250px, Yoshioka Town Culture Center 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

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 Fukushima ...

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 21,749 in 8,311 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 1100 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Located in central Gunma, Yoshioka sits between the southeastern slopes of

Mount Haruna is a dormant stratovolcano in Gunma, eastern Honshū, Japan. Outline Mount Haruna started to form more than 300,000 years ago and the last known eruption was 550 AD. The volcano has a summit caldera containing the symmetrical cinder cone ...

and the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the Kantō ...

region. The western half of the town has an elevation between 200 and 900 meters, while the eastern half is mostly flat, with an elevation between 100 and 200 meters.

Surrounding municipalities

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It wa ...

Shibukawa is a city in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 76,098 in 32,439 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Shibukawa is the location of Ikaho Onsen, a popular hot spring resort. ...

Shintō Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoists ...

Climate

Yoshioka 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 freezing ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Yoshioka is 13.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1281 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Yoshioka population statistics
/ref> the population of Yoshioka has increased steadily over the past 60 years.

History

Komayose village and Meiji village were established within

Nishigunma District, Gunma Location of Nishigunma within Gunma Prefecture file: Gumma Gumma-gun 1889.png, Historic Map of Gunma Districtareas 1 through 38 were formerly Nishigunma District1. Takasaki, 2. Sano, 3. Kuragano, 4. Iwahana, 5. Ōrui, 6. Takigawa, 7. Kyogashima, 8 ...

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 ...

. In 1896, Nishigunma District was united with Kataoka District to create Gunma District, which was subsequently divided in 1949 with Komayose and Meiji villages becoming part of Kitagunma District. On April 1, 1955 the two villages were merged to form Yoshioka village, which was elevated to town status on April 1, 1991.

Government

Yoshioka 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 ...

town council of 14 members. Yoshioka and neighboring Shintō contribute one member to the Gunma Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Gunma 5th district Gunma 5th district is a constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan (national legislature). It is located in Gunma Prefecture and consists of the cities of Tomioka, Annaka, parts of Takasaki and Shibukawa as well as the Kita ...

of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

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 paralle ...

Economy

Yoshioka is largely a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

, with over 44% of the workforce commuting to nearby Maebashi.

Education

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

Transportation

Railway

Yoshioka is not served by any railway services. The nearest stations are in the city of Shibukawa to the north and in the city of Maebashi to the south.