is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

located in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

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 city 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 45,997 in 18,455 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 221.6 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 34.1%. The total area of the city is .

Geography

Hokota is located in central Ibaraki Prefecture, approximately 90 kilometers northeast of Tokyo and within 30 kilometers of Mito City, the prefectural capital. The eastern side of the city faces 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 ...

and has a long shallow coastline from north to south. Most of the inland area is flat, and agriculture that takes advantage of the flat terrain and the mild climate is the core industry.

Surrounding municipalities

Ibaraki Prefecture * Kashima * Namegata * Ōarai * Omitama

Climate

Hokota has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Hokota is . The average annual rainfall is with October as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Hokota population statistics
/ref> the population of Hokota has remained relatively steady over the past 70 years.

History

The town of Hokota was created with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The city of Hokota was established on October 11, 2005, from the merger of the former town of Hokota, and the villages of

Asahi Asahi (Japanese 朝日, 旭, or あさひ 'morning sun') may refer to: Places in Japan Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi ...

and Taiyō (all from Kashima District).

Government

Hokota 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 ...

city council of 18 members. Hokota, together with neighboring Ōarai and Ibaraki, contributes two members to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Ibaraki 2nd 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

The economy of Hokota is primarily agricultural, with melons as a major cash crop.

Education

* Hokota has ten public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

- Kashima Rinkai Railway – Ōarai Kashima Line * - - - - -

Highway

* * *

Local attractions

*Kashima Littoral Park *Otake Beach

Notable people from Hokota

* Tetsuya Asano, soccer player

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Cities in Ibaraki Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Hokota, Ibaraki