190px, Asagiri Town Hall 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 Kuma District,

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture t ...

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 14,134 in 5774 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 89 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The word "asagiri" translates as "morning mist".

Geography

Asagiri is located in southern Kumamoto Prefecture. It contains Mount Shiragatake, a designated nature reserve. * Mountains: Shiragatake * Rivers: Kuma river

Adjacent municipalities

Kumamoto Prefecture * Nishiki * Sagara * Taragi Miyazaki Prefecture * Ebino

Climate

Asagiri 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, humid summers and cool winters. There is significant precipitation throughout the year, especially during June and July. The average annual temperature in Asagiri is . The average annual rainfall is with June 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 Asagiri was on 17 August 2020; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 25 January 2016.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Asagiri in 2020 is 14,676 people. Asagiri has been conducting censuses since 1920.

History

The area of Asagiri was part of ancient

Higo Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. It was sometimes called , with Hizen Province. Higo bordered on Chikugo, Bungo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma Provinces. History The cas ...

, 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 ...

it was part of the holdings of Hitoyoshi Domain. 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 ...

, the villages of Ue, Minagoe, Menda, Ōkaharu, Sue, and Fukada were established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Minagoe was incorporated into Ue village on December 7, 1895, which was elevated to town status on April 1, 1937. On April 1, 2003 villages of Ue, Ōkaharu, Sue, Fukada were merged with town of Menda to create Asagiri. The name was chosen because for the fog that blankets the valley from fall through spring.(Asa – morning, kiri/giri – fog)

Government

Asagiri 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 14 members. Asagiri, collectively with the other municipalities of Kuma District, contributes two members to the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Kumamoto 4th 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

Agriculture dominates the local economy. Soybeans, strawberries, melons and tobacco and

shōchū is a Japanese distilled beverage. It is typically distilled from rice, barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, or brown sugar, though it is sometimes produced from other ingredients such as chestnut, sesame seeds, potatoes, or even carrots. Typ ...

are produced here.

Education

Asagiri has five public elementary school and one public junior high school operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

Kumagawa Railroad - Yunomae Line * - -

Highways

Notable people from Asagiri

* Yasushi Kaneko, politician *

Kazuaki Kiriya is a Japanese photographer and film director, director of films and music videos. His birth name is . He is represented by Paradigm Agency. Early life and career In 1983, in his second year of junior high school, he moved to the United States. ...

, photographer, video director * Yoshifumi Matsumura, politician

In popular culture

*The village of Sue (now part of Asagiri) was the topic of a 1939 text, ''Suye Mura, a Japanese Village'' by John Embree.

References

External links

* *
Official website
updated: February 2019 Towns in Kumamoto Prefecture {{Kumamoto-geo-stub