Fukaura town center area Aerial photograph

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

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 ...

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 7,268 in 3553 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 15 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Fukaura is in

Nishitsugaru District, Aomori * Japan > Tōhoku region > Aomori Prefecture > Nishitsugaru District is a rural district located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. As of September 2013, the district had an estimated population of 19,666 and an area of 831.85 km2. All of the ci ...

, and occupies the far southwestern coastline of Aomori Prefecture, facing the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

. The southwestern corner of the town is located within the borders of the

Shirakami-Sanchi file:Shirakami Mountains Relief Map, SRTM-1 (with UNESCO World Heritage Site).jpg, 270px, Shirakami Mountains Relief Map (with UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Tōhoku region of northern Honshū, Japan. This mou ...

, a

UNESCO 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 ...

, and some coastal areas of the town are within the

Tsugaru Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park in Aomori Prefecture in the far northern Tōhoku region of Honshū in Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category V) according to the IUCN. The park includes a number of discontinuous areas on Tsugaru Peninsula, i ...

. The islets of

Kyūroku-jima is a group of islets in the Sea of Japan about west of the Japanese main island of Honshu. It is administered as part of the town of Fukaura, Aomori, Fukaura in Aomori Prefecture and is the prefecture's westernmost point. The islets are the pea ...

in the Sea of Japan are located within the boundaries of the town, giving it the westernmost point of Aomori Prefecture.

Neighbouring municipalities

*Akita Prefecture ** Happō *Aomori Prefecture ** Ajigasawa

Climate

The town has a hot

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 ...

''Dfa'') bordering on

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 ...

(''Cfa'') characterized by warm short summers and long cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Fukaura is 7.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1604 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 23.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.0 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Fukaura population statistics
/ref> the population of Fukaura peaked at around the year 1960 and has decreased by more than half over the past 60 years. It is now considerably less than it was a century ago.

History

The area around Fukaura was controlled by the

Tsugaru clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled the northwestern half of what is now Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. The Tsugaru were ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain and its semi-subsidiary, ...

Hirosaki Domain file:Hirosakijo.jpg, Hirosaki Castle, the seat of the Hirosaki Domain , also known as , was a ''tozama'' Han (Japan), feudal domain of Edo period JapanRavina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 It is located in Muts ...

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 became a village in Nishitsugaru District with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, and was elevated to town status on April 1, 1926. On July 29, 1955, Fukura annexed the neighboring village of Otose. On March 31, 2005, it was

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

with the neighboring village of Iwasaki.

Government

Fukaura 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 legislature of 12 members. Nishitsugaru District contributes one member to the Aomori Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Aomori 3rd district Aomori 3rd district is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan. It is located on the island of Honshu, in Aomori Prefecture, and includes the cities of Hirosaki, Goshogawara, and Ajigasawa. As ...

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 Fukaura is heavily dependent 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 ...

. There is also a small tourism industry centered on the Shirakami Sanchi UNESCO World Heritage area, particularly the Juniko Lakes on its periphery.

Education

Fukaura has three public elementary schools and two public junior high schools operated by the town government and one public high school operated by the Aomori Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

East Japan Railway Company 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 ...

(JR East) -

Gonō Line The is a railway line in Japan linking Higashi-Noshiro Station in Akita Prefecture with Kawabe Station in Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of Honshu. The line stretches 147.2 km (91.5 mi) along the Sea of Japan coast ...

* , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Highway

Sister cities

Ranua Ranua is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Geography ...

, Lapland,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Noted people from Fukaura

* Masatsukasa Kōshin, sumo wrestler *

Kaihō Ryōji Kaihō Ryōji (born April 17, 1973 as Ryōji Kumagaya) is a former sumo wrestler from Aomori Prefecture, Aomori, Japan. His highest rank was ''komusubi''. An amateur champion at Nihon University, he entered professional sumo in 1996. He was one o ...

, sumo wrestler *

Aminishiki Ryūji Aminishiki Ryūji (born October 3, 1978, as Ryūji Suginomori) is a former Japanese sumo wrestler. He made his professional debut in 1997 and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in 2000. He earned twelve special prizes and won eight ''kinboshi ...

, sumo wrestler *

Asōfuji Seiya Asōfuji Seiya (born January 17, 1976, as Kiyotoshi Suginomori) is a retired sumo wrestler from Fukaura, Nishitsugaru, Aomori, Japan. His highest rank was ''maegashira'' 13. He is the elder brother of Aminishiki. Career Asōfuji made his profes ...

, sumo wrestler

References

External links

* {{Authority control Towns in Aomori Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan