270px, Hirao Town Hall 270px, View from Ohosi 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 in Kumage District,

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). ...

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 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 11,064 in 5394 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 320 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

The town extends approximately 11 kilometers north to south and 9 kilometers east to west, and is located on the coast of the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

in southeastern Yamaguchi Prefecture. Parts of the town are within the borders of the

Setonaikai National Park is a Japanese national park, comprising areas of Japan's Seto Inland Sea, and of ten bordering Prefectures of Japan, prefectures. Designated a national park in 1934, it has since been expanded several times. It contains about 3,000 islands, know ...

Neighbouring municipalities

Yamaguchi Prefecture *

Kaminoseki 270px, View from the Kamisakari 270px, ''Shikairo'' is a town located in Kumage District, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan., the town had an estimated population of 2340 in 6947 households and a population density of . The total area of the town is ...

Tabuse 270px, Umashima is a town located in Kumage District, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 14,411 in 6947 households and a population density of 290 persons per km2. The total area of the town is . Geography ...

* Yanai

Climate

Hirao 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. The average annual temperature in Hirao is 16.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1678 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 26.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 6.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Hirao has been steady for the past 50 years.

History

The area of Hirao was part of an ancient

Suō Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of ancient Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Suō bordered on Aki Province, Aki, Iwami Province, Iwami, and Nagato Province, Nagato Provinces. Its abbreviated form na ...

. 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 ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Chōshū Domain The , also known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871.Deal, William E. (2005) ''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan,'' p. 81 The Chōshū Domain was based ...

. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, the village of Hirao within

Kumage District, Yamaguchi is a district located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 42,778 and a density of 282.12 persons per km2. The total area is 151.63 km2. Towns and villages * Hirao * Kaminoseki *Tabuse Mer ...

was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Hirao was elevated to town status on April 1, 1903. On January 1, 1955 Tabuse annexed the villages of Ono, Saga and Sone.

Government

Hirao 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 ...

town council of 12 members. Hirao, together with the towns of

and

contributes one member to the Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Yamaguchi 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

Hirao has a rural economy based on agriculture and commercial fishing. There is one small

industrial park An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

Education

Hirao has two public elementary schools and one public junior high school operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Yamaguchi Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

Hirao has no passenger railway service. The nearest station is the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

Sanyo Main Line Yanai Station or Tabuse Station.

Highways

Noted people from Hirao

* Genki Abe, lawyer, police bureaucrat and cabinet minister in early

Shōwa period Shōwa most commonly refers to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa ** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989 * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...

Japan.

References

External links

*
Hirao official website
Towns in Yamaguchi Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan {{Yamaguchi-geo-stub