270px, Sozaburonuma Park 270px, Moritake Onsen Park is a

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

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...

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 14,936, in 6729 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 60 persons per km² The total area of the town is .

Geography

Mitane is located in northwestern

, bordered by the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

to the west.

Neighboring municipalities

Akita Prefecture * Gojōme * Hachirōgata * Kamikoani * Noshiro *

Oga Oga or OGA may refer to: Places * Oga, Akita, Tōhoku, Japan * Oga Peninsula, Japan * Oga, a ''frazione'' of Valdisotto, Italy People * Ōga Atsushi, a Japanese sumo wrestler * My Oga at the top, Nigerian Pidgin English term for "boss" or "leade ...

* Ōgata

Climate

Mitane has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

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 large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is heaviest from August to October. The average annual temperature in Mitane is 11.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1527 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around -1.0 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Mitane population statistics
/ref> the population of Mitane peaked at around the year 1950 and has been in steady decline since then.

History

The area of present-day Mitane was part of ancient

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

, dominated by the

Satake clan The was a Japanese clan, Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. Its first power base was in Hitachi Province. The clan was subdued by Minamoto no Yoritomo in the late 12th century, but later entered Yoritomo's serv ...

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 ...

, who ruled Kubota Domain under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. The area was organized into towns and villages within Yamamoto District, Akita with the establishment of the modern municipalities system in 1889. The town of Mitane was created on March 20, 2006, by merging the towns of Hachiryū, Koto'oka, and Yamamoto. The town name comes from the Mitane River that flows through the three original towns. After the merger, the town hall was set up in the former Hachiryū town hall, but the center of transportation and economy is the Shikado district of the former Koto'oka town.

Government

Mitane 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 ...

town council of 15 members. Mitane, together with the city of Noshiro and the other municipalities of Yamamoto District contributes four members to the Akita Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Akita 2nd 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 Mitane is based on agriculture. The town produces over 90% of the ''junsai'' sold commercially in Japan. The center of transportation and economy is the Shikato district in former Kotooka town.

Education

Mitane has five public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Ōu Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Fukushima Station (Fukushima), Fukushima Station through Akita Station to Aomori Station. Since the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen on July 1, 1 ...

* - - -

Highway

* * *

Noted people from Mitane

* Takashi Miura, professional boxer

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Akita Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan