270px, Shiraito Falls 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 ...

in Tagawa District,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

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 21,201 in 11071 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 500 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Fukuchi is located slightly northeast of central Fukuoka Prefecture, at the northeastern tip of the Chikuho region, approximately 45 kilometers east of Fukuoka City, and approximately 35 kilometers south of Kitakyushu City. Two rivers, the Hikoyama River and the Nakamotoji River, run through the town, and both rivers meet in the center of the town. The northeastern part of the town area is a mountainous area with mountains ranging in height from 600 to 700 meters, including Mount Fukuchi (), and the rest of the area is at the northeastern end of the Chikuho Basin.

Neighboring municipalities

Fukuoka Prefecture * Iizuka * Itoda * Kawara * Kitakyushu * Nōgata *

Tagawa 270px, Views of Tagawa-Ita Station and Mount Iidake from Tagawa City Coal Mining Historical Park 270px, Site of Mitsui Tagawa Coal Mine is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 45,389 in 24248 h ...

Climate

Fukuchi 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 ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Fukuchi is 15.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1560 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.7 °C. Fukuchi climate: Average Temperature, weather by month
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Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Fukuchi is as shown below

History

The area of Fukuichi was part of ancient

Buzen Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northeastern Kyūshū, corresponding to part of southeastern Fukuoka Prefecture and northwestern Ōita Prefecture. Buzen bordered on Bungo Province, Bungo to the south, and Chikuzen Pro ...

. 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 ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Kokura Domain 270px, Ogasawara Tadanobu, final daimyo of Kokura Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now eastern Fukuoka Prefecture. It was centered around Kokura Castle in what is now Kitakyushu, Fukuoka ...

. The villages of Kanda, Hōjō and Ueno were established on May 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. Kanda was elevated to town status on July 28, 1916 and was renamed Kanada. Ueno was elevated to town status on November 3, 1939 and was renamed Akaike. Hōjō was raised to town status on August 1, 1956. the three municipalities merged on March 6, 2006 to form the town of Fukuchi.

Government

Fukuichi 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 18 members. Fukuichi, collectively with the other municipalities of Tagawa District contributes two members to the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Fukuoka 11th 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

During the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, Fukuchi, along with the other municipalities of the Chikuho area, developed with the Kitakyushu industrial zone through

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

, and is still considered part of to the Greater Kitakyushu Metropolitan Area. However, as the demand for coal decreased due to the energy revolution, the coal mines that had sponsored prosperity have all closed, leading to depopulation. The main economic activity is now agriculture.

Education

Fukuchi has four public elementary high schools and one public junior high school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railways

Heisei Chikuhō Railway The is a third-sector operator of four railway lines in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The railway's nickname is ''Heichiku.'' Principal investors Fukuoka Prefecture holds 27.5% of the stock in the railway. The cities of Tagawa, Nōgata, and Yu ...

- Ita Line : - - - - -

Highways

Fukuchi is not served by any Expressway or National Highway. The nearest interchange is the Yawata Interchange on the Kyushu Expressway.

Local attractions

* Agano ware (上野焼 Agano-yaki), a type of pottery. * Jōyama Cave Tomb Cluster, National Historic Site

References

External links

*
Town of Fukuchi
Towns in Fukuoka Prefecture Fukuchi, Fukuoka {{Fukuoka-geo-stub