270px, Tradituional manage hunting shed in Yagisawa hamlet of Kamikoani is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

located in

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...

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 village 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 2,012 in 1097 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 ...

7.8 persons per km². The total area of the village is .

Geography

Kamikoani is located in the flatlands of north-central Akita Prefecture. Due to its inland location, the village is noted for its heavy snowfall in winter.

Neighboring municipalities

Akita Prefecture * Akita * Gojōme *

Kitaakita 270px, Lake Shimiko is a city located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 29,201, and a population density of 120 persons per km2. and a population density of 25 persons per km2. The total area of the city is ...

* Mitane * Noshiro

Climate

Kamikoani 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 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 ...

''Dfa'') with large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is heaviest from August to October. The average annual temperature in Kamikoani is 9.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1626 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 23.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around -3.2 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kamikoani peaked at around the year 1960 and has been in steady decline since then.

History

A “Kotani Village” in

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

is mentioned in records of the area from the period of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

. 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 ...

, the area came under the control of the

Satake clan The was a Japanese clan, Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. Its first power base was in Hitachi Province. The clan was subdued by Minamoto no Yoritomo in the late 12th century, but later entered Yoritomo's serv ...

, who ruled the northern third of the province from

Kubota Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Akita Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Kubota Castle in what is now the city of Akita, Akita, Akita and was thus also known as the . It was governe ...

. After the start of the

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 ...

, the area became part of Kitaakita District, Akita Prefecture in 1878. The village of Kamikoani was founded on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system.

Physician shortage

The village received considerable negative publicity in the 2000s due to widely publicized issues pertaining to doctor shortages in rural areas. According to these reports, in February 2008, a male doctor who had been working in remote areas for more than 20 years started working in Kamikoani. He said "''This village is the last place in my career as a doctor. I want to continue medication as I have love and interest for people.''" before working. In fourth month after starting, he intimated his intention of resigning, and quit two months later. In 2009, Yukiko Arisawa, a 61-year-old female doctor, started working Kamikoani, after working on isolated islands and in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. She intimated her intention of resigning in March 2010, but postponed until March 2011 because of concerns that it would take time to find a replacement. For these sudden resignations, ''Kouhou Kamikoani'', the official public relations magazine published by the village office, reported that the doctors suffered from constant harassment by the local villagers. According to the magazine, she had bullying phone calls, and her efforts were criticized. When she installed a light with a sensor in front of her house to deal with patients at night, she was accused of wasting tax money, even though she had paid for the light and the monthly electricity bill herself. Another villager said "''I wonder how you could go shopping with having patients waiting.''" when she went to buy sandwiches because she had no time to have lunch. She managed to have only 18 holidays in 2009, but some people said "''How can you have a holiday on weekdays?''" and criticized when she had a holiday on August 17. And, someone scattered defamatory leaflet in front of her house.

Government

Kamikoani 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 ...

village legislature of seven members. Kamikoani, together with the city of Noshiro and the other municipalities of Yamamoto District contributes four members to the Akita Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the village is part of Akita District 2 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 Kamikoani is based on agriculture.

Education

Kamikoani has one combined elementary/middle school operated by the village government. The village does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

* Kamikoani currently does not have any railway service. The nearest train station is Yonaizawa Station on the Akita Nairiku Jukan Railway Akita Nairiku Line or Takanosu Station on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Ou Main Line.

Highway

Sister cities

* Wanluan,

Pingtung County Pingtung () is a County (Taiwan), county located in southern Taiwan. It has a warm tropical monsoon climate and is known for its agriculture and tourism. Kenting National Park, Taiwan's oldest national park, is located in the county. The county ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...