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55-458: Following a recent merger with the neighboring towns of Misaki and Seto , the town now spans the mountainous Sadamisaki Peninsula , the narrowest peninsula in Japan and the westernmost point on the island of Shikoku . This unique geography has greatly influenced Ikata's growth. On the one hand, it has presented significant challenges to urban development that were not overcome until recently in

110-488: A ballot. Mr. Yamashita garnered a total of 3,266 of the electorate while a certain Mr. Yoshihisa Hatanaka (see above) came in second place with a total of 2,399 votes. A non-Ikata resident of the "People Who Don't Need Nukes" Party (原発いらない人々) managed to win slightly more than 1% of the electorate with 104 votes. Ikata's main industries are farming (largely citrus fruits such as mikans ), fishing, and electrical power. Ikata produces

165-579: A hotspot of modern energy production—the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant produced much of Shikoku's electricity until it was shut down in 2012 following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (before being reactivated in 2018), and the town's windy mountains are dotted by dozens of windmills. Ikata is on the Sadamisaki Peninsula , Japan's narrowest peninsula and the westernmost point on the island of Shikoku . The peninsula

220-600: A local identity. Rausch suggests that post-merger policies need a better framework. He points out an example of the Hirosaki City merger with Iwaki Town and Soma Village, in which the city tourism policy focused only on images of Hirosaki, resulting in a poor outcome in tourism for the smaller municipalities involved. Seto, Ehime Seto ( 瀬戸町 , Seto-chō ) was a town located in Nishiuwa District , Ehime Prefecture , Japan . As of 2003,

275-469: A rapidly declining and aging population. According to the Ikata website, roughly 40% of the town's population is 65 or older. Furthermore, many elementary and middle schools have closed since the 1970s. Those that remain have very small student populations. For example, Ikata Elementary School is Ikata's largest elementary school; there were 303 students in 1987, 162 in 2006, and 128 in 2014; Toyonoura Elementary

330-545: A stone ax dating to the mid- Yayoi period (300 BC–250 AD) in his farm plot in the Kawachi neighborhood. Upon further investigation by the Japan Archaeological Society in 1986, the area was recognized as containing the remains of a highland settlement ( 高地性集落 , kōchisei shūraku ) . This is a type of settlement usually located several tens of meters above the surrounding area on mountainsides, and

385-593: A substantial fraction of Shikoku's electricity. There are two main power production methods currently in use. The former town of Seto erected eleven Mitsubishi MWT-1000 wind generators in January 2002. The Old Ikata installed two Vestas V52-850 kW generators in March 2005. Together they have an expected yearly energy output of 34,700 MWh. Ikata is investing heavily in wind power infrastructure, with 45 additional towers currently under construction. The town plans to have

440-478: A total of 60 generators within the next few years. Ikata is the site of Shikoku's only nuclear power plant. The Ikata Nuclear Power Plant has two Mitsubishi 538 MWe Pressurized Water Reactor units with the Two Reactor Coolant Loop design (similar to the original Westinghouse design at Prairie Island , Kewaunee , and Point Beach plants) and one Mitsubishi Pressurized Water Reactor unit with

495-764: Is a portmanteau of Ōmori ( 大 森) and Kamata (蒲 田 ); Ōkama was not chosen because of its likeness to 'okama', a derogatory word for homosexual. Toyoshina, Nagano , is an acronym of the four antecedent villages: To ba, Yo shino, Shi nden, and Na riai. Another common naming method is borrowing a well known nearby place name and adding a direction, such as in Nishitōkyō ("West Tokyo"), Kitakyūshū ("North Kyūshū "), Higashiōsaka ("East Osaka "), Shikokuchūō ("Central Shikoku ") and Higashiōmi ("East Ōmi"). Other towns sometimes use nouns with pleasant connotations, such as peace ( 平和 , heiwa ) , green ( 緑 , midori ) , or future ( 未来 , mirai ) . A characteristic of

