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 Kamo District,

Shizuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Pref ...

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 12,155 in 6,264 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 160 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Sandwiched to the east and west between the Amagi Mountains and

Sagami Bay lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shōnan coastline to the north, while the i ...

on 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 ...

, Higashiizu has numerous

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s. Warmed by the warm

Kuroshio Current The , also known as the Black Current or is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin. It was named for the deep blue appearance of its waters. Similar to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Ku ...

, the area enjoys a warm

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 ...

with hot, humid summers and mild, cool winters. Parts of the town are within the borders of

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park is a national park in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Kanagawa Prefectures, and western Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It consists of Mount Fuji, Fuji Five Lakes, Hakone, the Izu Peninsula, and the Izu Islands. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park covers . Rat ...

Neighboring municipalities

* Itō * Izu * Kawazu

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Higashiizu population statistics
/ref> the population of Higashiizu has been in slow decline over the past 40 years.

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (

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 Higashiizu 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 .

History

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 ...

, all of

Izu Province was a province of Japan in the area now part of Shizuoka Prefecture and Tokyo. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Izu''" in . Izu bordered on Sagami and Suruga Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . The mainland portion of Izu Prov ...

was ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil war ...

'' territory under direct control of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, and the area now comprising Higashiizu Town consisted of 5 villages (Inatori, Naramoto, Shirata, Katase, and Ōkawa). With the establishment of the modern municipalities system in the early

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 ...

in 1889, the area was reorganized into two villages (Inatori and Jōtō) with Kamo District. Inatori was elevated in status of that of a town in December 1920. The town of Higashiizu was founded on May 3, 1959 through the merger of the town of Inatori with the village of Jōtō.

Economy

The economy of Higashiizu is dominated by tourism centered on the hot spring resort industry, and by

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 ...

Education

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

Transportation

Railway

Izu Kyūkō Line The Izu Kyūkō Line () is a privately owned railway line of the Izukyū Corporation in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The line approximately parallels the eastern coast of the Izu Peninsula, a tourist district noted for its numerous hot spring r ...

** - - - -

Highway

Local attractions

Atagawa Tropical & Alligator Garden The is a botanical garden with alligators located in the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park at 971-9 Naramoto, Higashiizu-cho, Kamo, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is open daily. An admission fee is charged. The garden opened in 1958. According to ...

Shimokamo Tropical Botanical Gardens The , also known as the Shimokamo Tropical Garden, are botanical gardens located at Shimokamo Spa, 255 Shimokamo, Minami Izu-cho, Kamo, Shizuoka, Japan. The garden contains about 2,000 species of tropical plants, including banana, bougainvillea, p ...

References

External links

Higashiizu official website
(Japanese) * * {{Authority control Towns in Shizuoka Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Higashiizu, Shizuoka