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 ...

Chita District is a rural district located in southwestern Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Chita Peninsula. As of 1 October 2019, the district had an estimated population of 160,542 and a population density of 968 persons per km2. Its total area was 165.84 ...

, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 17,393 in 7338 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 453 persons per km². The total area of the town was .

Geography

Minamichita is located in the extreme southern tip of

Chita Peninsula Chita Peninsula (知多半島 ''Chita Hantō'') is a peninsula to the south of Aichi Prefecture, central Honshū, Japan. It runs approximately north-south. To the west is Ise Bay, while to the east it encloses Mikawa Bay. It faces the Atsumi ...

in southern Aichi Prefecture, including a number of islands in Mikawa Bay. The town is bordered by Mikawa Bay to the east, and Ise Bay to the west. Part of the town's area are within the borders of the

Mikawa Wan Quasi-National Park is a Quasi-National Park in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category V) according to the IUCN. The park includes the coastal areas of Atsumi Peninsula, the Pacific shoreline of Chita Peninsula as well as islands and ...

Neighboring municipalities

*Aichi Prefecture ** Mihama

Demographics

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

Climate

The town has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Minamichita 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 .

History

The area of Minamichita was part of Owari Province and controlled by Owari Domain under 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 characte ...

Tokugawa shogunate 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 Encyclopedia ...

. It was a major port on the coastal trade route between Edo and Osawa. 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 was organized into villages within Chita District, Aichi with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. The modern town of Minamichita was established on June 1, 1961, through the merger of the towns of Utsumi, Mihama, and Morozaki, and the villages of Shinojima and Himakajima, all within Chita District. During March 2006, discussions were held to

merge Merge, merging, or merger may refer to: Concepts * Merge (traffic), the reduction of the number of lanes on a road * Merge (linguistics), a basic syntactic operation in generative syntax in the Minimalist Program * Merger (politics), the comb ...

Minamichita with the town of Mihama to the north to form the new city of “Minamicentrair” after the popular nickname for Chūbu Centrair International Airport, but the merger proposal was strongly opposed by the majority of the inhabitants of Minamichita, and the merger did not take place.

Economy

Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum 2018 (049)

The primary sector dominates the economy of Minamichita, notably commercial fishing and agriculture. Secondary industries include food processing, and seasonal tourism to beach resorts. The Yamadera

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

(山寺窯) was located in Utsumi, today part of Minamichita. The kiln was active in the years Meiji 40 (1907) - Taishō 3 (1914). It produced Utsumi ware (内海焼).http://minamichita.ed.jp/kyoikucho/2018/07/16/no-%EF%BC%91%EF%BC%99%EF%BC%93%EF%BC%99%E3%80%80%E3%80%80%E5%86%85%E7%94%B0%E5%AE%B6%E4%BC%81%E7%94%BB%E5%B1%95%E3%80%80%E3%80%8C%E5%9B%9B%E4%BB%A3%E4%BD%90%E4%B8%83%E3%81%A8%E5%86%85%E6%B5%B7/

Education

Minamichita has six public elementary schools and five public junior high schools operated by the town government, and one high school operated by the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

Meitetsu , referred to as , is a private railway company operating around Aichi Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture of Japan. Some of the more famous trains operated by Meitetsu include the ''Panorama Car'' and the '' Panorama Car Super'', both of which of ...

– Chita New Line *

Highways

* Minamichita Road *

Seaports

*Morogizaki Port

Local attractions

*Minamichita Onsen - hot spring resort * Himakajima - island in Mikawa Bay * Shinojima - island in Mikawa Bay Kankonouen.JPG, Sightseeing farm Flower garden CITTA NAPOLI.jpg, Citta Napoli Himakajima7.JPG, Himakajima File:Shinojima1.jpg, Shinojima Hazumisaki3.JPG, Cape Hazu

References

External links

* {{Authority control Towns in Aichi Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan