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

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

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 67,240 in 27,602 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 230 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Shiojiri is located in central Nagano Prefecture, in the southern end of the Matsumoto Basin.

Surrounding municipalities

*Nagano Prefecture **

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

** Okaya ** Ina ** Tatsuno ** Minamiminowa ** Kiso Town ** Kiso Village **

Asahi Asahi (朝日, 旭, or あさひ) means "morning sun" in Japanese and may refer to: Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi (旭� ...

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (

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 Shiojiri is 11.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1161 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around -1.1 °C.

History

Shiojiri is located in former

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

, and as its name implies, was traditionally a centre for salt production. 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 ...

Narai-juku was the thirty-fourth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō, as well as the second of eleven stations along the Kisoji.Nara ...

Shiojiri-shuku was the thirtieth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the central part of the present-day city of Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History This area was originally built by Ōkubo Nagayasu in the Keichō era of th ...

and

Seba-juku was the thirty-first of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendō, sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the central part of the present-day city of Shiojiri, Nagano, Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History The area was named "Seba, ...

developed as post stations on the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were 6 ...

highway connecting Edo with

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. The village of Shiojiri was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was elevated to town status on April 1, 1927. Shiojiri annexed the villages of Kataoka, Hirooka, Souga and Chikumazi on April 1, 1959 and was elevated to city status. Shiojiri lost Kitauchida hamlet and Gakenoyu hamlet (both in Kataoka ward) in 1960 and 1961 to Matsumoto city due to border adjustments. On June 28, 1961, Shiojiri absorbed the village of Seba and the village of Narakawa on April 1, 2005.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shiojiri has recently plateaued after several decades of growth.

Government

Shiojiri 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 18 members. Toshiyuki Oguchi is serving as the current mayor of Shiojiri. His first win in the mayor election was in 2002.

Economy

The economy of Shiojiri is largely agricultural, with grapes, apples, pears, and wine production as major components. The manufacturing sector includes precision instrumentation.

Education

Shiojiri has nine public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public elementary school and one public middle school shared with neighbouring Tatsuno. The city also has two public high schools operated by the Nagano Prefectural Board of Education, and one private high school. The Matsumoto Dental University is also located in Shiojiri.

Transportation

Railway

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 ...

Chūō Main Line The , commonly called the Chūō Line, is one of the major trunk railway lines in Japan. It connects Tokyo and Nagoya, although it is the slowest direct railway connection between the two cities; the coastal Tōkaidō Main Line is slightly faste ...

** - *

- Shinonoi Line ** - * JR logo (central)

JR Tōkai -

** - - - -

Highway

Nagano Expressway The is a 4-laned national Expressways of Japan, expressway in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It is owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company and Central Nippon Expressway Company. Naming The expressway is officially referred to as the Ch� ...

* * * *

Sister cities

Within Japan

Itoigawa, Niigata is a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 41,333, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Itoigawa is located in the far southwestern corner of ...

* Minamiizu, Shizuoka

Overseas

* -

Mishawaka Mishawaka is a city on the St. Joseph River, in Penn Township, St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Mishawaka is a principal city of the South Be ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Shiojiri Niwa, City of Mishawaka
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Local attractions

Shiojiri is the location of the Hiraide ruins, one of the three largest ancient ruins in Japan. Artifacts from 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 ...

through the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

have been discovered there, as well as the remains of 47 ancient dwellings.

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Nagano Prefecture