290px, Minamiaso Village Hall 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 ...

in Aso District,

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture t ...

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 10,071 in 4821 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 73 persons per km². The total area of the village is .

Geography

Minamiaso Village is located in the southern part of the Aso Caldera, in the Nango Valley between the Five Peaks of Aso and the outer rim of the volcano. On both sides of the Shirakawa River, which runs from east to west through the urban center, are residential and commercial areas, and cultivated land. Most of the area above 600 meters in elevation is covered by forests.

Neighboring municipalities

Kumamoto Prefecture * Aso * Nishihara * Ōzu * Takamori *

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...

Climate

Minamiaso 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 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'') with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is high, but there is a pronounced difference between the wetter summers and drier winters. The average annual temperature in Minamiaso is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Minamiaso was on 3 August 2024; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 24 January 2016 and 8 January 2021.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Minamiaso in 2020 is 9,836 people. Minamiaso has been conducting censuses since 1960.

History

The area of Minamiaso was part of ancient

Higo Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. It was sometimes called , with Hizen Province. Higo bordered on Chikugo, Bungo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma Provinces. History The cas ...

. In 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 the holdings of

Kumamoto Domain The , which was in existence from 1600 to 1871, had a significant influence in the region. Initially, it controlled its vast territory of 520,000 koku, which later expanded to 540,000 koku after the division of the 8th generation territory and the e ...

. Following 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 ...

, the villages of Chōyō, Hakusui, and Kugino were established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. Due to declining birth rate, aging population and the opportunity to share administrative resources, discussions between the three villages ( Chōyō, Hakusui and Kugino) began on April 1, 2003. The merger was complete on February 13, 2005, forming the village of Minamiaso.

Government

Minamiaso 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 council of 14 members. Minamiaso, collectively with the other municipalities of Aso District, contributes one member to the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the village is part of the Kumamoto 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 Minamiaso is largely agricultural, with some tourism to its several hot spring resorts.

Education

Minamiaso has three public elementary schools and one public junior high school operated by the village government. The village does not have a public high school, but there is one private high school.

Transportation

Railways

JR Kyushu The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait be ...

- Hōhi Main Line * Minamiaso Rail logo

Minamiaso Railway Company - Takamori Line * - - - - - - - -

Highway

* *

References

External links

*
AsoFan.netMt Torokko (Minamiaso Railway)

Minamiaso-mura Association of Tourism
{{Authority control Villages in Kumamoto Prefecture Minamiaso, Kumamoto