550-448: Is a pun on the actual name: "the Don't-go-there Terrible Road" ( イクナ酷道 , i-ku-na kokudō , where i-ku-na is an alternate pronunciation of "197", literally meaning "don't go") . The Ikata leg of the new National Route 197 was completed in 1987 and is the heart of transportation in modern Ikata, affectionately nicknamed "Melody Line". This nickname later spawned a musical road portion of

605-413: Is extremely mountainous, with steep cliffs and precious little usable flat land. To combat this, the town's bays and ponds have seen vigorous coastal reclamation efforts dating back to the early Meiji period (late 1800s). Ikata's mountainsides are covered with terraced mikan fields, and natural forest in the undeveloped areas. The various neighborhoods of Ikata are found nestled among the foothills of

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660-443: Is geographically more accessible, and has enjoyed the economic benefits of the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant , Seto and Misaki have experienced even more severe aging and decline of their populations. In 2000, Seto's working-age population dipped below 50% of its total. Ethnically Ikata is extremely homogeneous with only a handful of non-Japanese residents, most of whom are either temporary farm laborers from China, or English educators on

715-474: Is negatively associated with legislative performance. Ikuta concluded that, while there are cases of successful mergers that embrace the common characteristics of the region as a whole, there are also many merged municipalities that struggle with a new shared regional image and identity. The Great Heisei Amalgamations were characterized at least in part by misunderstandings of regional brands, resulting in medium- and long-term regional competitiveness for achieving

770-630: Is peculiar to the Yayoi period. After the Taika Reform of 646, Ikata and the greater surrounding area became known as the Uwa District in 701. The Uwa District covered the entire Nanyo region ( map ) until it was split in two in 866. Since districts were defined by population, one can infer that the area was underdeveloped and sparsely populated at the time. Towards the end of the Heian period ,

825-453: Is such an improvement over the old roads that it has become a significant Ehime sightseeing attraction in itself, with many tourists coming to see cherry blossoms in the spring. Together with the city of Iyo 's seaside Route 378 , Melody Line makes one of the prefecture's recommended sightseeing routes, and one of JTB 's "100 Hidden Treasures of Japan" ( 日本の秘境100選 , nihon no hikyō hyaku-sen ) . Iyo Railway bus service runs up and down

880-583: The Edo period and the Tokugawa shogunate , the Uwa District came under control of the Uwajima Domain ( 宇和島藩 , Uwajima- han ) . From 1610 to 1612, the first Uwajima feudal lord, Tomita Nobutaka , gathered farmers from the local area to dig a canal through the thinnest part of the Sadamisaki Peninsula , Seto's Mitsukue neighborhood. The project was soon canceled due to insufficient funds. By this time,

935-512: The Ikata Nuclear Power Plant began operation as the first nuclear power plant on the island of Shikoku. On April 1, 2005, Ikata merged with the nearby towns of Misaki and Seto to create the new town of Ikata, which spans the Sadamisaki Peninsula. Ikata has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 13 members. Ikata together with Yawatahama, contributes two members to

990-581: The JET Programme . Per Japanese census data, the population of Ikata has been decreasing steadily since the 1950s, and is now less than third of what it was a century ago. The Sadamisaki Peninsula area has been inhabited since at least the Jōmon period (10,000–300 BC), as evidenced by the discovery of stone tools and earthenware pots in the Misaki and Kushi neighborhoods. In 1963 a local man discovered

1045-592: The Meiji era to join the facilities and legal boundaries of municipal districts, towns, and cities. Often, these mergers are driven by a necessity to consolidate villages and 'natural settlements' into larger-scale cities as modernization progressed and consolidation was promoted to provide greater access to public facilities and schools. There have been several "waves" of merger activity between Japanese municipalities. The first wave, known as "the great Meiji mergers" ( 明治の大合併 , meiji-no-daigappei ) , occurred in

