Kofu-Showa Interchange, joint with route 20

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

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

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 20,338 in 8768 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 2200 per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Shōwa is located in central Yamanashi Prefecture, southwest of

Kōfu is the capital city of Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 187,985 in 90,924 households, and a population density of 880 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Overview Toponymy Kōfu's name means "c ...

, the prefectural capital.

Japan National Route 20 is a national highway connecting Tokyo and Shiojiri, Nagano prefecture in Japan. Originating at Nihonbashi in Chūō, Tokyo, it passes through Shinjuku and four other wards, and then seven cities, including Hachiōji in Tokyo. It follows a ...

marks the boundary with Kōfu. Shōwa-dōri is the main road that runs through the middle of Shōwa, despite being called Shōwa Bypass by residents of the town. The

Chūō Expressway The is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by NEXCO Central. Naming Officially the expressway is designated as the Chūō Expressway Nishinomiya Route (from Takaido Interchange to Komaki Junction), the Chūō Expressway Nag ...

also cuts over Shōwa running from north to south. The town is part of the greater Kōfu urban area and many "Kōfu" branches of businesses are in fact in Showa, for instance Aeon mall and Toho cinema. The border between Kōfu and Shōwa is heavily built up and indistinct.

Neighboring municipalities

Yamanashi Prefecture * Minami-Alps * Chūō *

* Kai

Climate

The town has a climate characterized by 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 Shōwa is 14.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1273 mm with September as the wettest month. At the beginning of October, 2020 the daily temperature ranged from 26.0 °C to nightly low of 15 °C

Demographics

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

History

The area of present-day Shōwa was part of a ''

shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...

'' in the late

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. ...

controlled by

Minamoto no Yoshikiyo Minamoto no Yoshikiyo (源義清; 1075?–1149?) was a samurai warlord of the late Heian period. He was the son of Minamoto no Yoshimitsu, who was son of the '' Chinjufu-shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, and brother of famous Minamoto no Yoshiie ...

, the ancestor of the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

. In 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 ...

, along with the rest of Kai Province, the area was ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

'' territory controlled directly by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. After the

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 ...

, the area was organized into villages within Nakakoma District, Yamanashi with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on July 1, 1889. Shōwa village was established in 1942 by the merger of Saijō, Jōei and Oshihara villages within Nakakoma District. The village was elevated to town status in June 1971.

Education

Shōwa has three elementary Schools (Jōei, Oshihara and Saijōo) and one junior high school (Oshihara) operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Yamanashi Prefectural Board of Education. The local town promotes adult night classes and classes for pensioners. These include Japanese language for foreign residents.

Transportation

Railway

Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...

Minobu Line The is a railway line in the Tōkai region of Japan operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). It connects Fuji Station in Fuji, Shizuoka to Kōfu Station in Kōfu, Yamanashi, and the Tōkaidō Main Line with the Chūō Main ...