernism, Dadaism and surrealism. He was also a noted painter of watercolors. Between 1960 and 1966, Nishiwaki received 7 nominations for th ...

, poet

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Niigata Prefecture