was 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 Minamitsugaru District in central

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 ...

. Hiraka was founded on March 1, 1955 through the merger of the towns of Taikoji and Kashiwagi with the villages of Takedate, Ozaki and Machiya. On January 1, 2006, Hiraka, along with the town of Onoe, and the village of Ikarigaseki (all from Minamitsugaru District), 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 ...

to create the new city of Hirakawa, and thus no longer exists as an independent municipality. An inland village, Hiraka had an agriculture-based economy and was noted for its production of apples. At the time of its merger, Hiraka 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 22,053 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 99.5 persons per km². The total area was 221.61 km². Hiraka was served by

Japan National Route 102 is a national highway in the Japanese prefecture of Aomori. Route 102 stretches from National Route 7 in Hirosaki east to National Routes 4 and 45 in Towada. Route description The highway crosses the central part Aomori Prefecture, link ...

and Japan National Route 454 highways, as well as by four stations on the

Kōnan Railway Kōnan Line The is a railway route operated by the Japanese private railway operator Kōnan Railway in Aomori Prefecture, from Hirosaki Station in Hirosaki to Kuroishi Station in Kuroishi. Station list * Tamboāto Station is open from April to Novemb ...

References

Dissolved municipalities of Aomori Prefecture Hirakawa, Aomori {{aomori-geo-stub