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 ...

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hirosh ...

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 ...

. In 2016, it had an estimated population of 33,888.

History

An Imperial decree in July 1899 established Sakai as an open port for trading with the

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 ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Sakaiminato was founded on April 1, 1956. A merger with

Yonago is a Cities of Japan, city in western Tottori Prefecture, Japan, facing the Sea of Japan and making up part of the boundary of Nakaumi, Lake Nakaumi. It is adjacent to Shimane Prefecture and across the lake from its capital of Matsue. It is the p ...

and other neighboring municipalities was proposed, but the majority of the citizens voted against this, and Sakaiminato remained an autonomous municipality. Sakaiminato was the only Japanese municipality to have a twin town agreement with a North Korean city from 1992 to 2006. In 2006, Mayor Katsuji Nakamura revoke the agreement in response to North Korea's announcement of a nuclear test along with the Japanese government's decision to impose economic sanctions. Actual twin town activities had already come to an end by 2002, after which the cities had only sent each other a letter once per year.

Geography

At the northern end of Yumigahama Peninsula, it is surrounded by the

Miho Bay is a bay on the north coast of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The bay faces the Sea of Japan and within the borders of Tottori Prefecture. Miho bay is bounded to the west by Yumigahama Peninsula, which forms the western border wit ...

on the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

to the east, Lake Nakaumi to the west and the

Sakai Channel is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

in the north, which also makes up the border with

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...

and its capital

Matsue is the capital city of Shimane Prefecture, Japan, located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 202,008 (February 1, 2021) following the merger with Higashiizumo from Yatsuka District. Matsue is located at ...

. In 2008, Sakaiminato 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 35,710 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 1,240 persons per km². The total area is .

Climate

Sakaiminato has a Humid climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Sakaiminato is . The average annual rainfall is with July 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 22 August 2018, and its record low is , reached on 27 January 1904.

Economy

The seaport of Sakaiminato has a long history as a

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

for the

San'in Region The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan. Etymology The name San'in in the Japanese language is formed from two kanji characters. The ...

. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the city has served as the base of the

fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...

for all of Western Japan. Consequently, marine product processing is also a major industry in the city.

Administration

The current Mayor of Sakaiminato is Kentarō Date, serving since July 25, 2020.

Mayors

# Minoru Adachi (September 5, 1954 -) # Seiichirō Kashiwagi (September 5, 1966 -) # Sadae Yasuda (September 5, 1978 - November 20, 1989) # Tetsuo Kuromi (December 10, 1989 - June 5, 2004) # Katsuji Nakamura (July 25, 2004 - July 24, 2020) # Kentarō Date (July 25, 2020 -)

City Council

The Sakaiminato City Council meets four times a year (March, June, September, and December) and special meetings take place if required. The mayor convenes the city council meetings, but the mayor must call a special meeting when requested by one-fourth or more of the fixed number of council members . The City Council members are citizens who are at least 25 years of age, and are elected every four years. In Sakaiminato City, the number of council members is set at 15 by ordinance.

Chairman and Vice Chairman of the City Council

* Chairman: Hideyuki Arai (February 25, 2022 -) * Vice Chairman: Shunsuke Taguchi (February 25, 2022 -)

Transportation

Yonago Airport Miho Airbase (美保飛行場) , also known as Yonago Airport is a Japan Air Defense Force (JASDF) base located 11 km northwest of Yonago in Tottori Prefecture. It is owned and operated by JASDF and shares the runway with civil activities. ...

is in Sakaiminato and is the busiest airport in Tottori Prefecture. Nearby Miho Airbase, next to the airport, is run by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

Asiana Airlines Asiana Airlines Inc. ( ) is a South Korean airline headquartered in Seoul.Home
." Asiana Airlines. Retrieved 13 September 2 ...

operates a sales office in Sakaiminato. Sakaiminato is linked to the Japanese railway network by the

Sakai Line is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk (botany), trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' ...

, which runs between Sakaiminato Station and

Yonago Station is a railway station on the Sanin Main Line in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is also the terminus of the Sakai Line. The station started operation on November 1, 1902. Layout The station ...

on the

San'in Main Line The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects Kyoto and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is the major railway line of the San'in region, approximately paralleling the Japan Sea, crossing Kyot ...

. The port at Sakaiminato serves the DBS Cruise ferry ''Eastern Dream'', which connects Japan to Donghae, South Korea, and

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

, Russia.

Twin towns – sister cities

Sakaiminato is twinned with: *

Hunchun Hunchun (; Chosŏn'gŭl: 혼춘; Hangul: 훈춘) is a county-level city in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, far eastern Jilin province. It borders North Korea (North Hamgyong province) and Russia (Primorsky Krai), has over 250,000 inha ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Former twin towns

Wonsan Wŏnsan (), previously known as Wŏnsanjin (), Port Lazarev, and Genzan (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital. ...

, North Korea (revoked in 2006)

Notable residents

Sakaiminato is the home of

Shigeru Mizuki was a Japanese manga artist and historian, best known for his manga series ''GeGeGe no Kitarō''. Born in a hospital in Osaka and raised in the city of Sakaiminato, Tottori, he later moved to Chōfu, Tokyo where he remained until his death. ...

, the creator of '' GeGeGe no Kitaro'', a character seen in many forms throughout Japan. The spirit of Kitaro can be found in Sakaiminato, on Kitaro Road, a street dedicated to all the characters that appear in Mizuki's stories. One hundred bronze statues of the story's characters line both sides of the road. Sakaiminato was also where the photographer

Shōji Ueda __NOTOC__ was a photographer of Tottori, Japan, who combined surrealist compositional elements with realistic depiction. Most of the work for which Ueda is widely known was photographed within a strip of about 350 km running from Igumi (on ...

was born and ran a studio.

Gallery

File:SakaiminatoCity.jpg, Aerial view of part of Sakaiminato. File:Eshima oohashi 09 (15642376098).jpg,

Eshima Ohashi Bridge The is a rigid-frame bridge in Japan that connects Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, and Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture, over Nakaumi is a brackish lake located between Tottori and Shimane prefectures in Japan. The lake is enclosed by the Shi ...

links Sakaiminato and Matsue across a narrow channel.

References

External links

*
Sakaiminato City official web site

Sakaiminato City official web site
{{Authority control Cities in Tottori Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan