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

Fukui Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 778,943 (1 June 2017) and has a geographic area of 4,190 km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the north, Gi ...

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 10,490 in 4278 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 63 persons per km². The total area of the town was .

Geography

Takahama is located in the far southwestern corner of Fukui Prefecture, bordered by Kyoto Prefecture to the west and the heavily indented

ria A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a Drainage system (geomorphology)#Dendritic dr ...

coast of

Wakasa Bay is a bay located in the Chūbu region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Kyoto Prefecture, and Fukui Prefecture. Geography Wakasa Bay is the area south of the straight line from Cape Kyoga on the west of Tango Peninsula to Cape Echizen 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 north. Parts of the town are within the borders of the

Wakasa Wan Quasi-National Park is a Quasi-National Park in Fukui and Kyōto Prefectures, Japan. Established in 1955, the central feature of the park is the ria coast of Wakasa Bay. In 2005 an area of of wetland in the Mikata Lakes was designated a Ramsar Site. Sites of ...

Neighbouring municipalities

*Fukui Prefecture ** Ōi * Kyoto Prefecture **

Ayabe is a city located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 31,082 in 13660 households and a population density of 90 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ayabe is situated in the mountains of ...

Maizuru is a city in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 78,644 in 34817 households and a population density of 230 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Maizuru is located in northern Kyoto Pref ...

Climate

Takahama has a Humid climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Takahama is 14.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1930 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.7 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Takahama population statistics
/ref> the population of Takahama has declined slightly over the past 30 years.

History

Takahama is part of ancient

Wakasa Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the southwestern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Wakasa''" in . Wakasa bordered on Echizen, Ōmi, Tanba, Tango, and Yamash ...

. 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 ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Obama Domain The was a '' Fudai'' feudal domain of the Edo period of Japan. It is located in Wakasa Province, in the Hokuriku region of the island Honshū. The domain was centered at Obama Castle, located in the center of what is now the city of Obama in ...

. Following 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 ...

, it was organised into part of Ōi District in Fukui Prefecture. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the village of Takahama was established. Takahama was elevated to town status on April 1, 1912. On February 11, 1955, Takahama annexed the neighbouring villages of Aonogō, Wada and Uchiura.

Economy

The economy of Takahama, previously dependent on

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

and agriculture is now very heavily dependent on the

nuclear power industry Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

. The partial closure of the

Takahama Nuclear Power Plant The is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Takahama, Ōi District, Fukui Prefecture. It is owned and operated by the Kansai Electric Power Company. It is on a site with an area of about 1 km2. The four pressurized water reactors gi ...

since the 2011

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...

has adversely affected the local economy.

Education

Takahama has four public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

Obama Line The is a railway line on the Sea of Japan coast of central Japan. It is operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The long single track railway connects Tsuruga Station on the Hokuriku Main Line in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture and Higashi ...

** , , ,

Highway

International relations

* -

Boryeong Boryeong (), commonly known as Daecheon, is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Chungcheongnam-do, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It is located on the coast of the Yellow Sea. It lies on the Janghang Line railroad, which c ...

South Chungcheong South Chungcheong Province ( ko, 충청남도, ''Chungcheongnam-do''), also known as Chungnam, is a province of South Korea. South Chungcheong has a population of 2,059,871 (2014) and has a geographic area of 8,204 km2 (3,168 sq mi) located in ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, friendship city since November 3, 1990

References

External links

* * Towns in Fukui Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan {{Fukui-geo-stub