is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

located in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...

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 ...

. As of the March 20, 2006 merger but with 2003 population statistics, the district has 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 78,882 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 84.4 persons per km². The total area is 934.10 km².

Towns and villages

* Amagi *

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

* Isen * Kikai * Setouchi * Tatsugō * Tokunoshima * Wadomari * Yoron * Uken *

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...

District timeline (after WWII)

* February 28, 1946 – The district fell under

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

control except for the current village of

Mishima Mishima may refer to: Places * Mishima, Fukushima, a town in Fukushima Prefecture * Mishima, Kagoshima, a village in Kagoshima Prefecture * Mishima, Niigata, a town in Niigata Prefecture * Mishima, Shizuoka, a city in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japa ...

areas. * July 1, 1946 – The town of Naze gained city status. * September 1, 1946 – The village of China gained town status. * February 4, 1952 – Japan regains the current village of Toshima areas. * February 10, 1952 – The village of

broke off from the village of Toshima. * December 25, 1953 – The remaining parts of the district returned to Japan. * February 1, 1955 – The village of Mikata merged into the city of Naze. * September 1, 1956 – The town of Koniya, and the villages of Chinzei, Saneku, and Nishikata merged to form the town of Setouchi. * September 10, 1956 – The town of Kikai and the village of Sōmachi merged to form the town of Kikai. * April 1, 1958 – The town of Kametsu and the village of Higashiamagi merged to form the town of Tokunoshima. * January 1, 1961 ** The village of Kasari gained town status. ** The village of Amagi gained town status. * January 1, 1962 – The village of Isen gained town status. * January 1, 1963 – The village of Yoron gained town status. * April 1, 1973 – The district transferred the villages of

and Toshima to Kagoshima District. * February 10, 1975 – The village of Tatsugō gained town status. * March 20, 2006 – The village of Sumiyō and town of Kasari merged with the city of Naze to form the new city of Amami.

Transportation

Kikai Airport is located in the district.

Amami Reversion Movement

The "restoration of Ōshima District of Kagoshima Prefecture" was a slogan of the Amami reversion movement during the United States military occupation of the

Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is a Japanese archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is sout ...

from 1945/6 to 1953. An overwhelming majority of people of Amami, including those in mainland Japan, urged the immediate return of the islands to Japan. The reversion movements except those by leftist minorities tried to differentiate Amami from

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

because the U.S. seemingly intended permanent control of Okinawa. They opposed the name "Northern Ryukyu" occasionally labeled by the U.S. occupiers. Instead they used "Ōshima District, Kagoshima Prefecture" as a symbol of national belongingness.Takahashi Takayo 高橋孝代, ''Esunishiti to aidentiti'' (エスニシティとアイデンティティ), Kyōkai no jinruigaku 境界性の人類学, pp. 165–248, 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshima District, Kagoshima Districts in Kagoshima Prefecture