Ōmuta, Fukuoka
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270px, Daijayama Festival 270px, former Mitsui Miike coal mine is a
city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
in
Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...
on the island of
Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...
, Japan. , the city 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 106,393 in 55,373 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 1,300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is .


Geography

Ōmuta is located at the southernmost tip of Fukuoka Prefecture, and borders Kumamoto Prefecture to the south and east. It is located approximately 65 kilometers south of Fukuoka City, approximately 45 kilometers northwest of Kumamoto City, and approximately 35 kilometers southeast of Saga City.
Reclaimed land Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamatio ...
s are spread out in the western part of the city facing the
Ariake Sea The is a body of salt water surrounded by Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto Prefectures, all of which lie on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. It is the largest bay in Kyūshū. Its deepest point is only about 50 meters (165 ft) deep, and ext ...
. Furthermore, it faces the Shimabara Peninsula across the Ariake Sea, and on clear days it is possible to see
Mount Unzen is an active volcanic group of several overlapping stratovolcanoes, near the city of Shimabara, Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island. In 1792, the collapse of one of its several lava domes triggered a megatsuna ...
. There are three enclaves of Arao City within Ōmuta all of which were provided land by the Miike Domain during the
Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
in return for irrigation water from Higo Domain.


Neighboring municipalities

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...
* Miyama
Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture t ...
* Arao * Nankan


Climate

Ōmuta has a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ōmuta is 16.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1932 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 6.4 °C.


Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Ōmuta is now half of what it was in 1960, is as shown below


History

The area of Ōmuta is part of ancient Chikugo Province. Kunugi, one of the neighborhoods in the current Ōmuta city, is mentioned in the ''
Nihon Shoki The or , sometimes translated as ''The Chronicles of Japan'', is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the , the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeol ...
'' in an entry dated 720AD. In the late 12th century, three ponds were formed, supposedly as a result of volcanic activity. Miike, a neighborhood in Ōmuta, is named after those three ponds (jp: " mi-ike").In 1469, a farmer named Denzaemon eventually found coal in the mountains when he made a bonfire. Coal mining would become the main industry in this area. During the
Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
, Ōmuta was a part of Miike Domain, ruled by the Tachibana clan. In 1721, the first coal mine was opened. 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...
, the towns of Ōmuta and Miike were established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. The
Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...
ran coal mining in Miike at first themselves, but soon sold it to a private company for a very low price, compared to its value, which caused a scandal. On March 1, 1917, Ōmuta received city status. Ōmuta had developed as an industrial city, centered on the Miike coal mine, which existed from the 1860s until 1997. In 1891, a railway began to operate, connecting Ōmuta with Fukuoka. It is still operated today as the
Kagoshima Main Line The is a major railway line operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) between Mojiko Station, Mojikō in Kitakyushu, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Kagoshima City, at the southern end of Kyushu. Until March 13, 2004, it ...
. In 1902, Miike Port opened on
Ariake Bay The is a body of salt water surrounded by Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto Prefectures, all of which lie on the island of Kyūshū in Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coas ...
. New coal mines were opened, and Ōmuta became an industrial center in this region. 1908 Miike Port was opened to foreigners and in the next year the Trade Taxation Office was established along the port, as a branch of the Nagasaki Trade Taxation Office. While miners enjoyed good wages, their working conditions were not very good, like many other Japanese laborers. In 1918 and 1924, big strikes and other protests arose. Through many protests and other activities, in the 1930s we found many of the strikers' wishes granted: women, prisoners, and horses were no longer found in mines, and miners were hired directly by the company. In 1921 and 1941, mergers with neighboring towns and villages, including Ōmuta, occurred, and in 1941 the city became as large as it is now. The 1941 merger was a side effect of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
: the government led mergers in many places, thinking it would make municipal administration more efficient. During the war, Ōmuta was bombed in 1944 and 1945, not only in industrial areas, but also downtown. The
prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...
" Fukuoka 17", where allied prisoners were forced to work in the mines, was located in the outskirts of the city. In 1959, Ōmuta recorded its largest population: 208,877. But Japanese industries began to switch from coal to oil. Coal mining became less profitable, and many mines were closed, but Miike remained one of the biggest coal mines in Japan until its closure in 1997. Many people left the city, since they couldn't find work. This had a major effect on the local economy: many downtown shops closed.


Government

Ōmuta 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 ...
city council of 23 members. Ōmuta contributes two members to the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Fukuoka 7th 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

For most of its history, Ōmuta was a coal town. The closure of the Miike mine caused rapid depopulation and redirection of the local economy. The economy of Ōmuta is mixed, with agriculture, commercial fishing, commerce, light manufacturing and chemicals. Another main industry is aluminium refining.


Education

Ōmuta has 19 public elementary schools and eight public junior high schools operated by the city government and four public high schools operated by the Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education. There is also one national high school, two private junior high schools and three private high schools. The prefectural also operates one special education school for the handicapped. Kyushu Teikyo Junior College, formerly located in the city, closed in 2006.


Transportation


Railways

-
Kyushu Shinkansen The is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed railway network. It is an extension of the San'yō Shinkansen from Honshu connecting the city of Fukuoka (Hakata Station) in the north of Japan's Kyushu Island to the city of Kagoshima (Kagoshima-Chuo Sta ...
: -
Kagoshima Main Line The is a major railway line operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) between Mojiko Station, Mojikō in Kitakyushu, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Kagoshima City, at the southern end of Kyushu. Until March 13, 2004, it ...
: - -
Nishitetsu Tenjin Ōmuta Line The is a railway line in Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. It is the main line of the private railway company Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Nishitetsu). The line connects Nishitetsu Fukuoka (Tenjin) StationUntil December 31, 2000, Nishitetsu Fukuo ...
* - - - - -


Highways

* Kyushu Expressway * * * *


Seaports

* Port of Miike


Sister cities

*
Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province, China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 census, it had a population o ...
,
Shanxi Province Shanxi; formerly romanised as Shansi is a province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi and Datong. Its one-character abbreviation is ( ...
, China *
Muskegon, Michigan Muskegon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Muskegon County, Michigan, United States. Situated around a harbor of Lake Michigan, Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, and boating. It is the most populous city along Lake Michigan' ...
, United States


Crime and safety

The Kyushu Seido-kai designated yakuza syndicate was headquartered in Ōmuta until its dissolution in 2013."Boryokudan Situation in 2010"
April 2011, ''
National Police Agency National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: National Revolut ...
''


Local attractions

*former
Miike Coal Mine , also known as the , was the largest coal mine in Japan,Karan, P.P. & Stapleton, K.E. (1997) ''The Japanese city'p.181University Press of Kentucky Retrieved January 2012. located in the area of the city of Ōmuta, Fukuoka and Arao, Kumamoto ...
, UNESCO World Heritage Site * Kugurizuka Kofun, National Historic Site * Haginoo Kofun, National Historic Site


Notable residents of Ōmuta

* Mieno Eiko, politician * Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the
Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It is headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The said bank is a corporate entity ...


References


Further reading

* Gilman, Theodore J. ''No Miracles Here: Fighting Urban Decline in Japan and the United States''.
State University of New York Press The State University of New York Press (more commonly referred to as the SUNY Press) is a university press affiliated with the State University of New York system. The press, which was founded in 1966, is located in Albany, New York and publishe ...
, 2001 - Compares and contrasts the decline of Omuta with that of
Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...
.


External links


Ōmuta City official website

Ōmuta City official website

"Omuta: The shopping arcades of a thousand bankruptcies"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omuta, Fukuoka Cities in Fukuoka Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan