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 Akita,

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 2,890 in 1315 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 10 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Fujisato is located at the confluence of the Kasuge River and the Fujikoto River in the Yoneshiro River system in far northwestern of

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...

. It is bordered by the

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Shirakami Mountains to the south, and by

Aomori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori (city), Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is border ...

to the north. The town itself is nestled in a small valley at the base of the Shirakami Mountains. The hillsides are brimming with lush green in the summer, amazing orange in the autumn, and covered in white snow during the winter. Due to its location in the middle of the mountains, the temperature in Fujisato can get remarkably cold at night, with snowfall tending to be somewhat greater than that in neighboring municipalities.

Neighboring municipalities

Akita Prefecture * Happō * Kitaakita * Noshiro * Ōdate

* Ajigasawa * Nishimeya

Climate

Fujisato 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 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 large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is heaviest from August to October. The average annual temperature in Fujisato is 10.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1471 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around -2.1 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Fujisato population statistics
/ref> the population of Fujisato peaked around the year 1950 and has been in steady decline since then.

History

The area of present-day Fujisato was part of ancient

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

, dominated by the Satake clan 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 ...

, who ruled Kubota Domain under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. The area was organized into villages within Yamamoto District, Akita with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1884. The village of Fujisato was established on March 31, 1955 from the merger of the villages of Fujigoto and Kasuge, both from Yamamoto District. It was raised to town status on November 1, 1963.

Government

Fujisato 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 ten members. Fujisato, together with the city of Noshiro and the other municipalities of Yamamoto District contributes four members to the Akita Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Akita 2nd 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

The economy of Fujisato is based on

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and forestry. Economic development has been hampered by the town's isolation: there are no railway lines, national roads, or major local roads to any neighboring municipality.

Education

Fujisato has one public elementary school and one public middle school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Fujisato has no railways and is not served by the Japanese national highway system. Access is primarily through Akita Prefectural Road 200 or 317.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Akita Prefecture