former Miasa Town Hall was 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 Kitaazumi District,

Nagano Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,007,682 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata 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 ...

. As of 2003, 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 1,255 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 18.95 persons per km². The total area was 66.21 km². On January 1, 2006, Miasa, along with the village of Yasaka (also from Kitaazumi District), was merged into the expanded city of Ōmachi. Miasa has a long tradition of producing

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

, which has been grown there since the Yayoi period, 2000 years ago. It is part of a

Sister City A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

exchange program with

Mendocino, California Mendocino (Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza") is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California, United States. The name comes from Cape Mendocino to the north, named b ...

. Each year, the Junior High from one country sends students to the school at the other for a two-week visit, enriching understanding of the different cultures.

References

Dissolved municipalities of Nagano Prefecture Ōmachi, Nagano {{Nagano-geo-stub