is 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 Tōhaku District

Tohaku District, Tottori

is a district located in Tottori, Japan.As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 65,944 and a density of 109.54 persons per km². The total area is 602.02 km².-Towns and villages:*Hokuei*Kotoura*Misasa*Yurihama-Mergers:...

, 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...

. It is also home to the official treasure of Sanbutsuji and the Okayama Hospital.

The name "Misasa" (literally "three mornings") originates from the belief that one who stays to enjoy three mornings in the town's famous hot springs will find all of his ailments cured.

As of October 1, 2007, 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 7,322 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 31.4 persons per km². The total area is 233.46 km². It is the second largest town in the prefecture (7th largest out of towns and cities).

Misasa is for the most part a spa

Destination spa

A destination spa is a short term residential/lodging facility with the primary purpose of providing individual services for spa-goers to develop healthy habits. Historically many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or sources of mineral waters...

 resort, boasting springs of radium

Radium

Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...

-rich water, exhausting radon

Radon

Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the decay product of uranium or thorium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days...

, a radioactive gas. It is believed that bathing one in such waters can actually be good for one's health, though there is not a scientific consensus on whether doing so is actually detrimental or helpful to one's health (see Radiation hormesis

Radiation hormesis

Radiation hormesis is the hypothesis that low doses of ionizing radiation are beneficial, stimulating the activation of repair mechanisms that protect against disease, that are not activated in absence of ionizing radiation...

). For this reason, the town of Misasa organizes a yearly Marie Curie festival – Marie Curie discovered radium.

The film Koitanibashi was shot in Misasa.

Education

• Primary Schools
  • Nishi Elementary School
  • Higashi Elementary School
  • Minami Elementary School
• Junior High Schools
  • Misasa Junior High School
• Universities
  • Institute for Study of the Earth's Interior, Okayama University
    Okayama University
    is a national university in Japan. The main campus is located in Tsushima-Naka, Okayama, Okayama Prefecture.The school was founded in 1870 and it was established as a university in 1949.- History :...
    
    

Neighboring municipalities

• Tottori Prefecture
  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...
  
  
  • Tottori
    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....
    
    
  • Kurayoshi
    Kurayoshi, Tottori
    is a city located in the central part of Tottori, Japan.As of November 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 50,360 and a density of 185.05 persons per km², making it the third largest city in Tottori. The total area is 272.15 km²....
    
    
  • Yurihama
    Yurihama, Tottori
    is a town located in Tōhaku District, Tottori, Japan.As of December 31, 2009, the town has an estimated population of 17,785 and a density of 228 persons per km²...
    
    
• Okayama Prefecture
  Okayama Prefecture
  is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Okayama.- History :During the Meiji Restoration, the area of Okayama Prefecture was known as Bitchū Province, Bizen Province and Mimasaka Province.- Geography :...
  
  
  • Kagamino
    Kagamino, Okayama
    is a town located in Tomata District, Okayama, Japan.On March 1, 2005 Kagamino absorbed the town of Okutsu, and the villages of Kamisaibara and Tomi, all from Tomata District, to form the new town of Kagamino, with a combined total area of 419.69 km²...
    
    
  • Maniwa
    Maniwa, Okayama
    is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan.On 31 March 2005, the town of Hokubō ; the towns of Katsuyama, Ochiai, Yubara, and Kuse and the villages of Mikamo, Kawakami, Yatsuka, and Chūka merged to form the new city of Maniwa.On September 1, 2011, Maniwa had an area of 828.43 km², the largest area of...
    
    

Places of note

• Misasa 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...
  
  

A radium-rich hot spring.

• Oshika Valley

It is named a special location, or "meishou" (名所) by the government, and is about 4 km long.

• Sanbutsu-ji (temple)

Located on the side of a cliff, it is one of the National Treasures of Japan

National treasures of Japan

National Treasures are the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs...

.

External links

Official town website Official town website Misasacho's blog from Official town website – French and English posts