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 39,127 in 14,733 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 191 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 37.1%. The total area of the city is .

Geography

Inashiki is located in southern Ibaraki Prefecture, bordered by

Lake Kasumigaura is the second-largest lake in Japan, located 60 km to the north-east of Tokyo. In a narrower sense and officially, Lake Kasumigaura refers to a waterbody with an area of 167.63 km2. In a wider sense, Lake Kasumigaura can also refer ...

to the north and

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

to the south. It is approximately 70 kilometers northeast of

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Rivers

The city is crossed by Ono River (小野川) and Shintone River (新利根川), which flow into the Kasumigaura. It is borderered by the Hachiku River (破竹川) on the southwest,

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano River) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the ...

(利根川) on the southeast, and Yokotone River (横利根川) on the east. Hachiku pours its waters into the Shintone River, Yokotone into the Tone River, and the Tone River at the end of its course empties into the Ocean Pacific.

Surrounding municipalities

Chiba Prefecture * Katori * Kōzaki Ibaraki Prefecture * Ami * Itako * Kawachi * Miho * Ryūgasaki

Climate

Inashiki 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 cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Inashiki is 14.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1360 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Inashiki peaked around the year 2000 and has declined since.

History

The city of Inashiki was established on March 22, 2005, from the merger of the towns of Azuma, Edosaki and Shintone, and the village of Sakuragawa (all from Inashiki District).

Government

Inashiki 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 20 members. Inashiki, together with neighboring Kawachi, contributes one member to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Ibaraki 3rd 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 Inashiki is primarily agricultural, with

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the Brassicaceae, cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large Pseudanthium, flowering head, plant stem, stalk and small associated leafy gre ...

lotus root ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as the pink lotus, sacred lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more of ...

kabocha Kabocha (; from Japanese language, Japanese , ) is a type of winter squash, a Japanese variety of the species ''Cucurbita maxima.'' It is also called kabocha squash or Japanese pumpkin in North America. In Japan, "''kabocha''" may refer to eithe ...

pumpkins and fig as major cash crops.

Fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish far ...

in the Lake Kasumigaura and rivers. Factories, machining sector and commercial facilities.

Education

Inashiki has ten public elementary schools and four public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

Inashiki does not have any passenger railway services. Railway services can be accessed via the Joban Line from Tsuchiura Station, Hitachino-Ushiku Station, and Arakawaoki Station. The Jōsō Line through the Ryūgasaki Line from Ryūgasaki Station is another alternative.

Airport

Inashiki does not have airport services.

Narita International Airport , also known as Tokyo-Narita International Airport or simply Narita Airport, formerly and originally known as , is the secondary international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the only other one being Haneda Airport (HND). It is about e ...

is adjacent and located in Narita City of the Chiba Prefecture.

Highway

* – Edosaki Parking Area, Inashiki Interchange, Inashiki-Higashi Interchange * * * * Prefectural roads, such as Ibaraki Prefectural Routes 2, 5, 11, 25 and 49. Osugi Shrine 03

Local attractions

*Ancient Ōsugi shrine Festival. *Edosaki Gion Festival. *Tulip Festival in Wada Park of Ukishima, on the shores of Lake Kasumigaura.

Sister cities

Salmon Arm Salmon Arm is a city in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District of the Southern Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia that has a population of 19,432 (2021). Salmon Arm was voted the best community in British Columbia in 2019. Salm ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada, since February 1990

Notable people from Inashiki

Tatsuya Kawajiri is a Japanese mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight (MMA), Bantamweight division. He is a former List of Shooto champions#Lightweight Championship, Shooto Lightweight Champion, and has also competed in the Ult ...

, mixed martial arts *

Inazuma Raigorō was a Japanese sumo wrestler from Awazaki, Hitachi Province (now Inashiki, Ibaraki Prefecture). He was the sport's 7th ''yokozuna''. Early life and career Born , his birth date is ambiguous. Although the date of 1802 is commonly accepted, some ...

, sumo wrestler * Shirō Takasu, admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Ibaraki Prefecture Populated places established in 2005 2005 establishments in Japan Inashiki