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 has an estimated population of 24,687 in 12,496 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 city is .

Geography

Oga is located on the Oga Peninsula in 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 north, west and south. The Oga Peninsula has two mountains, Mount Kanpu and Mount Honzan, and several rivers, including the Takigawa. Toga Bay is located in the western part of the city, where Toga Port is located, and he northwestern end is called Cape Nyūdō. The population is concentrated in the southern part of the city, where the railway runs and the city hall is located. Much of the city is within the boundaries of the Oga Quasi-National Park.

Neighboring municipalities

Akita Prefecture * Katagami * Mitane * Ōgata

Climate

Different from the rest of the prefecture, the climate is an isolated

humid subtropical 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 la ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfa'') by direct influence (due to being a peninsula) of the Tsushima Current, being the most northern city of the Asian continent with this categorization according to the 0 °C isotherm. Or the southern edge of the hot-summer humid continental (''Dfa'') by the normal of the

Japan Meteorological Agency The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA; ''気象庁, Kishō-chō'') is a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism dedicated to the Scientific, scientific observation and research of natural phenomena. Headquartered ...

. Winters are mild and summers although the climatic type are warm but not hot. The extremes range from -14 to 35 °C, a relatively low

thermal amplitude Atmospheric temperature is a measure of temperature at different levels of the Earth's atmosphere. It is governed by many factors, including incoming solar radiation, humidity, and altitude. The abbreviation MAAT is often used for Mean Annual Air ...

to a place at 39 °N and to the east near large land masses.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Oga population statistics
/ref> the population of Oga peaked in the 1950s and has been in decline since then.

History

The area of present-day Oga 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 was a Han (Japan), feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Akita Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Kubota Castle in what is now the city of Akita, Akita, Akita and was thus also known as the . It was governe ...

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 village of Funagawa was established with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889 and became the town of Funagawaminato on October 24, 1894. The city of Oga was created on March 31, 1954, by the merger of the town of Funagawaminato with the four neighboring villages of Wakimoto, Iriai, Ogatanaka and Toga. On March 22, 2005, the town of Wakami was merged into Oga.

Government

Oga 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 18 members. The city contributes one member 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 Oga is based on

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 ...

, tourism and agriculture.

Education

Oga has six public elementary schools and two public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Akita Prefectural Board of Education.

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 ...

– Oga Line * – – –

Highway

Bus

* Akita Chūō Kōtsū

Seaports

* Port of Funagawa

Local attractions

* Godzilla Rock * Namahage Museum * Nyūdōzaki Lighthouse – one of the "50 Lighthouses of Japan" * Oga Athletic Stadium * Oga Aquarium Gao * Oga Onsen * Wakimoto Castle, National Historic Site

Culture

Oga is famous for its Namahage Festival, a traditional event held on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

in which groups of men dressed as ogre-like deities called "

Namahage The are demonlike beings portrayed by men wearing hefty ''oni'' (ogre) masks and traditional straw capes (''mino (straw cape), mino'') during a New Year's ritual, in local northern Japanese folklore of the Oga Peninsula area of Akita Prefecture. ...

" with masks and straw raincoats visit houses at night.

Sister cities

* Livingston, California, United States, since August 18, 1984

Noted people from Oga

*Kenya Kodama, footballer * Kazuo Nakamura (basketball), basketball coach * Shokichi Natsui, judoka *

Shōji Nishimura was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Biography Nishimura was from Akita prefecture in the northern Tōhoku region of Japan. He was a graduate of the 39th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1911, ranki ...

, admiral * Hiromitsu Ochiai, baseball player and manager * Yoshihito Yoshida, rugby union footballer * Yu Yoshimoto, basketball player

References

External links

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