1100-630: The Trinity Reform  [ ja ] , a series of administrative and financial reforms that significantly affected smaller municipalities after their implementation in the early 2000s, many of these small municipalities had to voluntarily merge with others. The main motivation of the reform was stated as to support small local governments that would become unstable in the event of poor fiscal periods. From April 1999 to April 2014, there were 188 cases of municipal absorption, and 461 new municipalities. Among them, 582 consolidations were done during

1155-740: The Yawatahama and Ikata area became known as Yano ( 矢野郷 , Yano-gō , later 矢野荘 Yano-shō ) . As ownership of farmlands became increasingly concentrated in the hands of local ruling families, control of the Yano area was given to Taira no Tadamitsu, a member of the Heike clan . Some members of the Heike family secretly settled in the Seto area in 1185 after being defeated in the Genpei Wars . Entering

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1210-542: The decentralisation movement started, based on the Omnibus Decentralization Law and an amendment to the Special Law for Municipal Mergers (SLMM) in 1999, which provided strong financial and economic incentives for municipal consolidation, the central government forced municipal mergers by using incentive schemes according to special financial measures: Although mergers were not mandatory,

1265-713: The Ehime Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Ehime 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan . Ikata experienced significant political turbulence leading up to and immediately following the April 1, 2005 merger with Seto and Misaki . To begin with, multiple potential merger plans were put forth, one of which was for all of the contiguous Nishiuwa District towns (Misaki, Seto, Old Ikata, and Honai ) to merge. However, when Honai announced that it would merge with

1320-574: The Great Heisei Consolidations period from April 1999 to March 2006. This number includes duplicated consolidations. There were 8 merging patterns during the Great Heisei Amalgamations: Naming a new post-merger municipality is not a negligible matter. Disagreement on a name sometimes causes merger talks to break down. If a city is far larger than the towns joining it, no arguments take place;

1375-522: The Heisei mergers is a rapid increase of hiragana names. The names of Japan's cities used to be written in Kanji exclusively. The first instance of " hiragana municipalities " was Mutsu ( むつ ) , renamed in 1960. The number of place names using hiragana reached 45 by April 2006, including Tsukuba ( つくば ) , Kahoku ( かほく ) , Sanuki ( さぬき ) , Tsukubamirai ( つくばみらい ) , and Saitama ( さいたま ) , which

1430-1106: The Ikata Nuclear Power Plant and Red Wing's Prairie Island plant . The two towns became official sister cities in August 1995. Since then, Ikata has put much effort into expanding the horizons of its residents through English language education via the JET Programme , and an annual international student exchange with Red Wing. Beginning in 1995, Ikata middle school students have traveled almost yearly to Red Wing for home stays of one to two weeks, and students from Red Wing likewise come to Ikata to learn about life in rural Japan. Ikata's high school, Misaki High School, maintains an exchange program with Australia. Ikata has two sister cities , both of which also have nuclear power plants: Public restrooms are available and powered by solar energy. Ikata has two roadside stations along National Route 197. These are highway rest stops that offer refreshments, travel information, recreation facilities, and local goods for sale. The origin of

1485-534: The Mitsukue area for these exercises. According to the plaque on the monument, the men were quite friendly with the locals, and stories are still told about them in the neighborhood to this day. The men died on December 8, 1941, during one of the initial attacks on Pearl Harbor. In 1955 another round of mergers corresponding to the Great Shōwa Merger reduced the number of municipal entities to three. In 1977

1540-676: The Three Reactor Coolant Loop design (similar to the Westinghouse Surry , North Anna , and Robinson plants). Units 1 and 2 started up on September 30, 1977 and March 19, 1981 respectively. Unit 3 is a three loop PWR rated at 846 MWe that started up on December 15, 1994. April 1, 2007, marked a milestone for the Ikata plant as it reached a total of 300 million kilowatt-hours of energy generated since beginning operations in 1977. Ikata has six public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by

