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 on Dōgo, in Oki District,

Shimane Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a ge ...

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 ...

. As of June 2013, 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 14,849 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 61.1 persons per km². The total area was 242.95 km².

Etymology

Okinoshima Town takes its name from Okinoshima, the traditional name for all four inhabited Oki Islands. There is no single island named Okinoshima.

History

Okinoshima Town was formed from the merger of the town of Saigō, and the villages of

Fuse Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protec ...

, Goka and Tsuma on October 1, 2004, all from Oki District.

Geography

Okinoshima occupies all of the island of Dōgo, in the

Oki Islands The is an archipelago in the Sea of Japan, the islands of which are administratively part of Oki District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The islands have a total area of . Only four of the around 180 islands are permanently inhabited. Much of the ...

archipelago in 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 ...

, along with numerous offshore uninhabited islands and rocks. For administrative purposes, the Japanese government officially considers the disputed islet of Takeshima (

Liancourt Rocks The Liancourt Rocks, known in Korea as Dokdo () and in Japan as Takeshima (), are a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago administered by South Korea. The Liancourt Rocks comprise two ...

) to be a part of the town of Okinoshima.

Climate

Okinoshima 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 very warm summers and cool winters. Precipitation is abundant throughout the year. The average annual temperature in Okinoshima is . The average annual rainfall is with September 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 Okinoshima was on 14 August 1994; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 26 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Okinoshima in 2020 is 13,433 people. Okinoshima has been conducting censuses since 1920.

Economy

The town economy is primarily 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 ...

Transportation

Airport

* Oki Airport (OKI), a Class III facility with a 1991 m runway, is located within the town. It provides air service to

Osaka International Airport , often referred to as , is the primary domestic airport for the Kansai region of Japan, including its major cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is the airport closest to Osaka, being 11 km (7 mi) north of Ōsaka Station, Osaka Stati ...

("Itami") and

Izumo Airport is an airport in the Hikawa area of Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan, about 20–30 minutes by car from central Izumo or Matsue city centre. This airport is also known as ; meaning Izumo Airport of Romantic Fate. History The airport opened ...

Highway

Sea Port

*Saigō Port is the major seaport and ferry terminal in the Oki Islands

Sister cities

Krotoszyn Krotoszyn (, ''Krotoshin'') is a town in west-central Poland with 29,485 inhabitants . It is the seat of Krotoszyn County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Founded in the late medieval period, Krotoszyn prospered as a regional center of tra ...

, Poland, since 2016

Local attractions

* Araki Shrine * A set of two

station bell Under the Japanese ritsuryō system, were bells of red copper issued by the central government or by local provincial government offices to travelling officials or messengers known as . Functioning as a proof of identity, they allowed them to proc ...

s designated as

Important Cultural Property of Japan An The term is often shortened into just is an item officially classified as Tangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and judged to be o ...

is located at the ( in Okinoshima.

Notable people from Okinoshima

* Okinoumi Ayumi – sumo wrestler, the first wrestler from Shimane Prefecture to reach the top

makuuchi , or , is the top division of Professional sumo divisions, the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous ...

division in 88 years * Kai Hirano – professional soccer player

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Towns in Shimane Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan