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

Tokunoshima , also known in English as is an island in the Amami archipelago of the southern Satsunan Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, has a population of approximately 27,000. The island is divided into three administrative t ...

, in Ōshima District,

Kagoshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...

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 9,403 in 4493 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 90 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Tokunoshima occupies the northeastern portion of the island of

, with the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

to the east.

Surrounding municipalities

* Amagi * Isen

Climate

The climate is classified as

humid subtropical 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 la ...

(

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 mild winters (average temperature ). Precipitation is high throughout the year, but is highest in the months of May, June and September. Because of its climate, tropical and sub-tropical fruits are in abundance.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Isen is as shown below:

History

From the '' Ritsuryo'' period, Tokushima was part of

Ōsumi Province was a province of Japan in the area of southeastern Kyūshū, corresponding to the eastern half of modern Kagoshima Prefecture, and including the Ōsumi Islands . Ōsumi bordered on Hyūga to the northeast, and Satsuma Province to the nor ...

and was part of the holdings of Kagoshima Domain 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 ...

. On 1 April 1908 the village of Kametsu was founded with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was upgraded to town status on January 1, 1942. As with all of Tokunoshima, the town came under the administration of the United States from 1 July 1946 to 25 December 1953. On 1 April 1958, Kametsu merged with the neighboring village of Higashi-Amagi, and was renamed Tokunoshima.

Government

Tokushima 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 14 members. Tokushima, collectively with the other municipalities of Oshima District, contributes two members to the Kagoshima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Kagoshima 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 ...

Hamlets

The town as a governmental entity comprises several hamlets. The largest is Kametsu, is focused around the district of the same name and the neighboring port of Kametoku. Kametsu is the main center of commerce and services on the island. *Boma *Inokawa *Kametoku *Kametsu *Kaminomine *Kanami *Kedoku *Omo *San *Shimokushi *Shirai *Shoda *Tete *Todoroki *Tokuwase

Education

Tokushima has eight public elementary school and six public junior high schools operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Kagoshima Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

Toshushima, as with the rest of Tokunoshima Island, does not have any passenger railway services.

Highways

Tokushima is not located on any national highway or expressway.

Seaports

*Kametoku Port

Noted people from Tokunoshima

* Asashio Tarō III, sumo wrestler * Kyokudōzan Kazuyasu, sumo wrestler * Ichinoya Mitsuru, sumo wrestler

References

External links

Tokunoshima official website
{{Authority control Towns in Kagoshima Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan