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

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

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 official registered

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 1,387 in 475 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 . The total area of the village is . However, in March 2011, the entire population was evacuated as a result of the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which r ...

. The evacuation order was lifted on June 12, 2016 for much of the village; however, the actual number of residents who returned is considerably less than the official population numbers.

Geography

Katsurao is located in the Abukuma Plateau of central Fukushima in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of northern Japan, with a mean altitude of over .

Surrounding municipalities

*Fukushima Prefecture **

Namie is a Towns of Japan, town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. the town has a population of 1,238 in 794 households, although the official registered population was 17,114 in 6853 households. The total area of the town is . The town was ev ...

** Nihonmatsu ** Tamura

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Katsurao was relatively constant over the past 40 years until the nuclear disaster.

Climate

Katsurao has a humid climate (

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 ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Katsurao is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

History

The area of present-day Katsurao was part of Mutsu Province. The remains of

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

burial mounds have been found in the area. During the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

, it was part of ancient Futaba District in Iwaki Province. 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 ...

, it was part of Sōma Domain, ruled by the

Sōma clan The was a Japanese clan, Japanese samurai clan that ruled the northern Hamadōri region of southern Mutsu Province in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The S ...

until the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. After the

, on April 1, 1889, the village of Katsurao was created within Futaba District, Fukushima with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889.

2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

Although Katsurao escaped significant damage from the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

, it was located downwind of the

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant The is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a site in the towns of Ōkuma, Fukushima, Ōkuma and Futaba, Fukushima, Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The plant Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, suffered major damage from the 201 ...

. Although outside the nominal exclusion zone, as a result of wind patterns following the

, the entire population of the village was evacuated by government order by May 2011. In March 2013, the government divided the village into three zones, with the majority of the village area cleared for unrestricted return of its inhabitants by spring of 2014, a smaller area cleared for daylight return only, and a larger area in which the existing restrictions against entry would be maintained until at least 2017. However, in March 2014, the government postponed lifting of the restrictions on return for a year due to remaining high levels of radiation. On June 12, 2016, the evacuation order was lifted for approximately two-thirds of the village area, with the mountainous region bordering neighbouring Namie remaining restricted due to high residual radiation.

Economy

The economy of Katsurao was formerly heavily dependent on agriculture.

Education

Katsurao had one public elementary school and one public junior high school operated by the village government in March 2011. The elementary school remains closed. The village did not have a public high school.

Geography

Surrounding municipalities

Demographics

Climate

History

2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

Economy

Education

Transportation

Railway

Highway

References

External links