is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the town had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 15,867 in 6,881 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

of . The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 34.0%. The total area of the town is . The

Japan Atomic Energy Agency The Japan Atomic Energy Agency is a Japanese atomic energy company. While it inherited the activities of both Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, JNC and Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, JAERI, it also inherited the nickname of J ...

operates a research center in Ōarai with a number of nuclear

research reactor Research reactors are nuclear fission-based nuclear reactors that serve primarily as a neutron source. They are also called non-power reactors, in contrast to power reactors that are used for electricity production, heat generation, or maritim ...

s, including the Jōyō and High-temperature engineering test reactor facilities.

Geography

Located on the coast of central Ibaraki Prefecture, Ōarai is located in the flatlands near the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and borders Lake Hinuma, the 30th largest body of freshwater in Japan. The Naka River flows through the town. Ōarai and Sun Beach bathing beaches were first to introduce barrier-free bathing beaches for the disabled in Japan.

Surrounding municipalities

* Hitachinaka * Hokota * Ibaraki * Mito

Climate

Ōarai has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ōarai 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 .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Ōarai has declined steadily over the past 70 years.

History

The villages of Isohama and Ōnuki within Higashiibaraki District and the village of Natsumi within Kashima District were created with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Ōnuki was elevated to town status on January 26, 1894. Ōnuki and Isohama merged on November 3, 1954 to create the town of Ōarai. A portion of Natsumi was annexed by Ōarai on July 23, 1955. In 1928, Nisshō Inoue, the founder of the far-right militant organization , relocated to Ōarai, where he established , which served as a youth training center advocating a militarist revolution in Japan, eventually resulting in the 1932 League of Blood Incident. Since 1998 the chief of a factory association in Oarai has invited Japanese descendants and migrants from

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is mainly located on the Minahasa Peninsula of the island of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia, but also includes various small archipel ...

, Indonesia, to work for seafood industries. A majority of the Indonesian inhabitants were later arrested for being undocumented.

Government

Ōarai 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 consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

town council of 12 members. Ōarai, together with neighboring Hokota and Ibaraki, contributes two members to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Ibaraki 2nd district of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy

The nuclear industry and government largess form the basis of the local economy. Main agricultural products include rice, sweet potatoes and

Japanese radish is a generic term for radish in Japanese language. For example, European radish is called in Japan. In the West, the word ''daikon'' sometimes refers to long white Asian radish varieties and sometimes Japanese radish varieties. When it is nec ...

. The

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

industry is important, and main fishery products include whitebait, sardines, flounder and clams. Marine food processing includes salted and dried horse mackerel, smelt and sardines and boiled octopus.

Education

* Ōarai has two public elementary schools and two public middle schools operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

– Kashima Rinkai Railway Ōarai Kashima Line * Ōarai Station

Highway

Seaport

* Port of Ōarai (A MOL Ferry operates two ferries to

Tomakomai, Hokkaidō is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the largest city in the Iburi Subprefecture, and the fourth largest city in Hokkaido. As of 31 July 2023, it had an estimated population of ...

daily)

Local attractions

Ōarai attracts 3 million visitors a year. Tourist attractions include bathing beaches, yacht and cruiser marina, marine sports, camping site, fishing, aquarium, and a famous golf course. It is known for its

monkfish Members of the genus ''Lophius'', also sometimes called monkfish, fishing-frogs, frog-fish, and sea-devils, are various species of lophiid anglerfishes found in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. ''Lophius'' is known as the "monk" or "monkfish" to ...

. * Aqua World (formerly Ōarai Aquarium) * "Kurumazuka-kofun" and "Kagamizuka-kofun" * Ōarai Beach * Oarai Isosaki Shrine * Ōarai Marine Tower * Ōarai Sea Museum * Ōarai Museum of Art * Ōarai Museum of Bakumatsu-Meiji History

Noted people from Ōarai

* Kei Igawa. professional baseball player * Hiromoto Okubo. professional baseball player * Akua Shōma. professional sumo wrestler

Ankou Festival

The Ōarai Ankou Festival is held yearly, since 1996, and features a range of traditional activities.

In popular culture

The city has become an

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

location due to being the setting for the popular franchise ''

Girls und Panzer , abbreviated as ''GuP'' or ''Garupan'' , is a Japanese franchise created by Actas. It depicts a competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. The series was directed by Tsutomu Miz ...

''. The main characters of the animated series study in a huge ship originally based in Ōarai. Real locations in the city are depicted faithfully, prompting fans to visit the town and giving a boost to local commerce.

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oarai, Ibaraki Towns in Ibaraki Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan Ōarai, Ibaraki