Rifu Town Office & Rifu townspeople Exchange Center

is a town located in

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

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 of 36,014, and a population density of 800 persons per km² in 13,568 households. The total area of the town is . Rifu is known for its nashi pears. Recently, wine and candy made from nashi pears have been developed in the town.

Geography

Rifu is located in east-central Miyagi Prefecture, bordered by Sendai metropolis to the south and by

Matsushima Bay is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands (''shima'') covered in pines (''matsu'') – hence the name – and it is considered to be one of the Three Views of Japan. Nearby cultural properties ...

to the east.

Neighboring municipalities

Miyagi Prefecture *

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

* Tagajō * Shiogama * Tomiya * Ōsato *

Taiwa 270px, Taiwa Town Hall is a town located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 28,436, and a population density of 130 persons per km² in 12,016 households. The total area of the town is . Geography Taiwa i ...

Matsushima is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands (''shima'') covered in pines (''matsu'') – hence the name – and it is considered to be one of the Three Views of Japan. Nearby cultural properties ...

Climate

Rifu has a humid climate ( Köppen climate classification ''Cfa'') characterized by mild summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Rifu is 11.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1237 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Rifu population statistics
/ref> the population of Rifu has increased rapidly over the past 50 years.

History

The area of present-day Rifu was part of ancient

Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...

, and has been settled since at least the

Jōmon period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...

by the

Emishi The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean "shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contemp ...

people. With the establishment of Tagajō in the Nara period, Rifu was part of the central Yamato colonization area in the region. During the Sengoku period, the area was contested by various samurai clans before the area came under the control of the Date clan of Sendai Domain during the Edo period, under the Tokugawa shogunate. The village of Rifu was established on June 1, 1889 with post- Meiji restoration establishment of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on October 1, 1967.

Government

Rifu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral town council of 18 members. Rifu, together with the rest of Miyagi District collectively contributes one seat to the Miyagi Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Miyagi 4th district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called Parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional r ...

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 Rifu is largely based on agriculture, primarily horticulture and the cultivation of rice.

East Japan Railway Company 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 ...

's Sendai Shinkansen maintenance depot is located in Rifu.

Education

Rifu has six public elementary schools and three public junior high schools operated by the town government. The town has one public high school operated by the Miyagi Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

(JR East) - Tōhoku Main Line * – JR logo (east)

(JR East) - Senseki Line *

Highway

– Rifu-Shiogama, Rifu-Naka, Matsushima-Kaigan interchanges; Rifu Junction * – Rifu Junction, Rifu-Shirakashidai Interchange *

Local attractions

* Miyagi Stadium *Site of Rifu Castle

Sister city relations

* – Lifou Island,

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, since September 4, 1980.

Noted people from Rifu

* Hisashi Kato, professional soccer player * Tsukasa Fujimoto, professional wrestler and actress

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Miyagi Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Rifu, Miyagi