Aerial photo of Noshiro city center Noshiro City Hall 20190419

Landscape of Futatsui-machi seen from Kimimachi-zaka

is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

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 city 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 49,150 in 24,079 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 120 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Noshiro is located in the flat coastal plains northwestern Akita Prefecture, 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, but there are hills near the border with Mitane and along the coast. Much of the eastern part of the city is mountainous. The Yoneshiro River flows through the city and empties into the

near Noshiro Port. The highest point is Mount Yakeyama at .

Neighboring municipalities

Akita Prefecture * Fujisato * Happō * Kamikoani * Kitaakita * Mitane

Climate

Noshiro 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 large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. Precipitation significant throughout the year, but is heaviest from August to October. The average annual temperature in Noshiro 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 .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Noshiro population statistics
/ref> the population of Noshiro has been declining over the past 60 years.

History

Per the ''

Nihon Shoki The or , sometimes translated as ''The Chronicles of Japan'', is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the , the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeol ...

'' and other ancient chronicles, Noshiro is the location where an expedition sent by the imperial court led by

Abe no Hirafu was a Japanese military commander, strategist, and politician of the Asuka period. Some sources say he lived from c.575-664 Biography Events in his life are accounted in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki, both written several decades after his dea ...

landed in 658 AD with orders to force the local Emishi tribes into submission. Trade vessels from

Balhae Balhae,, , ) also rendered as Bohai or Bohea, and called Jin (; ) early on, was a multiethnic kingdom established in 698 by Dae Joyeong (Da Zuorong). It was originally known as the Kingdom of Jin (震, Zhen) until 713 when its name was changed ...

were calling at Noshiro Port as late as 771 AD. The area of present-day Noshiro 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 town of Nishirominato was established on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. The city of Noshiro was created by the merger of the town of Noshirominato and the villages of Shinonome and Sakaki (all formerly from Yamamoto District) on October 1, 1940. On March 21, 2006, the town of Futatsui (from Yamamoto District) was merged into Noshiro.

Government

Noshiro 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 legislature of 20 members. The city (together with the towns of Yamamoto District) contributes four members to the Akita Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city 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 Noshiro is based on agriculture and

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 ...

. Tohoku Electric operates the Noshiro Thermal Power Station, a coal /

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

power plant in the city.

Education

Noshiro has seven public elementary schools and six public junior high schools operated by the city government, and four public high schools operated by the Akita Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped. * Noshiro Technical High School

Transportation

Airport

* Odate-Noshiro Airport - opened in 1998

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 ...

* - - -

- Gonō Line * - - - -

Highway

* * *

Seaports

* Port of Noshiro

Sister cities

* Wrangell,

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, United States, since December 16, 1960

Local attractions

* Kaze no Matsubara - one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment *Noshiro Onsen *Noshiro Swimming Beach

Festivals

Noshiro Port Fireworks Festival
in 2008 had 150,000 visitors. *Noshiro Yakutanabata
Onagori Festival in Noshiro
Kanto matsuri, Aomori Nebuta Matsuri, Samba Carnival and more. In 2008, 250,000 people visited. *Tenku no Fuyajo

Notable people from Noshiro

Masumi Asano is a Japanese voice actress, singer and narrator who worked for Aoni Production, but now as of January, 2021, a Freelancer. Biography Asano was born on August 25, 1977, in Noshiro, Akita and studied at the Kokugakuin University Faculty of L ...

, voice actress * Ando Chikasue,

Daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally to ...

* Hosei Norota, politician * Shuji Ono, Basketball head coach * Takashi Ono, Olympic gymnast * Sadatoshi Sugawara, Olympic volleyball player * Nanako Takeda, professional football player * Hisashi Yamada, professional baseball player

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Akita Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Port settlements in Japan