was a town

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 the former Izushi District

Izushi District, Hyogo

Izushi was a district located in Hyōgo, Japan. On April 1, 2005 the two towns in the district merged into the expanded city of Toyooka dissolving the district....

, Hyōgo

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 :...

, 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...

.

On April 1, 2005 Izushi, along with the towns of Kinosaki

Kinosaki, Hyogo

was a town located in Kinosaki District, Hyōgo, Japan.On April 1, 2005 Kinosaki, along with the towns of Hidaka and Takeno, all from Kinosaki District, and the towns of Izushi and Tantō, both from Izushi District, was merged into the expanded city of Toyooka and no longer exists as an independent...

, Hidaka

Hidaka, Hyogo

was a town located in Kinosaki District, Hyōgo, Japan.On April 1, 2005 Hidaka, along with the towns of Kinosaki and Takeno, all from Kinosaki District, and the towns of Izushi and Tantō, both from Izushi District, was merged into the expanded city of Toyooka and no longer exists as an independent...

 and Takeno

Takeno, Hyogo

was a town located in Kinosaki District, Hyōgo, Japan.On April 1, 2005 Takeno, along with the towns of Kinosaki and Hidaka, all from Kinosaki District, and the towns of Izushi and Tantō, both from Izushi District, was merged into the expanded city of Toyooka and no longer exists as an independent...

, all from Kinosaki District

Kinosaki District, Hyogo

Kinosaki was a district located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. As of April 1, 2005, the district was dissolved when all of its towns merged into other jurisdictions....

, and the town of Tantō

Tanto, Hyogo

was a town located in the former Izushi District, Hyōgo, Japan.On April 1, 2005 Tantō, along with the towns of Kinosaki, Hidaka and Takeno, all from Kinosaki District, and the town of Izushi, also from Izushi District, was merged into the expanded city of Toyooka and no longer exists as an...

, also from Izushi District

Izushi District, Hyogo

Izushi was a district located in Hyōgo, Japan. On April 1, 2005 the two towns in the district merged into the expanded city of Toyooka dissolving the district....

, was merged into the expanded city of Toyooka

Toyooka, Hyogo

is a city located in the northern part of Hyōgo, Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 90,443 and a density of 125 persons per km²...

 and no longer exists as an independent municipality

Municipalities of Japan

Japan has three levels of government: national, prefectural, and municipal. The nation is divided into 47 prefectures. Each prefecture consists of numerous municipalities. There are four types of municipalities in Japan: cities, towns, villages and special wards...

.

Izushi Junior High School's sister school

Sister school

The term sister school has several meanings:*a definite financial commerce between two colleges or universities*two schools that have a strong historical connection...

 is Whitman Middle School in Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

. Izushi has castle ruins

Izushi Castle

is a yamashiro, or castle situated on a hill, located in Izushi, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.-History:For more than 200 years the Yamana Family resided at Konosumi Castle. In 1569 the castle fell to attacks by Oda Nobunaga's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After the fall of Konosumi Castle, Yamana...

 and is known for being the traditional home of soba

Soba

is the Japanese name for buckwheat. It is synonymous with a type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour, and in Japan can refer to any thin noodle . Soba noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup...

 noodle

Noodle

The noodle is a type of food, made from any of a variety of doughs, formed into long thin ribbons, strips, curly-cues, waves, helices, pipes, tubes, strings, or other various shapes, sometimes folded. They are usually cooked in a mixture of boiling water and/or oil. Depending upon the type, noodles...

s. Traditional white porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

 pottery

Pottery

Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

 is created and sold in small studio shops.

As of 2003, the town had 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 11,079 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 124.30 persons per km². The total area was 89.13 km².

External links

• Official website of Toyooka in Japanese