is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

located in

Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushim ...

, Japan. , the village 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 ...

of 1,149 in 571 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

of 6.3 persons per km². The total area of the village is . The village has the lowest population density of any municipality in Japan.

Geography

Ueno is located in the extreme mountainous southwestern portion of

, bordered by

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefectur ...

to the south and

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 n ...

to the west. * Mountains ** Mount Suwa ** Mount Osutaka (1639m) ** Mount Takamagahara (1979m) * Rivers ** Kanna River

Surrounding municipalities

* Nanmoku * Kanna

Chichibu is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 61,159 in 26,380 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Geography Chichibu is in the westernmost part of Saitama. Unli ...

* Ogano

* Kawakami *

Minamiaiki is a village located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 1,057 in 430 households,Kitaaiki is a village located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 755 in 350 households, and a population density of 13 persons per km². The total area of the village is . Geography Kitaaiki is located in mountaino ...

* Sakuho

Climate

Ueno has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(Köppen ''Dfb'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ueno is 8.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1479 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 20.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around -4.2 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Ueno peaked in the 1950s and is now only a quarter of what it was a century ago.

History

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 character ...

, the area of present-day Ueno was part of the ''

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 Encyclopedi ...

'' territory administered 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 Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

in Kōzuke Province. Ueno village was established within Minamikanra District, Gunma Prefecture on April 1, 1889, with the creation of the modern municipalities system 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 r ...

. In 1896, Minamikanra District was united with Midono and Tago Districts to create Tano District. On August 12, 1985,

Japan Airlines Flight 123 Japan Air Lines Flight 123 (JAL123) () was a scheduled domestic Japan Air Lines passenger flight from Haneda Airport in Tokyo to Itami International Airport in Osaka. On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747SR operating this flight suffered a sudde ...

, heading from

Haneda Airport , officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primar ...

Itami Airport , often referred to as is the primary regional airport for the Kansai region of Japan, including the major cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. Classified as a first class airport, it is the airport closest to Kyoto, southwest of Kyoto Station. ...

, crashed into an area within the Ueno Village limits, killing 520 people in the world's deadliest single-aircraft aviation accident. The village rejected the central's governments directives on

Municipal mergers and dissolutions in Japan can take place within one municipality or between multiple municipalities and are required to be based upon consensus. History There have been waves of merger activity between Japanese municipalities. The first merger, known as , had happened ...

. Despite its depopulation, revenue from

Ueno Dam Ueno Dam (上野ダム) is a concrete gravity dam in the Gunma Prefecture of Japan. The dam serves as the lower reservoir of the Kannagawa Hydropower Plant The Kannagawa Hydropower Plant (神流川発電所) is an under construction pumped-stor ...

and the Tokyo Electric Kannagawa Power Station give the local government the highest financial strength index in the prefecture.

Government

Ueno 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 multi ...

town council of eight members. Ueno, together with the city of Fujioka and village of Ueno contributes two members to the Gunma Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Gunma 4th district is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. It is located in Southern Gunma and consists of the city of Fujioka, the Southern part of Takasaki city (without the former municipalities of Gunma, Misato, ...

of the lower house of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

Economy

The economy of Ueno is heavily dependent on agriculture and forestry.

Education

Ueno has one public elementary school and one public middle school operated by the village government.
Ueno Elementary homepage
an
Ueno Junior High homepage
/ref> The village does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

Ueno does not have any passenger railway service.

Bus

Ueno Village Bus comes from Joshin Electric Railway

Shimonita Station is a passenger railway station in the town of Shimonita, Gunma, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Jōshin Dentetsu. Lines Shimonita Station is a terminal station of the Jōshin Line and is 33.7 kilometers from the opposing ...

, and Nippon Chuo Bus Okutano Line comes from

JR East 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 ar ...

Shinmachi Station (Gunma) is a railway station in the city of Takasaki, Gunma, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), with a freight depot operated by the Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight). Lines Shinmachi Station is a station on the T ...

Highway

* *

International relations

* –

Zhuolan, Miaoli Zhuolan Township is an urban township in Miaoli County, Taiwan. History Formerly called ''Talan'' (). Geography In January 2017, Zhuolan's population was estimated at 17,569. The township occupies an area of . It receives approximately of ra ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

Local attractions

*Ueno Sky Bridge - The Ueno skybridge is a 225 metre long pedestrian suspension bridge. At a height of 90 metre, it offers scenic views. *Shionosawa Onsen

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Villages in Gunma Prefecture Ueno, Gunma