Koujin-yama Park, Tastuno-cho Kamiina-gun 2012

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 ...

located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , 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 using a ...

of 18,951 in 7917 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 112 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Tatsuno is located in the Ina Valley of south-central Nagano Prefecture, bordered by the

Kiso Mountains are a mountain range in Nagano and Gifu prefectures in Japan. They are also called the and they combine with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Akaishi Mountains ("Southern Alps") to form a group collectively known as the Japanese ...

. The

Tenryū River The is a river in central Honshū, Japan. With a length of , it is Japan's ninth longest river. Its source is Lake Suwa in the Kiso Mountains near Okaya in Nagano Prefecture. It then flows through Aichi Prefecture and western Shizuoka Prefect ...

flows through the town, which is surrounded by mountains and is rich in a natural environment. It is takes about 3 hours from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, 2 hours from

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

, 5 hours from

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

by train and equally by car. Part of the town is within the borders of the Enrei Ōjō Prefectural Natural Park. The Yokokawa Dam is located in Tatsuno.

Surrounding municipalities

*Nagano Prefecture ** Okaya ** Suwa ** Shiojiri ** Minamiminowa ** Minowa

Climate

The village has a climate characterized by characterized by warm and humid summers, and cold 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 ...

''Dfa''). The average annual temperature in Tatsuno is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

History

The area of present-day Tatsuno was part of ancient Shinano Province. The village of Inatomi established on April 1, 1889, by the establishment of the municipalities system, and was elevated to town status on January 1, 1947, changing its name to Tatsuno at that time. The neighboring village of Asahi was annexed on April 1, 1955, followed by Kawashima on September 30, 1956, and Ono on March 31, 1961.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tatsuno has declined slightly in recent decades.

Education

Tatsuno has five public elementary schools and five public middle school operated by the town government, and one high school operated the Nagano Prefectural Board of Education. The Shinshu Honan Junior College is also located in Tatsuno.

Transportation

Railway

East Japan Railway Company - Chūō Main Line (old line) ** - - * JR logo (central)

Central Japan Railway Company -

Iida Line The is a Japanese railway line connecting Toyohashi Station in Toyohashi, Aichi with Tatsuno Station in Tatsuno, Nagano, operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). The line links eastern Aichi Prefecture and southern Nagano Prefe ...

** - - -

Highway

Chūō Expressway The is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by NEXCO Central. Naming Officially the expressway is designated as the Chūō Expressway Nishinomiya Route (from Takaido Interchange to Komaki Junction), the Chūō Expressway Na ...

International relations

* -

Waitomo Waitomo is a rural community in the King Country region of New Zealand's North Island. There are several solutional cave systems in the area around the village, which are popular tourist attractions. Restaurants and accommodation are centred i ...

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 ...

Local attractions

* : one of the most famous places in Japan for

fireflies The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

(called in Japan) every summer. However, the intentional introduction of non-native fireflies and its negative influence on the native fireflies of Tatsuno were highlighted in an academic journal. and several major newspapers.

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ...

(July 28, 2008; evening edition, p13). * Enrei Ōjō Prefectural Natural Park

References

External links

*
Official Website
Towns in Nagano Prefecture {{Nagano-geo-stub