290px, Esashi Town Hall 290px, Cape Kamui Park 290px, Esashi town(Soya) center area Aerial photograph.1977 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

Sōya Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. Its population is estimated to be 77,500 as of July 31, 2004 and its area is . It is the northernmost subprefecture of Japan. Wakkanai Airport is located in Wakkanai. Rishiri Airport is locat ...

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

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 7,276 in 3918 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 8.1 people per km². The total area of the town is . The name of the town comes from the Ainu word "Esaushi", meaning "cape" (in the geographic sense).

Geography

Esashi is located at the southeast tip of Sōya Subprefecture, and faces the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

to the east. It consists of mostly rugged terrain sandwiched between the sea and the mountains, with the main urban area on a long, narrow strip of the coast. The area around the mouth of the Kitami Horobetsu River is a marshland. The west is mountainous, with 80% of the area covered by forest. The southern border of the city is marked by the Toinai River, and the north is marked by

Cape Kamui is located on the western part of Shakotan, Hokkaido, Japan. Its lighthouse, the Cape Kamui Lighthouse, overlooks the Sea of Japan. An earthquake off the cape on 2 August 1940 resulted in a tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series ...

. Parts of the town are within the borders of the

North Okhotsk Prefectural Natural Park is a Prefectural Natural Park in northern Hokkaidō, Japan. Established in 1968, the park spans the municipalities of Esashi, Hamatonbetsu, and Sarufutsu. See also * National Parks of Japan National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or ...

. *

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

s: Mount Hako (1129 meters), Mount Yane Mune (1,039m), Mount Shiassiri (903m), Mount Kumanodake (954m), Mount Polonupuri (841m) *

River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s: Esashiuennai River, Kitami Horobetsu River, Tokushibe River, Otutadabe River, Fureppu River, Onbo River

Neighbouring municipalities

** Bifuka ** Hamatonbetsu ** Horonobe ** Nakatonbetsu ** Ōmu ** Otoineppu

Climate

Esashi 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 Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dfb''). Temperatures in summer exceed for short time of midday. Early morning in winter it below .''Esashi Town History'', pp 20 - 23. The highest temperature ever recorded in Esashi was on 31 July 2000. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 12 February 1947. Snow falls from end of November till May. It covers ground from December and melts rapidly in April.

Drift ice Drift or Drifts may refer to: Geography * Drift or ford (crossing) of a river * Drift (navigation), difference between heading and course of a vessel * Drift, Kentucky, unincorporated community in the United States * In Cornwall, England: ** D ...

s of the

come to Esashi first in Hoddaido, usually January to March. Fishery, town's main industry, is impossible while ices contact on land and is limited until ices disappear completely from the sea around the town.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Esashi is as shown below. The town is in a long period of sustained population loss.

History

Esashi District was established in 1869 in

Kitami Province was a short-lived Provinces of Japan, province located in Hokkaido. It corresponded to modern-day Sōya Subprefecture and Okhotsk Subprefecture minus part of Abashiri District, Hokkaido, Abashiri District. History After 1869, the northern Japan ...

(1868-1882), a short-lived

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

in the north of

. The district was historically under the control of the

Kaga Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871.Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

; this control ended in 1870. In 1878, the villages of Esashi, Tonbetsu, Utanobetsu, and Rebun were established in Esashi District,

. In 1909 the four villages merged to form the second-class village of Esashi; however, Tonbetsu was separated out in April 1916. In April 1923, Esashi was raised to a first-class village. Utanobori was separated from Esashi in September 1939. On May 11, 1940, a forest fire razed most of Esashi, with 16 people killed and 547 buildings destroyed. Esashi was raised to town status in October 1947. On March 20, 2006, Esashi merged with the town of Utanobori.

Government

Esashi 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 12 members. Esashi, as part of Soya sub-prefecture, contributes one member to the Hokkaido Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the

Hokkaido 12th district Hokkaidō 12th District (北海道第12区) is an electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the national Diet of Japan. The district was established in 1994 and had major boundary changes in 2002 and 2017. Area The ...

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 local economy of Esashi is centered on

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 ...

and

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

. In particular, Esashi is noted for its catch of horsehair crab, salmon, and scallops. The waters off Esashi are rich in

marine plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in water (or air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provi ...

carried by

drift ice Drift or Drifts may refer to: Geography * Drift or ford (crossing) of a river * Drift (navigation), difference between heading and course of a vessel * Drift, Kentucky, unincorporated community in the United States * In Cornwall, England: ** D ...

that moves south in the southern Okhotsk Sea in winter. The crab catch is one of the largest in Japan using

crab trap Crab traps are used to bait, lure, and catch crabs for commercial or recreational use. Crabbing or crab fishing is the recreational hobby and commercial occupation of fishing for crabs. Different types of traps are used depending on the type o ...

fishing. Scallops from Esashi are not only consumed domestically, but are also exported to China, France, and North America. In addition, various seafood such as flounder,

sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class (biology), class Holothuroidea ( ). They are benthic marine animals found on the sea floor worldwide, and the number of known holothuroid species worldwide is about 1,786, with the greatest number be ...

, sea bream,

sea urchin Sea urchins or urchins () are echinoderms in the class (biology), class Echinoidea. About 950 species live on the seabed, inhabiting all oceans and depth zones from the intertidal zone to deep seas of . They typically have a globular body cove ...

, and octopus are landed.

Education

Easahi has seven public elementary schools and three public junior high schools operated by the town government. The town has one public high school operated by the Hokkaido Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

Esashi has not had any passenger railway services since the closing of the

JR Hokkaido The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to by its official abbreviation: . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a smart c ...

Tempoku Line The was a railway line most recently operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) in Hokkaidō, Japan. The 148.9 kilometres line connected from Otoineppu to Minami-Wakkanai via Nakatonbetsu, Hamatonbetsu and Sarufutsu until its closur ...

in 1989. The nearest railway station is

Otoineppu Station is a railway station located in the village of Otoineppu, Nakagawa District (Teshio), Hokkaidō, Japan. It is operated by JR Hokkaido. Lines The station is served by the Soya Main Line from to and is located 129.3 km from the start ...

on the

Sōya Main Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) in Hokkaido. The line connects Asahikawa Station in Asahikawa and Wakkanai Station in Wakkanai, and is the northernmost railway line in Japan. The name c ...

Highways

Local attractions

*Okhotsk Museum Esashi

Mascot

Esashi's mascot is . He is a bright and energetic fairy who loves the forest and the sea and the taste of the horsehair crab. As such, he customized his hat with the things he likes. He is unveiled in 2011. He is created by Ayumi Shozaki of

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

References

bibliography

*Esashi Town History Editing Committee, ''Esashi Town History'', volume 1 (1967). 枝幸町史編纂委員会『枝幸町史』上巻。

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esashi, Hokkaido (Soya) Towns in Hokkaido Populated coastal places in Japan