village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
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 ...
.
As of 2003, the village 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 1,659 and a
density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...
of 106.89 persons per km2. The total area was 15.52 km2.
On October 1, 2005, Ōshima, along with the towns of Ikitsuki and Tabira (all from Kitamatsuura District), was merged into the expanded city of
Hirado
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 28,172, and a population density of 120 people per km2. The total area of the city is
Geography
Hirado City occupies the northern part of Nagasaki P ...
.
Economy
The main occupations on the island are fishing, including fish farming, and farming. Crops include tobacco, rice, and potatoes. One use of Ōshima's rice is in the brewing of
sake
Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...
. Other occupations include local government and school teachers. There are also over a dozen wind turbines beautifully located on the island. This
wind farm
A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Un ...
V80-2.0MW with a
nameplate capacity
Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, maximum effect or gross capacity,kW. It began full operation in 2007.
Access
Ōshima can only be reached via a ferry boat from Hirado Port. It takes approximately 45 minutes to get to the island and there are five departures every day in each direction.
Education
There is a public primary school, middle school, and nursery. In March 2011, the only high school on the island closed its doors after its last nine students graduated. During its last three years as an institution, there were as many students as teachers. This closure was due to the general declining birthrate in Japan. Three years earlier the school had stopped accepting incoming students. The building was transferred to the City of Hirado and turned into a community center. Some of the former students at the high school were boarders, some were trouble kids in other schools. The boarders also served to keep up the student numbers in Ōshima's small population.
Entertainment
Ōshima has a
pachinko
is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Gambling in Japan, Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of l ...
parlor, a snack tavern (
karaoke
is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone.
Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...