was a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

located in Ōchi District,

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamag ...

, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...

of 6,337 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematicall ...

of 46.13 persons per km². The total area was 137.36 km². On October 1, 2004, Iwami, along with the town of Mizuho, and the village of Hasumi (all from Ōchi District), was merged to create the town of Ōnan.

History

An Imperial decree in July 1899 established Iwami as an open port for trading with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

.US Department of State. (1906)
''A digest of international law as embodied in diplomatic discussions, treaties and other international agreements'' (John Bassett Moore, ed.), Vol. 5, p. 759
The name Iwami also refers to a region of Shimane Prefecture which makes up the South/West half of the prefecture.

Iwami Airport is an airport located Masuda, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. It is also known as Hagi-Iwami Airport due to its proximity to the city of Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamagu ...

in Masuda is a 2 or 3 hour drive from Ōnan.

References

Dissolved municipalities of Shimane Prefecture {{Shimane-geo-stub