270px, Minabe Town Hall is a small

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in Hidaka District,

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

in the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

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 town 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 12,137 in 4725 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 100 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Minabe is located at the southernmost edge of Hidaka District in central Wakayama Prefecture. The main part of Minabe, including the train station, government buildings, and business district, lies around the basin of the Minabe River as it flows into Minabe Bay on the Pacific Ocean. There are three distinguishing features of Minabe Bay: Kashima Island situated approximately 1 km offshore, a long non-swimming beach that runs parallel to the central business district, and two prominent rocky points at either end. The central area of town is largely flat and comprises the majority of houses and people. It is moderately populated, with many cultivated fields and buildings. To the west-northwest of central Minabe is the Iwashiro region which is centered on the Iwashiro River Basin. This area is lightly populated and a mixture of farmland and forested mountains. To the northeast is the Kamiminabe region. This area is partly mountainous. Following the river farther upwards, the valley becomes increasingly narrow and forested, with little ground suitable for cultivation or houses. The path of the Minabe River here is narrow, no more than 30 meters across. Approximately eight kilometers from the center of town is the lightly populated region of Takagi which features some farmland and houses. A further six kilometers up the river valley is the even smaller region of Kiyokawa, which is the end of Minabe. The highest point is located here: 768 meters above sea level.

Neighboring municipalities

Wakayama Prefecture * Inami * Tanabe

Climate

Minabe has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Minabe is 16.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2077 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 6.4 °C. The area is subject to

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

s in summer.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Minabe population statistics
/ref> the population of Minabe has remained relatively constant for the past century.

History

The area of the modern town of Minabe was within ancient Kii Province. Its location has been mentioned in ancient texts since the 8th century. The village of Minabe was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was elevated to town status on September 11, 1897. The neighboring village of Iwashiro was annexed on April 1, 1954. On October 1, 2004 the village of Minabegawa, from Hidaka District, was merged into Minabe.

Government

Minabe 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 ...

city council of 14 members. Minabe collectively with the other municipalities of Hidaka District contributes three members to the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Wakayama 3rd district 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 Minabe is centered on forestry and agriculture. The town is famous for its ''

umeboshi ''Umeboshi'' (Japanese language, Japanese: wiktionary:梅, 梅干し, pronounced , ) are pickled (brined) ''ume'' fruits common in Japanese cuisine, Japan. The word ''umeboshi'' is often translated into English as 'salted Japanese plums', 'J ...

'' (Japanese pickled plum), of which it is the leading producer. The plums are primarily grown on the hillsides and mountainsides of the small valley around the Minabe River. The town is also famous for craft charcoal called ''

binchōtan ''Binchō-tan'' (, ), also called white charcoal or ''binchō-zumi,'' is a type of high-quality charcoal traditionally used in Japanese cooking. Its use dates back to the Edo period when during the Genroku era, a craftsman named Bichū-ya Ch� ...

'', which is produced by small, family-operated operations primarily in the upper mountainous areas of Minabe.

Commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

and other agricultural products also play a role in the local economy.

Education

Minabe has five public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the town government and one public high school operated by the Wakayama Prefectural Department of Education. The town also has one private middle school and one private high school.

Transportation

Railway

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

– Kisei Main Line * -

Highways

Hanwa Expressway * *

Local attractions

* Minabe Bairin *Senri-no-hama, part of the Kumano Kodō

References

External links

Official Minabe homepage
(in Japanese)

(in Japanese) {{Wakayama Towns in Wakayama Prefecture Minabe, Wakayama Populated coastal places in Japan