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 o ...

located in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

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 n ...

. , 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 usi ...

of 15,867 in 6,881 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 RosenberPopu ...

of . The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 34.0%. The total area of the town is . The Japan Atomic Energy Agency operates a research center in Ōarai with a number of nuclear

research reactor Research reactors are nuclear fission-based nuclear reactors that serve primarily as a neutron source. They are also called non-power reactors, in contrast to power reactors that are used for electricity production, heat generation, or marit ...

s, including the Jōyō and High-temperature engineering test reactor facilities.

Geography

Located on the coast of central Ibaraki Prefecture, Ōarai is located in the flatlands near the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

, and borders Lake Hinuma, the 30th largest body of freshwater in Japan. The Naka River flows through the town. Ōarai and Sun Beach bathing beaches were first to introduce barrier-free bathing beaches for the disabled in Japan.

Surrounding municipalities

Mito Mito may refer to: Places *Mito, Ibaraki, capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan *Mito, Aichi, a Japanese town *Mito, Shimane, a Japanese town * Mitō, Yamaguchi, a Japanese town * Mito District, a district in the province of Concepción, Per ...

Hitachinaka 250px, Hitachinaka city hall is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 154,663 in 64,900 households and a population density of 1547 persons per km2. The percentage of the population aged over 65 w ...

* Hokota *

Ibaraki Ibaraki may refer to any of the following places in Japan: * Ibaraki Prefecture, one of the 47 prefectures of Japan **Ibaraki, Ibaraki, a town in Ibaraki Prefecture **Ibaraki Airport, an airport in Omitama, Ibaraki **Ibaraki dialect, the dialect sp ...

Climate

Ōarai 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 ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ōarai is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Ōarai has declined steadily for the past 70 years.

History

The villages of Isohama and Ōnuki within Higashiibaraki District and the village of Natsumi within Kashima District were created with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Ōnuki was elevated to town status on January 26, 1894. Ōnuki and Isohama merged on November 3, 1954 to create the town of Ōarai. A portion of Natsumi was annexed by Ōarai on July 23, 1955. In 1928,

Nisshō Inoue was a radical Buddhist preacher of Nichirenism who founded the interwar Japanese far-right militant organization . Contrary to popular belief, he was never an ordained Nichiren priest, but was rather a self-styled preacher whose extremist tenets ...

, the founder of the far-right militant organization , relocated to Ōarai, where he established , which served as a youth training center advocating a militarist revolution in Japan, eventually resulting in the 1932 League of Blood Incident. Since 1998 the chief of a factory association in Oarai has invited Japanese descendants and migrants from

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the Minahasa Peninsula of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia. It borders the Philippine province of Davao Occidental and Socc ...

, Indonesia, to work for seafood industries. A majority of the Indonesians inhabitants was later arrested for being undocumented.

Government

Ōarai 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 12 members. Ōarai, together with neighboring Hokota and Ibaraki, contributes two members to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Ibaraki 2nd district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called Parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional r ...

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 paral ...

Economy

The nuclear industry and government largess form the basis of the local economy. Main agricultural products include rice, sweet potatoes and Japanese radish. The

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 oft ...

industry is important, and main fishery products include whitebait, sardines, flounder and clams. Marine food processing includes salted and dried horse mackerel, smelt and sardines and boiled octopus.

Education

* Ōarai has two public elementary schools and two public middle schools operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

– Kashima Rinkai Railway Ōarai Kashima Line * Ōarai Station

Highway

Seaport

* Port of Ōarai (A ferry company operates two ferries to Tomakomai, Hokkaidō daily)

Local attractions

Ōarai attracts 3 million visitors a year. Tourist attractions include bathing beaches, yacht and cruiser marina, marine sports, camping site, fishing, aquarium, and a famous golf course. It is known for its monkfish. * Ōarai Beach *

Aqua World , formerly the , is a aquarium in the Higashiibaraki District of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, north of Oarai port at the mouth of the Naka River. The aquarium focuses on displaying sharks, and 59 types of sharks live in the aquarium. Many variet ...

(formerly Ōarai Aquarium) * Ōarai Marine Tower * Ōarai Sea Museum * Ōarai Museum of Art * Ōarai Museum of Bakumatsu-Meiji History * "Kurumazuka-kofun" and "Kagamizuka-kofun" * Ōarai Isozaki Jinja

Noted people from Ōarai

* Kei Igawa. professional baseball player *

Hiromoto Okubo Hiromoto Okubo (大久保博元, born February 1, 1967) is a former Nippon Professional Baseball catcher. After playing, he turned to managing and coaching. In 2015, Hiromoto was promoted from Rakuten's farm team manager to Tohoku Rakuten Golden ...

. professional baseball player * Akua Shōma. professional sumo wrestler

In popular culture

The city has become an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

pilgrimage location due to being the setting for the popular franchise '' Girls und Panzer''. The main characters of the animated series study in a huge ship originally based in Ōarai. Real locations in the city are depicted faithfully, prompting fans to visit the town and giving a boost to local commerce.

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oarai, Ibaraki Towns in Ibaraki Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan Ōarai, Ibaraki