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 13,012 in 6,039 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 140 persons per km² The total area of the town is .

Geography

Hashikami occupies the far southeast corner of Aomori Prefecture, facing the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. The coastline is rugged and highly indented, forming numerous small bays. Inland, the land is hilly, rising to the west to a height of at the highest point. A portion of the coastal areas of the town were within the borders of the Tanesashi Kaigan Hashikamidake Prefectural Natural Park, which was incorporated into the

Sanriku Fukkō National Park is a national park extending along the Sanriku Coast of Japan from Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture through Iwate Prefecture to Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture. The national park was created on 24 May 2013 and covers a land area of . History On ...

in 2013.

Neighbouring municipalities

Hachinohe is a city located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 213,453 in 110,121 households, and a population density of . As of October 2020, Hachinohe is Aomori Prefecture's second largest city by population. The c ...

* Hirono

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

* Karumai

Climate

The town has a cold

maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring ...

characterized by cool, short summers and long, cold winters with heavy snowfall (

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''). The average annual temperature in Hashikami is 9.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1172 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around -2.2 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Hashikami population statistics
/ref> the population of Hashikami peaked around the year 2000 and is in gradual decline.

History

The area around Hashikami has been inhabited since ancient times, and a number of Buddhist temples in the area claim to have been founded in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

. 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 controlled by the

Nambu clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...

Morioka Domain 300px, Ruins of Morioka Castle was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan. It was ruled throughout its history by the Nanbu clan. It was called during the early part of its history. It was located in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū ...

, and after 1664, was part of Hachinohe Domain. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system on 1 April 1889, Hashikami Village was proclaimed from the merger of eight small hamlets. It was elevated to town status on May 1, 1980.

Government

Hashikami 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. Hashikami is part of Sannohe District which contributes three members to the Aomori Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Aomori 2nd district Aomori 2nd district (青森県第2区, ''Aomori-ken dai-niku'' or simply 青森2区, ''Aomori-niku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan. It is located ...

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 Hashikami 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 ...

and agriculture, including the raising of chickens and pigs. The town also serves as a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for the nearby city of Hachinohe.

Education

Hashikami has six public elementary schools and two public middle schools operated by the town government, and one public elementary school and public middle school shared with Hachinohe. The town does not have a high school.

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) - Hachinohe Line * –

Highway

Hachinohe-Kuji Expressway *

Local attractions

Noted people from Hashikami

* Jūmonji Tomokazu –

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

wrestler

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Aomori Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan