Iwami, Tottori
Encyclopedia
Towns of Japan
A town is a local administrative unit in Japan. It is a local public body along with prefecture , city , and village...
located in Iwami District
Iwami District, Tottori
Iwami is a district located in Tottori, Japan.As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 25,607 and a density of 102.13 persons per km². The total area is 250.72 km².-Merger:...
, Tottori
Tottori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region. The capital is the city of Tottori. It is the least populous prefecture in Japan.- History :Before the Meiji Restoration, Tottori encompassed the old provinces of Hōki and Inaba...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Geography
Located in eastern TottoriTottori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region. The capital is the city of Tottori. It is the least populous prefecture in Japan.- History :Before the Meiji Restoration, Tottori encompassed the old provinces of Hōki and Inaba...
, Iwami faces the Sea of Japan
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
to the north. As of March 1, 2008, the town has an estimated population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 12,827 and a density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of 105 persons per km². The total area is 122.38 km². The surrounding landscape is dominated by low-lying hills and slopes; much of the built town and residential areas are located in flatter land between the heights. The north of the town borders onto Uradome Beach, though much of the rest of the coast consists of rough rocky outcrops and small inlets and bays. 15 km of this, collectively known as the Uradome Coast, is part of the Sanin Kaigan National Park
Sanin Kaigan National Park
is a national park on the island of Honshū in Japan. It runs along the coast of the Sea of Japan from Kyoto to Tottori. The park area encompasses a variety of landscapes, including the Tottori Sand Dunes, the only large dune system in Japan....
. The Gamō River runs through the centre of the town. Iwami is around 30 minutes by train from the prefectural capital of Tottori City
Tottori, Tottori
is the capital city of Tottori Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan.As of 2006, the city has an estimated population of 200,974 and a density of 262.48 persons per km². The total area is 765.66 km²....
, and is the third stop by train heading east on the Tottori-Hamasaka line
San'in Main Line
The is a railway line in western Japan that runs from Kyoto to Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, operated by West Japan Railway Company . It is the major railway line of the San'in region, running along the Japan Sea, crossing Kyoto, Hyōgo, Tottori, Shimane and Yamaguchi prefectures...
. Hyōgo Prefecture
Hyogo Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...
and Iwami's sister town town of Shin'onsen are relatively nearby as well.
Weather in Iwami can be quite changeable, with summer temperatures peaking at over 30 degrees Celsius in August and dropping as low as -2 degrees in January and February. Whilst relatively tectonically stable for Japan, the area is prone to the occasional typhoon during the season.
Characteristics
There are three elementary schools - Iwami Minami, Nishi, and Kita - as well as a junior high school and a high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
. In July 2005 the Iwami High School baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team progressed to the semi-finals in the prefecture-wide high schools' baseball tournament. This was the furthest the team had ever progressed and was an event of prefecture-wide significance. They lost in the semi-finals to Tottori Nishi High School.
The majority of the town's working population works on squid
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
fishing boats or farm, the most common crop being rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
. Iwami also has a locally renowned onsen
Onsen
An is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth...
(hot spring), the Iwai onsen.
Iwami also features several restaurants which provide seafood-based meals and okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki
is a Japanese dish containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked" . Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is widely available throughout the...
, as well as a Family Mart and a Suntopia.