270px, Saikai Bridge 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

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...

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 ...

Population

, 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 25,184 in 12447 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 people per km². The total area of the city is .

History

Sakai is within ancient

Hizen Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan in the area of the Saga Prefecture, Saga and Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen Province, Ch ...

. The city of Saikai was established on April 1, 2005, from the merger of five towns on the northern tip of Nishisonogi Peninsula: the former town of Saikai, Ōseto, Ōshima, Sakito and Seihi (all from Nishisonogi District). Its city hall is the former town hall of Ōseto.

Geography

Saikai is located on the northern tip of the Nishisonogi Peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the Goto Sea, Sasebo Bay, and Ōmura Bay, and islands scattered around the area. Most of the area has a ria coastline, with a complex, indented coastline. The highest peak on the peninsula is Mount Nagaura, 561 meters above sea level (the summit is in Nagasaki City). The area down to the coast is hilly and includes evergreen broad-leaved forests, cedar and cypress forests, orchards, and farmland, with a narrow plain.

Neighbouring municipalities

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

Climate

Saikai 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 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'') with hot summers and cool winters. The average annual temperature in Saikai is . The average annual rainfall is with June as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . Its record high is , reached on 21 August 2018, and its record low is , reached on 26 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Saikai in 2020 is 26,275 people. Saikai has been conducting censuses since 1920. The city's population peaked in the 1950s with more than 80,000 people. However, since 1960, Saikai's population has fallen sharply, and in the 1970s it was half what it was 10 years before; by 2020, the population will be only a third of what it was in the 1950s.

Government

Saikai 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 council of 18 members. Saikai contributes one member to the Nagasaki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Nagasaki 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 ...

. The city was previously part of Nagasaki 4th district, which was abolished in 2022.

Economy

The economy of the towns in this area were dominated by fishing and

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

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 ...

, and

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

in the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

. The area is now primarily agricultural, with forestry products and tourism also of importance. However, on Oshima island, north of Saikai and close to Sasebo, a large shipyard is active building bulk ships and metal structures, i.e. Oshima Shipbuilding, in which the

Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) is an integrated manufacturer of industrial machinery, defence products, ships, bridges and steel structure, equipment for environmental protection, including recycling, power transmission equipment, plastic molding machines, laser proce ...

has shares.

Education

Saikai has 11 public elementary schools and six public junior high schools by the city government, and three public high schools operated by the Nagasaki Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railways

The city does not have any passenger railway service. The nearest train station is Sasebo Station, with which it is connected by bus.

Highways

* *

Sister cities

Bowen, Queensland Bowen is a coastal town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Whitsunday Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Bowen had a population of 11,205 people. The locality contains two other towns: * Heronvale, Quee ...

. Australia

References

External links

*
Saikai City official website
{{Nagasaki Cities in Nagasaki Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan