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 ...

located in

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 Square kilometre, km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders ...

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 ...

. As of March 31, 2017, the city has 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 95,146 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 750 persons per km². Its total area is 126.33 km², and it includes

Nagasaki Airport is an international airport located west of the railway station in the city of Ōmura and north northeast of the Nagasaki railway station in the city of Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The airport terminal and runway 14/32 are on ...

History

Ōmura is a castle town, and was the capital of

Ōmura Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Saga Prefecture.

, ruled by the local

Ōmura clan Omura (小村) or Ōmura (大村) are Japanese surnames, but may also refer to: * Ōmura, Nagasaki, a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan * Omura's whale (''Balaenoptera omurai''), a species of rorqual about which very little is known Peopl ...

for over 900 years in pre-Meiji Japan. It was the site of considerable foreign trade and missionary activity during the late

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

, and the

Catholic saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...

Marina de Omura hails from this city. Due to its proximity to the trading settlement at

Dejima , in the 17th century also called Tsukishima ( 築島, "built island"), was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, i ...

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

, was one of the first areas of Japan to re-open to foreign contact after the end of the national seclusion policy after the Meiji Restoration. In the opera

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...

, set in nearby

, the place name ''Omara'' in the line "ed alla damigella Butterfly del quartiere d'Omara Nagasaki" probably refers to Ōmura. From 1868-1945, Ōmura was host to numerous military facilities as part of the Sasebo Naval District, most notably that of a major air base for the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. The former naval base was the location of the squalid ''Ōmura Migrant Detention Center,'' where mainly Korean refugees—termed "stowaways" (''mikkōsha'' synonymous with "smuggler")—were held until deportation, frequently for several years. Since August 1996 the nearby ''Ōmura Immigration Reception Center'' in a modern building serves the same function. The modern city was founded on February 11, 1942. It was largely destroyed by American bombing on October 25, 1944. Its postwar recovery was assisted by the construction of Nagasaki airport offshore in

Ōmura Bay is a bay of the East China Sea in the centre of Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Geography The bay measures about north-to-south and east-to-west. The length of the shoreline is about and the surface area is about . This corresponds with abo ...

, and by other public works projects.

Economy

Ōmura has a mixed economy, with the manufacture of

refractory brick In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...

s as a major industry. Dairy and poultry farming, as well as cultured pearls are also of importance. However, due to its proximity to the larger urban centers of Nagasaki and

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

, Ōmura also serves as

bedroom community 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 ...

for both cities.

Oriental Air Bridge is an airline headquartered on the grounds of Nagasaki Airport and in Ōmura, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It operates in southern Japan, offering charter services and a scheduled service between Nagasaki and Fukuoka. Its main base is Nagasaki Airp ...

, a regional airline, is headquartered in the city. At one time

J-Air , is a regional commuter airline with its headquarters in the Terminal Building in Osaka International Airport near Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan and its main hub at Osaka International Airport. J-Air previously had its headquarters in Nag ...

had its headquarters at the airport."World Airline Directory." ''

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldes ...

''. March 19–25, 2002
80

Sports

Ōmura hosted the official 2011 Asian Basketball Championship for Women.

Sister City relations

Sintra Sintra (, ) is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of . Sintra is one of the most urbanized and densely populated ...

, Portugal * San Carlos, California, USA *

Semboku, Akita is a city located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 25,857 in 10,584 households, and a population density of 24 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Semboku is located in the mountains ...

, Japan * Itami, Hyōgo, Japan

Friendly Cities

Minhang District Minhang District is a suburban district of Shanghai with a land area of and population of 2,429,000 residents as of 2010. The original Minhang consist of present-day Jiangchuan Road Subdistrict (Former Minhang Town) and the eastern strip of Wu ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China

Notable people

Hantaro Nagaoka was a Japanese physicist and a pioneer of Japanese physics during the Meiji period. Life Nagaoka was born in Nagasaki, Japan on August 19, 1865 and educated at the University of Tokyo. After graduating with a degree in physics in 1887, Naga ...

, Meiji-era physicist *

Anza Ohyama , also known as simply Anza (stylized as ANZA), is a Japanese singer and theater actress best known as vocalist of the heavy metal band Head Phones President and for playing Sailor Moon in thirteen separate musical productions. Biography P ...

, singer and stage actress * Masaki Okino, footballer * Taira Shige, footballer

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omura, Nagasaki Cities in Nagasaki Prefecture