270px, Awaji City Hall 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 on Awaji Island in

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

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 city 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 42,597 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 230 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

The city of Awaji occupies the northern third of Awaji Island. It is connected to Kobe City to the north by the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, and is sandwiched between

Osaka Bay Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. ...

and the Gulf of Harima on the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to ...

. There are no large rivers in the city, but there are many agricultural ponds. The Tsuna hills run through the center of the city, with Mount Myoken (522 meters) as the highest point. The Nojima Fault (the focus of the

Great Hanshin earthquake The , or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region known as Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and ha ...

)is located in the city.

Surrounding municipalities

Hyogo Prefecture * Sumoto

Climate

Awaji has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Awaji is 16.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1600 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 6.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Awaji has been declining steadily over the past 70 years.

History

The city of Awaji is situated in ancient

Awaji Province was an old province of Japan covering Awaji Island, between Honshū and Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Awaji''" in . Today it is part of Hyōgo Prefecture. It is sometimes called . Awaji is divided into three municipal se ...

. It was ruled as part of Tokushima Domain 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 ...

. 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 ...

, it became part of Tsuna District, Hyōgo. The town of Iwaya was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system April 1, 1889. On April 1, 1956 Iwaya merged with the neighboring town of Kariya and the villages of Url and Hamaguchi to form the town of Awaji; however, on June 19, 1961 a portion of the town was separated to form the town of

Higashiura is a town located in Chita District, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. On 1 October 2019, the town had an estimated population of 49,010 in 20,563 households, and a population density of . The total area was . Geography Higashiura is located in the nor ...

. On April 1, 2005 Awaji and Higashiura merged back together, along with the towns of Tsuna, Hokudan and

Ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise ...

to form the city of Awaji.

Government

Awaji 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 ...

city council of 18 members. Awaji contributes one member to the

Hyogo Prefectural Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Hyogo Prefecture. The assembly's 87 members are elected every four years in 40 districts by single non-transferable vote. Nine of the electoral districts correspond with the wards of Kobe city and the remain ...

. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Hyōgo 9th district 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 local economy is largely rural, and is based on agriculture and

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 ...

. Awaji has traditionally been famous for its production of

joss sticks Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be ...

, which in the early 1960s accounted for70% of the Japanese domestic market. The production of

roof tile A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

s is also a local speciality.

Education

Awaji has 11 public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Hyōgo Prefectural Department of Education. There are also two private high schools. The Kansai University of Nursing and Health Sciences is located in Awaji. The

Ashiya University is a private university in Ashiya, Hyōgo, 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, w ...

Awajishima Seaside Seminar Center,

Kobe University , also known in the Kansai region as , is a leading Japanese national university located in the city of Kobe, in Hyōgo. It was established in 1949, but the academic origins of Kobe University trace back to the establishment of Kobe Higher Comme ...

Inland Sea Environment Education and Research Center and University of Hyogo Graduate School of Green Environment and Landscape Management are all located in Awaji. The Awaji City Library serves Awaji. In 1999 this library and the West Bloomfield Library in

West Bloomfield, Michigan West Bloomfield Township, officially the Charter Township of West Bloomfield, is a charter township in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan, within the Detroit metropolitan area. It is one of the most expensive places to live in Oakland ...

Metro Detroit The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. State of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the ...

were paired as sister institutions.

Transportation

Railway

Awaji does not have any passenger rail service.

Highways

Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway The is a tolled expressway that connects Hyōgo and Tokushima prefectures in Japan by crossings of the Akashi Strait and Naruto Strait. Built between 1970 and 1998, it is one of the three routes of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company c ...

Other

Jointly with Minami Awaji and Sumoto, the city operates a low-cost electric bike rental scheme, designed to attract visitors to stay for more than one day in order to explore the island.

Sister City relations

* -

Paranaguá Paranaguá (''Great Round Sea'', in Tupi) is a city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. Founded in 1648, it is Paraná's oldest city. It is known for the Port of Paranaguá, which serves as both the sea link for Curitiba, to the west and the ca ...

, Paraná,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, since May 29, 1986 * - St. Marys, Ohio,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, since August 3, 2006

Local attractions

Awaji Yumebutai The is a complex of conference center, hotel and memorial in Awaji, Hyōgo, built near the epicenter of the 1995 Great Hanshin Awaji earthquake. It was designed by Tadao Ando, who had begun planning for the project (as a park) prior to the eart ...

( Kiseki No Hoshi Greenhouse) * Izanagi Jingū, ''

ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise ...

'' of Awaji Province * Gossa Kaito Site, National Historic Site * Matsuho Battery Site, National Historic Site * Funaki Site, National Historic Site * Esaki Lighthouse * Akashi Kaikyo Bridge *Akashi Kaikyo National Government Park *Honpuku-ji Temple *Awaji World Park Onokoro.

Notable people from Awaji

Toshio Iue was a Japanese inventor and industrialist who founded Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. Prior to the founding of Sanyo, he played an influential role in the growth and development of Matsushita Electric Works, working closely alongside his brother-in-la ...

, inventor and industrialist *

Takashi Sasano is a Japanese actor. Career Sasano has appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films '' Bright Future'' (2003) and '' Before We Vanish'' (2017). He also appeared in Amir Naderi's 2011 film '' Cut''. Filmography Film * '' Tora-san's Island Encounter'' ( ...

, actor *

Harukichi Yamaguchi was the founder of the Yamaguchi-gumi, which grew to become Japan's largest and most powerful yakuza organization. Yamaguchi established the group in Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a pop ...

, yakuza *

Tetsuya Watari born (December 28, 1941 – August 10, 2020) was a Japanese film, stage, and television actor. Life He graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University. Watari belonged to the karate club at university. He made his screen debut in 1964, in Isamu Kosu ...

, actor

References

External links

*
Awaji City official website
Cities in Hyōgo Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan Awaji, Hyōgo {{Hyogo-geo-stub