was a

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

located in Ibusuki District,

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. 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 a ...

of 12,648 and the

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. Mathematical ...

of 206.57 persons per km². The total area was 61.23 km². Kiire-chō consisted of 6 villages (North to South): Sesekushi, Nakamyō, Kiire (proper), Hitokura, Maenohama and Nukumi In 2004 there was a debate and a vote as to which larger municipality Kiire should join -- Kagoshima City to the North or Ibusuki City to the South (see

merger and dissolution of municipalities of Japan can take place within one municipality or between multiple municipalities and are required to be based upon consensus. History There have been waves of merger activity between Japanese municipalities. The first merger, known as , had happened ...

). On November 1, 2004, Kiire, along with the towns of

Kōriyama is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 322,996 people in 141760 households, and a population density of 430 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Kōriyama is designated as a core city and ...

and

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

(both from Hioki District), and the towns of

Sakurajima Sakurajima ( ja, 桜島, literally "Cherry Blossom Island") is an active stratovolcano, formerly an island and now a peninsula, in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Ōsumi Peninsula ...

and Yoshida (both from Kagoshima District), was merged into the expanded city of

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

and no longer exists as an independent

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. Kiire is known for one of the largest oil storage facilities in Japan, located in Nakamyō village, Kiire Forest (Kiire no mori) north of Hitokura and Kiire Country Club, a golf club in the mountains north of the town.

External links

Kagoshima City official website
Dissolved municipalities of Kagoshima Prefecture {{Kagoshima-geo-stub