270px, Wakimoto beach 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 ...

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 ...

. , 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 18,297 in 9698 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 140 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Akune is located in northwestern Kagoshima. The west side of the city faces the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

(Amakusa Bay), and is dotted with islands such as Oshima and Kuwajima. The urban center at the mouth of the Takamatsu River is flat, but the rest of the city is made up of forests and hills. The northwest side of the city faces Nagashima Island, the southernmost of the Amakusa Islands, across the Kuronoseto Strait, and is connected by the Kuronoseto Bridge.

Neighboring municipalities

Kagoshima Prefecture * Izumi * Nagashima * Satsumasendai

Climate

Akune 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 hot summers and mild winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, and is heavier in summer, especially the months of June and July. The highest temperature ever recorded in Akune was on 13 August 2018, the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 26 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Akune in 2020 is 19,270 people. Akune's population has been slowly declining since the census began in 1950. The population in 2020 is less than 50% of what it was in the 1950s.

History

Akune is part of ancient

Satsuma Province was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Satsuma" in . Its abbreviation was . History Satsuma's provincial capital was Satsumasendai. Dur ...

. "The place name Akune" has existed since ancient times. "Aku" means fish or fishing, and "ne" means reef. In the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

it was a ''

shōen A was a field or Manorialism, manor in Japan. The Japanese language, Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese language, Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to th ...

'' manor called Akune-in. In the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

, it came under the control of the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

and was part of

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

in 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 village of Akune was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on January 1, 1925 and to city status on April 1, 1952. On April 10, 1955 Akune annexed the town of Mikasa.

Government

Akune 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 15 members. Akune, together with the town of Nagashima contributes one member to the Kagoshima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the

Kagoshima 3rd district , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 583,966 in 285,992 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Etymology While the kanji used to sp ...

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 main economy activity of Akune is agriculture and commercial fishing.

Education

Akune has eight public elementary schools and three public junior high schools by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Kagoshima Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

Hisatsu Orange Railway is a third-sector railway company which operates Hisatsu Orange Railway Line in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. The line follows the former part of the JR Kyushu Kagoshima Main Line that connected Yatsushiro and Sendai in Kumamoto and K ...

* - - -

Highways

Minamikyushu Expressway * * *

Noted people from Akune

Kōsaku Yamashita was a Japanese film director who specialized in directing Yakuza films. Yamashita was nicknamed ''Shōgun''. His son is director Tomohiko Yamashita. In 1952, He graduated from Kyoto University and joined Toei Film. He was working an office jo ...

, movie director

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities in Kagoshima Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Akune, Kagoshima