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 ...

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

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 had an estimated population of 127,659 in 56,573 households, and a population density of 1,146 persons per km². The total area was .

Geography

Seto is located in the hilly northern region of Aichi Prefecture, bordering

Gifu Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,910,511 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture ...

, approximately 35 minutes from

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

by way of the Meitetsu Seto Line. In English, the name of "Seto" translates to "the place where the river runs quickly". However, while there is a river in Seto, it is neither significantly large nor quick-moving. The city of Seto is famous for its pottery and ceramics, so much so that the generic word for ceramics in Japanese is . The main street along the river is lined with dozens of pottery shops. Every third Saturday and Sunday in September, there is a very large pottery festival called Setomono Matsuri(瀬戸物祭り) This festival attracts about 20,000 visitors from around Japan and abroad every year.

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (

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''). The average annual temperature in Seto is 14.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1810 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.1 °C.

Surrounding municipalities

;

* Kasugai * Nagakute *

( Moriyama-ku) * Owariasahi *

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

;

* Tajimi * Toki

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Seto has been increasing over the past 60 years.

History

Feudal period

The area had been famous for its ceramics production since at least the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

Early modern period

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 of modern Seto was controlled by the Owari Tokugawa of

Owari Domain The Owari-Han, also known as the Owari Domain, was a significant feudal domain in Tokugawa shogunate, Japan during the Edo period. Situated in the western region of what is now Aichi Prefecture, it covered portions of Owari Province, Owari, Mino ...

Late modern period

During 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 ...

, Seto village was organized in 1888 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system, becoming a town in 1892. After annexing the neighboring village of Akatsu in 1925, Seto was raised to city status on October 1, 1929. Much of the city was destroyed by air raids in 1945 during World War II.

Contemporary history

In the postwar period, the city grew as a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for Nagoya and as a tourist designation. On March 25, 2005,

Expo 2005 Expo 2005 was a world expo held for 185 days between Friday, March 25 and Sunday, September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. Japan has also hosted Expo '70 Osaka (World Expo), Expo '75 Okinawa (Specialised Expo) ...

opened with its main site being in Nagakute and additional activity in Seto. The expo continued until September 25, 2005.

Government

Seto 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 26 members. The city contributes two members to the Aichi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Aichi 6th 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 ...

Sister cities

;Sister cities *

Limoges Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...

Haute-Vienne Haute-Vienne (; , ; Upper Vienne) is a département in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve départements that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The prefecture an ...

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine () is the largest Regions of France, administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes ...

, France, since November 18, 2003 * Nabeul, Nabeul Governorate,

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, since November 8, 2004 *

Icheon Icheon (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Together with Yeoju, Icheon is known as a center of South Korean ceramic manufacturing and is a Creative Cities Network, UNESCO City of Crafts and ...

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, since April 20, 2006 ;Friendship cities *

Jingdezhen Jingdezhen is a prefecture-level city in eastern Jiangxi province with a total population of 1,669,057 (2018), bordering Anhui to the north. It is known as the "Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing Chinese ceramics for at least 1,0 ...

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

, China, since October 1996

Economy

The economy of Seto remains dominated by ceramics, both for traditional works for private consumption, and also modern industrial ceramics for the electronics industry.

Education

University

* Nagoya Gakuin University – Seto campus

Schools

*Primary and secondary education Seto has 20 public elementary schools and eight public junior high schools operated by the city government, and one private junior high school. The city has four public high schools operated by the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education. and two private high schools. The city operates one and the prefecture operates two special education schools for the handicapped.

International school

The Aichi Korean 7th Elementary School ( 愛知朝鮮第七初級学校) – North Korean schoolHome page
Aichi Korean 7th Elementary School. Retrieved on October 14, 2015. "愛知県瀬戸市にある在日コリアン児童が通う民族学校です" is located in Seto

Transportation

Railways

Conventional lines

;

Aichi Loop Railway * Aichi Loop Line: - – – – – ; Meitetsu logomark 2

Meitetsu , publicly trading as , is a private railway company operating around Aichi Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture of Japan. Some of the more famous trains operated by Meitetsu include the '' Panorama Car'' and the '' Panorama Car Super'', both of w ...

* Seto Line: - - – –

Roads

Expressway

* Tōkai-Kanjō Expressway

Japan National Route

* * * File:MT-Owari-SetoStation.jpg, Owari Seto Station File:Seto-Akazu Interchange 01.jpg, Seto-Akazu Interchange File:Aichi Prefectural Road Route 22 (Seto Takane).jpg, Japan National Route 363

Local attractions

* Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum * Jōkō-ji, Buddhist temple and mausoleum of Tokugawa Yoshinao of the Owari Domain. * Setogura Museum Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum-01.jpg, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum Setogura１.JPG, Setogura Museum Setomonomatsuri.JPG, Setomono Festival Unkouji1.JPG, Unkō-ji Joukouji3.JPG, Jōkō-ji Kamagaki3.JPG, Kamagaki no Komichi Kamagaki4.JPG, Hongyō kiln

Notable people from Seto

* Sayaka Aoki, comedian *

Sōta Fujii is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 9- dan. He is the current holder of the Kiō, Kisei, Meijin, Ōi, Ōshō, Ōza and Ryūō titles, and a former holder of the Eiō title. He is the youngest person to be awarded professional st ...

, professional shogi player * Toru Hasegawa,– professional soccer player * Hayata Ito, professional baseball player * Asaka Seto, actress * Junji Suzuki, politician * Manpei Takagi, actor

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities in Aichi Prefecture