250px, Bandai Town Hall Panorama of Bandai town 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

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

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 3,533 in 1195 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 60.3 persons per km². The total area of the town was .

Geography

Bandai is located in the northeastern part of the Aizu Basin, bordered by

Yamagata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It has a population of 1,005,926 (1 February 2025) and an area of 9,325 Square kilometre, km2 (3,600 Square mile, sq mi). Its neighbours are Akita Prefectu ...

to the north. About 70% of the town is occupied by forests, with agricultural land and settlements along the hills at the southern foot of the mountains and along the Otani River. Much of the tow is within the borders of the Bandai-Asahi National Park. *Mountains :

Mount Bandai is a stratovolcano located in Inawashiro-town, Bandai-town, and Kitashiobara village, in Yama-Gun, Fukushima prefecture. It is an active stratovolcano located to the north of Lake Inawashiro. Mount Bandai, including the Bandai heights, belo ...

, Mount Nekomadake *Rivers : Nippashi-gawa, Oya-gawa

Neighboring municipalities

Fukushima Prefecture *

Aizuwakamatsu is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 118,159 in 50,365 households, and a population density of 310 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . History The area of present-day Aizuwakamatsu ...

* Inawashiro * Kitakata * Kitashiobara

Climate

Bandai has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Köppen ''Dfb'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Bandai is 9.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1467 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around -3.3 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Bandai has declined steadily over the past 60 years and is now much less than it was a century ago.

History

The area of present-day Bandai was part of ancient Mutsu Province. It was the center of a mountain cult based on Mount Bandai and numerous Buddhist temples were founded from 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 ...

. These temples grew to have a strong military and economic power towards the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

, and were only suppressed in the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

. The area formed part of the holdings of

Aizu Domain was a Han (Japan), domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1601 to 1871.Ravina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 The Aizu Domain was based at Aizuwakamatsu Castle, Tsuruga Castle in M ...

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 ...

. After 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 as part of Yama District, Fukushima Prefecture. Bandai village was created on March 31, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system, and was raised to town status in 1960.

Economy

From the early modern period, hydroelectric power generation and chemical production by Nippon Soda Co., Ltd. had been mainstays of the local economy. However, the local economy has now shifted to precision machinery production and seasonal tourism, especially golf courses and ski resorts.

Education

Bandai has two public elementary schools and one public junior high school operated by the town government.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

–

Ban'etsu West Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Kōriyama Station (Fukushima), Kōriyama Station in Kōriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, and Niitsu Station in Akiha-ku, Niigata, Akiha Ward, Niigata (cit ...

Highway

Sister cities

Oliver, British Columbia Oliver is a town near the south end of the Okanagan Valley in the southern British Columbia Interior, interior of British Columbia, Canada, with a population of nearly 5,000 people. It is located along the Okanagan River by Tuc-el-nuit Lake betwe ...

, Canada

Local attractions

* Bandai-Asahi National Park * Enichi-ji, noted Buddhist temple and National Historic Site *

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Fukushima Prefecture