270px, Susaki City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Susaki city center 270px, Yokonami-Kuroshio coast 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

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 757,914 (1 December 2011) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and ...

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 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 using a ...

of 20‚429 in 10672 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 150 persons per km².The total area of the city is .

Geography

Susaki is located in central Kōchi Prefecture, facing Tosa Bay of 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 continen ...

to the south and bordered by mountains to the north. Most of the city area is forest. The coastline is intricately intricate, with deep coves such as Uranouchi Bay and Susaki Bay.

Neighbouring municipalities

Kōchi Prefecture * Tosa * Nakatosa *

Sakawa Sakawa is a Ghanaian term for illegal practices which combine modern Internet-based fraud with African traditionalist rituals. The term or word Sakawa is an Hausa word which means ''putting inside, how to make money''. The rituals, which are mostl ...

* Tsuno

Climate

Susaki 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 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'') with hot, humid summers and cool winters. There is significant precipitation throughout the year, especially during June and July. The average annual temperature in Susaki 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 . The highest temperature ever recorded in Susaki was on 8 August 2006; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 26 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Susaki in 2020 is 20,590 people. Susaki has been conducting censuses since 1920.

History

As with all of Kōchi Prefecture, the area of Susaki was part of ancient

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō syste ...

. 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 characteriz ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Tosa Domain The was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its history by t ...

ruled by the

Yamauchi clan The Yamauchi clan (山内氏) were a family of rulers over what was then the Tosa Province which spanned the southern half of Shikoku island. The province was given to the family in 1600 after Yamauchi Kazutoyo led troops under Tokugawa Ieyasu a ...

from their seat at

Kōchi Castle is an Edo Period Japanese castle in the city of Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is located at Otakayama hill, at the center of Kōchi city, which in turn is located at the center of the Kōchi Plain, the most prosperous area of former ...

. Following 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 ...

, the town of Susaki was established within

Aki District, Kōchi is a district located in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. As of December 2014, the district has an estimated population of 17,538 and a density of 31.1 persons per km2. The total area is 563.33 km2. Aki is known as the birthplace of Iwasaki Yatar� ...

with the creation of the modern municipalities system on October 1, 1889. It was elevated to city status on October 1, 1954.

Government

Susaki 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 ...

city council of 15 members. Susaki contributes one member to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Kōchi 1st 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 paralle ...

Economy

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 often ...

are mainstays of the local economy, with charcoal production and cement also major contributors.

Education

Susaki has eight public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government and one public high schools operated by the Kōchi Prefectural Department of Education. There are also one private middle school and one private high school.

Transportation

Railway

Shikoku Railway Company The , commonly known as , is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates of intercity and local rail services in the four prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The company has it ...

Dosan Line is a railway line in Shikoku, Japan, operated by the Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku). It connects Tadotsu Station in Tadotsu, Kagawa, and Kubokawa Station in Shimanto, Kōchi. The line links the city of Kōchi with northern Shikoku and t ...

* - - - - -

Highways

Kōchi Expressway The is a national Expressways of Japan, expressway in the Shikoku region of Japan. The expressway is numbered E32 between Kawanoe Junction and Kōchi Interchange and E56 between Kōchi and Kuroshio-Ōgata Interchanges under the MLIT's "2016 Propos ...

* * *

Sister city relations

* -

Castanhal Castanhal is a city near the eastern edge of the state of Pará, Northern Brazil. It is located some 65 km east of the state's capital Belém and 50 km inland SE of the Bay of Marajo. It is accessed by car or bus via federal highway BR- ...

Pará Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...

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 October 1, 1979 * -

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, since December 19, 1997

Local attractions

* Tosa Domain Battery site, National Historic Site

In popular media

Susaki's official mascot is Shinjo-kun, a

Japanese river otter The (''Lutra nippon'') or Japanese river otter is an extinct species of otter formerly widespread in Japan. Dating back to the 1880s, it was even seen in Tokyo. The population suddenly shrank in the 1930s, and the mammal nearly vanished. Since ...

wearing a

hot pot Hot pot or hotpot (), also known as soup-food or steamboat, is a cooking method that originated in China. A heat source on the dining table keeps a pot of soup stock simmering, and a variety of Chinese foodstuffs and ingredients are served b ...

ramen is a Japanese dish, Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese ...

dish for a hat. Japanese river otter is an extinct variety of otter, that was last documented in the mouth of the Shinjo River in Susaki. Susaki has hit the worldwide press due to an unofficial mascot, also an otter, named

Chiitan Chiitan is a Japanese mascot which was formerly a self-declared unofficial representative of the small port city of Susaki. It is a self-described "0-year-old fairy baby" otter with no gender that wears a turtle as a hat. The mascot was creat ...

. Chiitan is somewhat violent, but in a humorous way.

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...

has an episode discussing the humor of Chiitan. In May 2019, Chiitan was banned from Twitter for inflammatory content. There is speculation that this disturbing but amusing content can help the city of Susaki, either by attracting tourists or because Japanese can donate a portion of their taxes to cities where they are not resident.

References

External links

* Cities in Kōchi Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan Susaki, Kōchi {{Kōchi-geo-stub