Owase

Geography

Owase is located in southeastern Kii Peninsula, in southern Mie Prefecture, facing the Gulf of Kumano the Pacific Ocean. Ninety percent of the city area is forested or coastal rias. Sandwiched between mountains and the offshore Kuroshio Current, the area has very heavy rainfall from spring through autumn. More than 80% of the population is concentrated in former Osawe town, on the coast.

Climate

Owase has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa). It has comfortable spring and autumn seasons, and warm winters with practically no snow. The warm Kuroshio Current makes its closest contact with the Japanese coast at Owase. Combined with the high mountains falling almost to the sea, this gives Owase an extremely heavy annual rainfall of 3850 mm, which is the highest in the world at low altitudes in subtropical and warm temperate latitudes. Only certain parts of southern Chile, coastal British Columbia and the Adriatic Sea coast have as much rain at low elevations outside the tropics. Typhoons often pass Owase in summer.

Despite the excessive wetness of the climate, summers are no more uncomfortable or humid than in the rest of southern Japan. Humidity is marginally lower than in the cities close to the Seto Inland Sea or on the southern Sea of Japan.

|Jan record high C = 22.4 |Feb record high C = 27.1 |Mar record high C = 26.5 |Apr record high C = 30.3 |May record high C = 33.1 |Jun record high C = 37.3 |Jul record high C = 38.6 |Aug record high C = 38.8 |Sep record high C = 36.6 |Oct record high C = 31.9 |Nov record high C = 29.8 |Dec record high C = 25.6 |Jan record low C = -6.9 |Feb record low C = -6.2 |Mar record low C = -5.0 |Apr record low C = -1.9 |May record low C = 2.8 |Jun record low C = 8.6 |Jul record low C = 13.8 |Aug record low C = 12.6 |Sep record low C = 9.4 |Oct record low C = 3.7 |Nov record low C = -1.3 |Dec record low C = -4.6

Demographics

The population of Owase has decreased steadily over the past 50 years.

| 1920 | 21,672 | 1930 | 25,522 | 1940 | 25,401 | 1950 | 31,744 | 1960 | 34,534 | 1970 | 31,546 | 1980 | 31,348 | 1990 | 27,114 | 2000 | 23,683 | 2010 | 20,013

History

The area of present-day Owase was part of ancient Shima Province. It was transferred to Kii Province in 1582. During this time, large-scale forestry projects were begun. After the Meiji restoration, the area became part of Mie Prefecture. The town of Owase was established in April 1889, within Kitamuro District of Mie Prefecture, with the creation of the modern municipalities system.

The city of Owase was established in June 1954, by the merger of the town of Owase with the surrounding villages of Sugari and Kuki and the villages of Kitawauchi and Minamiwauchi, both from Minamimuro District.

Government

Owase has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 10 members. Owase, collectively with the towns of Kihoku, contributes two members to the Mie Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Mie 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy

Owase is mainly supported by its commercial fishery and forestry industries. Yellowtail, amberjack, Japanese horse mackerel, sauries, sea bream and bonito are among the fish landed at Owase. Japanese cypress and cryptomeria trees are found in abundance here in the mountains.

Education

Owase has five public elementary schools and two public middle schools operated by the city government. One public high school is operated by the Mie Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

Highway

• 24px|link=|alt=E42 Kisei Expressway

Port

• Owase Port

Festivals and events

• Itadaki Ichi – farmers market held the first Saturday morning of every month, featuring stalls selling Owase's local produce such as fresh seafood, dried fish, sea salt, jam etc. along with special performances by the locals.
• Ya Ya Matsuri – the largest festival in Owase, held annually on 1–5 February. In the evenings of 2-4 February, men parade around the streets, jostling each other and chanting "Ya Ya" while drinking sake before the "chosen" ones dive into the sea to purify themselves. The festival ends off with a day-long street parade on the 5th featuring dance performances and an archery contest at Owase Jinja.
• Owase Minato Matsuri – a summer festival held on the first Saturday in August with a fireworks display.
• Hachiman Jinja Matsuri – held on 15 September annually, beginning with a day-long parade culminating at the local Hachiman Jinja

Sister cities

• Canada Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, since September 26, 1968
• China Jinzhou District, Dalian, Liaoning, China, since July 8, 2007

Notable people

• Hideo Fukuyama, professional race car driver

References

References

1. "Owase city official statistics".
2. [http://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/view/annually_s.php?prec_no=53&prec_ch=%8EO%8Fd%8C%A7&block_no=47663&block_ch=%94%F6%98h&year=2006&month=&day=&elm=annually&view= Records at Owase observatory, Japan Meteorological Agency (Japanese)]
3. [https://www.citypopulation.de/php/japan-mie.php Owase population statistics]
4. "International Exchange". Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR).