Ninohe, Iwate
Encyclopedia
is a city
Cities of Japan
||A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of...

 located in Iwate
Iwate Prefecture
is the second largest prefecture of Japan after Hokkaido. It is located in the Tōhoku region of Honshū island and contains the island's easternmost point. The capital is Morioka. Iwate has the lowest population density of any prefecture outside Hokkaido...

, 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 January 1, 2006, the existing city of Ninohe merged with the neighboring 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...

 of Jōbōji
Joboji, Iwate
was a town located in Ninohe District, Iwate, Japan. It merged into the city of Ninohe.As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 5,130 and a density of 28.55 persons per km². The total area was 179.70 km²....

 and formed a new city still named Ninohe. The new city's population is estimated (as of 2008) to be 30,407, with a total area of 420.31 km². The old city of Ninohe was founded on April 1, 1972.

Climate

The average temperature is 9.8°C
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...

 in 'old' Ninohe and 9.9°C
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...

 in the area that was Jōbōji. The annual rainfall in Ninohe and Jōbōji is 1,011 mm and 785 mm, respectively.

Transportation

Ninohe is approximately 3 hours from Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 on the Tōhoku Shinkansen
Tohoku Shinkansen
The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line, connecting Tokyo with Aomori in Aomori Prefecture for a total length of 674 km, Japan's longest Shinkansen line. It runs through the more sparsely populated Tōhoku region of Japan's main island Honshu. It has two spur lines, Yamagata...

 high-speed railway line.

Tourism

The town is the site of the historic Kunohe (ninth door) castle which has, over time, been levelled and is now barely visible. Nevertheless it remains a strong draw to curious Japanese afficinados. Kindaichi Onsen is a popular hot spring resort in the town.

Jōbōji is home to the Tendai
Tendai
is a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism, a descendant of the Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school.Chappell frames the relevance of Tendai for a universal Buddhism:- History :...

-ji temple which is of some fame within Japan and attracts a reasonable amount of domestic tourism. Jōbōji is also home to a number of craft-based cottage industries the foremost of which is lacquer
Lacquer
In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...

ing.

Wildlife

A local woman was attacked by a bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

in a nearby forest in May 2010.http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100523a4.html

External links

Ninohe official website Ninohe official website
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