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

Oshima Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. As of 2004, it had a population of 456,621 and an area of 3,715.38 km2. Hakodate Airport is located in the City of Hakodate is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port lo ...

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 ...

. As of September 2016, the town has 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 4,390, and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 23 persons per km². The total area is 187.23 km².

Economics

Industries in the town include squid fishing and tourism. The main tourist attractions are the Seikan Tunnel Museum, and the sumo museum (Yokozuna Chiyonoyama Chiyonofuji Kinenkan). Two former Sumo Grand Champions (

Yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

) were born and lived in Fukushima and their careers are celebrated in the sumo museum. The first is Chiyonoyama (千代の山雅信) followed by Chiyonofuji (千代の富士貢). The latter is one of the most successful sumo wrestlers of all time and won 31 top division titles in his career before retiring in 1991. A new tourist attraction opened in July, 2011. The Kaikyo Yokozuna Beach opened after several years of planning and building and has been named after the two famous Yokozuna from the town.

History

*1900: Fukushima village was founded. *1944: Fukushima village became Fukushima town. *1955: Fukushima town and Yoshioka village were merged to form Fukushima town.

Transportation

Yoshioka, a part of the town, has access tunnels to the Seikan Tunnel and Yoshioka-Kaitei Station. This station, along with Tappi-Kaitei Station on the Aomori side of the tunnel, were the world's first undersea stations. They were closed because of the construction of Hokkaido Shinkansen. The Seikan Tunnel travels beneath the

Tsugaru Strait The is a strait between Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan connecting the Sea of Japan with the Pacific Ocean. It was named after the western part of Aomori Prefecture. The Seikan Tunnel passes under it at its narrowest point 12.1 miles ...

— connecting the island of Hokkaido and Aomori Prefecture on the Japanese island of Honshū — as part of the Japan Railways Kaikyō Line. The access tunnels from Yoshioka serve as emergency access and escape points and were important during the tunnel's construction phase.

Education

*Fukushima Commercial High School (Fukushima Shougyou Koukou/福島商業高校) *Fukushima Junior/Middle High School (福島中学校) *Fukushima Elementary School (福島小学校) has about 100 students (first to sixth grade) and about 19 staff, including teachers. (As of Jan. 2018)

Sister cities

* Kiso, Nagano * Matsuura, Nagasaki

Notable people

* Chiyonoyama Masanobu, Sumo wrestler ''yokozuna'' *

Chiyonofuji Mitsugu , born , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler and the 58th ''yokozuna'' of the sport. Chiyonofuji was considered one of the greatest ''yokozuna'' in sumo's history, winning 31 tournament championships ('' yūshō'') at the top division (' ...

, sumo wrestler ''

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

References

External links

*
Official Website
Towns in Hokkaido Oshima Subprefecture {{Hokkaido-geo-stub