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
Nagasaki Prefecture,
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 March 2017, the city has an estimated
population of 28,815 and a
population density of 4,700 persons per km
2. The total area is 242.01 km
2.
The modern city of Saikai was established on April 1, 2005, from the merger of five towns on the northern tip of
Nishisonogi Peninsula: the former town of Saikai,
ÅŒseto,
ÅŒshima,
Sakito and
Seihi (all from
Nishisonogi District). Its city hall is the former town hall of ÅŒseto.
The economy of the towns in this area were dominated by fishing and
whaling in the
Edo period, and
coal mining in the
Meiji period. The area is now primarily agricultural, with forestry products and tourism also of importance.
However, on Oshima island, north of Saikai and close to Sasebo, a large shipyard is active building bulk ships and metal structures, i.e.
Oshima Shipbuilding
Oshima Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. is a privately held Japanese shipbuilding company. The company was founded on February 7, 1973, and began operations in June 1974. It is a joint venture between Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, a ...
, in which the
Sumitomo Heavy Industries
(SHI) is an integrated manufacturer of industrial machinery, automatic weaponry, ships, bridges and steel structure, equipment for environmental protection, including recycling, power transmission equipment, plastic molding machines, laser proces ...
has shares.
Geography
Climate
Saikai 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:''Cfa'') with hot summers and cool winters. The average annual temperature in Saikai is . The average annual rainfall is with June as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .
Its record high is , reached on 21 August 2018, and its record low is , reached on 26 February 1981.
Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Saikai in 2020 is 26,275 people.
[ Saikai has been conducting censuses since 1920. The city's population peaked in the 1950s with more than 80,000 people. However, since 1960, Saikai's population has fallen sharply, and in the 1970s it was half what it was 10 years ago; by 2020, the population will be only a third of what it was in the 1950s.
]
References
External links
*
Saikai City official website
Cities in Nagasaki Prefecture
{{Nagasaki-geo-stub