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 ...

Tokushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 682,439 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,146 Square kilometre, km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture b ...

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 70,285 in 31313 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 250 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Anan is located in the southeastern part of Tokushima Prefecture and is the easternmost municipality on the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

. The east faces the Kii Channel and 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 is the northern end of Muroto-Anan Kaigan Quasi-National Park. The city is at the mouth of the Naka River, which is the longest river in the prefecture, and the Kuwano River runs through the city. The city has two main urban centers: the Tokushima district, which is a former

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

, and the Tachibana district, which is a port city.

Neighbouring municipalities

Tokushima Prefecture * Katsuura * Komatsushima * Minami * Naka

Climate

Anan 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 cool winters. Precipitation is high, but there is a pronounced difference between the wetter summers and drier winters. The average annual temperature in Anan 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 . The highest temperature ever recorded in Anan was on 11 August 2013; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 26 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Anan in 2020 is 69,470 people. Anan has been conducting censuses since 1920.

History

As with all of Tokushima Prefecture, the area of Anan was part of ancient Awa Province. The Naka River valley was settled since at least the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

, and archaeologists have found many

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumulus, tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century AD.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞 ...

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

s and the traces of Japan's oldest

cinnabar Cinnabar (; ), or cinnabarite (), also known as ''mercurblende'' is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of Mercury sulfide, mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining mercury (element), elemental mercury and is t ...

mine. 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

Tokushima Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Awa Province and Awaji Province in what is now Tokushima Prefecture and Awaji Island of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Tokushima ...

ruled by the Hachisuka clan from their seat at Tokushima Castle. 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 ...

, it was organized into 17 villages within Naka District, Tokushima with the creation of the modern municipalities system on October 1, 1889, including the villages of Tomioka and Tachibanaura. Tomioka was raised town status in 1905 and Tachibanaura became Tachibana town in 1912. The two towns merged on May 1, 1958 to form the city of Anan. On March 20, 2006, the towns of Hanoura and Nakagawa (both from Naka District) were merged into Anan.

Government

Anan 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 28 members. Anan contributes four members to the Tokushima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Tokushima 1st 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

Anan was traditionally known for its production of edible bamboo shoots and bamboo products. In modern times, it has been associated with Nichia, a global

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

and electronic materials manufacturer which has its headquarters and several factories in the city.Corporate Information
" Nichia Retrieved on September 10, 2015. Also in the city is the static inverter plant of Kii Channel HVDC system. 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 ...

also play a role in the economy.

Education

Anan has 22 public elementary schools and ten public middle schools operated by the city government and one public middle school and four public high schools operated by the Tokushima Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped. The city also has the National Institute of Technology, Anan College.

Transportation

Railway

Shikoku Railway Company – Mugi Line * - - - - - - - -

Highways

Tokushima Expressway * JP Expressway E55

Anan-Aki Expressway * *

Local attractions

* Byōdō-ji, 22nd temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage * Tairyū-ji, 21st temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage * Wakasugiyama Site, Kofun period cinnabar mine trace. National Historic Site

References

External links

* *
Anan City official website
{{Authority control Cities in Tokushima Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan Anan, Tokushima