City in Kansai, Japan
Shima City Hall
Shima
(
Japanese
:
志摩市
,
Hepburn
:
Shima-shi
)
is a
city
in
Mie Prefecture
, Japan. As of 31 January 2024
[update]
, the city had an estimated
population
of 45,073 in 22,511 households and a
population density
of 251 persons per km
2
.
[1]
The total area of the city is 179.67 square kilometres (69.37 sq mi). Shima hosted the
2016 G7 Summit
.
[2]
Geography
[
edit
]
Shima is located on the southern half of Shima Peninsula in far eastern Mie Prefecture, facing
Ise Bay
of the Pacific Ocean. The city has a complicated
rias
coast with two large inlets:
Matoya Bay
and
Ago Bay
. Matoya Bay is famous for
oyster
cultivation and Ago Bay is famous for
pearl
cultivation. Both are sightseeing spots and all of the city is within the borders of the
Ise-Shima National Park
.
Shima has three inhabited islands; Watakano Island,
Kashiko Island
and Masaki Island. Watakano Island is located in Matoya Bay, and the others are in Ago Bay.
Neighboring municipalities
[
edit
]
Mie Prefecture
Climate
[
edit
]
Shima has a
Humid subtropical climate
(Koppen
Cfa
) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Shima is 16.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1965 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 6.8 °C.
[3]
Demographics
[
edit
]
Per Japanese census data,
[4]
the population of Shima has decreased rapidly over the past 20 years.
Historical population
Year
| Pop.
| ±%
|
---|
1950
| 65,444
| ?
|
---|
1960
| 65,266
| ?0.3%
|
---|
1970
| 62,032
| ?5.0%
|
---|
1980
| 63,065
| +1.7%
|
---|
1990
| 62,877
| ?0.3%
|
---|
2000
| 61,628
| ?2.0%
|
---|
2010
| 54,694
| ?11.3%
|
---|
2020
| 46,057
| ?15.8%
|
---|
History
[
edit
]
All of Shima was within the borders of ancient
Shima Province
. With the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the town of Waga and villages of Katada, Fuseda, Koshiga, and Goza were established. The town of Shima was established on December 1, 1954 by the merger of these municipalities. Shima was raised to city status on October 1, 2004, from the merger of the former town of Shima with the towns of
Ago
,
Dai?
,
Hamajima
and
Isobe
(all from
Shima District
). Recently there has been anger from its famous divers aimed at its sexist new tourist mascot.
[5]
Government
[
edit
]
Shima has a
mayor-council
form of government with a directly elected mayor and a
unicameral
city council of 20 members. Shima 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
[
edit
]
Commercial fishing
and tourism play important roles in the local economy.
Education
[
edit
]
Shima has seven public elementary schools and six public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Mie Prefectural Department of Education. There is also one private high school.
Transportation
[
edit
]
Railway
[
edit
]
Kintetsu Railway
-
Shima Line
Highways
[
edit
]
Local attractions
[
edit
]
Two of Japan's fifteen climbable lighthouses are located in Shima:
Anorisaki
and Daiosaki. Each was featured in the
location shooting
of two prominent films of the 1950's, Anorisaki in
Kinoshita's
Times of Joy and Sorrow
(1957) and Daiosaki in
Ozu's
Floating Weeds
(1959).
[6]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Shima, Mie
.
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