270px, San'in Main Line Sogo River Bridge
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
Abu District,
Yamaguchi Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). ...
,
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 3,054 in 1530 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 26 persons per km
2.
The total area of the town is . Noted for its
wagyu
Wagyu (, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ''wagyū'', ) is the collective name for the four principal List of Japanese cattle breeds, Japanese breeds of beef cattle. All wagyū cattle originate from early twentieth-century cross-breeding between ...
beef and
kiwifruit
Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry (botany), berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, ...
, the town is a member of
The Most Beautiful Villages in Japan
is a Japanese nonprofit organization of listing some of the most beautiful villages and towns in Japan. The association is active on enhancement and protection of Japanese rural heritage, cultural fairs, and branding and promotion of regional, ...
association.
Geography
Abu is located in northeastern of Yamaguchi prefecture and borders the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...
on the north. It consists of the Nago area facing the sea, the Udago area, and the Fukuga area in the mountains. Much of the town is within the borders of the
Kita-Nagato Kaigan Quasi-National Park.
Neighbouring municipalities
*
Hagi
Climate
Abu 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 climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
''Cfa'') with very warm summers and cool winters. The average annual temperature in Abu is 14.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1746 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 25.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.3 °C.
Abu climate data
/ref>
Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Abu has been declining for the past 50 years.
History
The area of Abu was part of an ancient Nagato Province
, often called , was a province of Japan. It was at the extreme western end of Honshū, in the area that is today Yamaguchi Prefecture. Nagato bordered on Iwami and Suō Provinces.
History
Although the ancient capital of the province was Shimono ...
. 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 ...
, the area was part of the holdings of Iwakuni Domain. 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 area was organized into villages of Nago, Fukaga, and Utago within Abu District, Yamaguchi with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Nago as elevated to town status on November 3, 1942. On January 1, 1955, Nago merged with Fukaga and Utago to form the town of Abu.
COVID-19 Relief Funds Incident
On April 8, 2022, a municipal official mistakenly transferred Abu's entire COVID-19 relief budget of 46.3 million yen (c. US$358,000) to Abu resident Sho Taguchi.computer fraud Computer fraud is the use of computers, the Internet, Internet devices, and Internet services to defraud people or organizations of resources. In the United States, computer fraud is specifically proscribed by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA ...
for transferring 42.92 million yen of the 46.3 million yen to three online payment agents, knowing that the payment had been made in error.bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...
after paying 2.5 million yen, and commented that he is going to work and gradually pay the money back.
Government
Abu 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 eight members. Waki, together with the city of Hagi contributes two members to the Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Yamaguchi 3rd district
Yamaguchi 3rd district (山口県第3区) is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. It is located in Western Yamaguchi Prefecture and in ...
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 economy of Abu is based on agriculture and 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 ...
, with some forestry in inland mountain areas.
Education
Abu has two public elementary schools and two public junior high schools operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Yamaguchi Prefectural Board of Education.
Transportation
Railway
JR West
, also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...
(JR West) - San'in Main Line
The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects Kyoto and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is the major railway line of the San'in region, approximately paralleling the Japan Sea, crossing Kyot ...
* - -
Highways
*
*
References
External links
Abu official website
(in Japanese)
{{Authority control
Towns in Yamaguchi Prefecture
Populated coastal places in Japan
Abu, Yamaguchi