1595-662: The bright-purple kintarō potato, and also catches baby sardines called chirimen ( ちりめん ) . Misaki has a strong fishing tradition, producing many horse mackerel ( 鯵 , aji ) and mackerel ( 鯖 , saba ) . Four Misaki Fishing Co-op products are part of the Ehime "With Love" ( 『愛』ある , "Ai" aru ) brand: Horse mackerel, mackerel, largehead hairtail ( 太刀魚 , tachiuo ) , and abalone ( 鮑 , awabi ) . Merger and dissolution of municipalities of Japan Municipal mergers and dissolutions carried out in Japan ( 市町村合併 , shichōson gappei ) have occurred since

1650-704: The central government established a goal of decreasing municipality numbers to 1,000, and used these incentives to urge prefectural governments to promote mergers. There are two types of municipal merger under this and previous policies: Local governments used local referendums or questionnaire surveys regarding potential mergers to evaluate public opinion . 352 local referendums on merging took place from 1999 to 2006. A vast number of municipal mergers, known as "the great Heisei mergers" ( 平成の大合併 , heisei-no-daigappei ) , were executed from 1999 to 2010 (the so-called Great Heisei Amalgamations). Municipality numbers dropped from 3,232 to 1,727 during this period. Due to

1705-626: The city government. The city has one public high school operated by the Ehime Prefectural Board of Education. Ikata has no passenger rail service. The closest station is the JR Shikoku Yawatahama Station on the Yosan Line . Due to Ikata's length and mountainous terrain, regular bus service did not reach the tip of the peninsula until the 1960s. Until then, the only public transportation available

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1760-462: The city's name simply survives. However, if their sizes do not differ significantly, lengthy disputes can ensue. Sometimes, the problem can be solved by adopting the name of the district or compounding the names of the localities to be merged; the latter method is relatively common in Europe, but is unusual in Japan. These compounded names are often abbreviated. For example, the Ōta (大田) ward of Tokyo

1815-472: The establishment of a National Treasury Subsidy System. 5,000 villages disappeared, but the number of cities were doubled. In 1965, the Special Law for Municipal Mergers (SLMM) was enacted, but it failed to motivate municipalities to voluntarily merge with others. The declining birthrate of Japan and very poor fiscal state led the Japanese central government to promote national consolidation reform from

1870-456: The land on the peninsula is quite mountainous and not suited for development; the population density of the individual settlements, which are squeezed into the small bay areas in the foothills of the mountains, is much higher. Extrapolating from data based on the most recent land survey, only 3.21% of the town's land is inhabited; this puts the population density at a much higher 3,510 persons/kilometer-squared. Like much of rural Japan, Ikata faces

1925-568: The late 20th century onwards. As of January 2006, many municipalities in Japan contained fewer than 200 residents. Japanese municipalities require skilled workers, and 40% of Japan's GDP consisted of debts from local governments. Efforts to merge local governments have been made with aims to expand residential area per municipal government, create different school attendance boundaries for elementary school and junior high school students, and to allow more widespread use of public facilities. After

1980-627: The merger was decided upon, suggestions for the new town's name were solicited from the residents. Despite the many other reasonable suggestions and the seeming unfairness toward Seto and Misaki, the "new" name was chosen to be "Ikata." Following the merger a heated mayoral race was held, with 11 members of incumbent Kiyoyoshi Nakamoto's campaign arrested for electoral fraud. Challenger Yoshihisa Hatanaka ultimately won, only to be arrested in February 2006 for corruption relating to government construction contracts. He resigned soon thereafter. A second race

2035-590: The mergers have been limited to local municipalities. Mergers of prefectures have been discussed in some regions of Japan. Suzuki and Ha's empirical research found that municipal merger in Japan during 2008 to 2014 discourages performance of legislative activity and bylaw proposals, using a dataset of 754 Japanese city-level governments. Local councils, after municipal mergers, propose fewer municipal bylaws, showing that these communities produced after municipal mergers appear to experience worse legislative performance. Their research also shows that enlarging municipal size

2090-636: The mountains, connected only by winding coastal roads and a single highway, Route 197 . The biggest of the neighborhoods and the administrative center of Ikata is Minatoura, near the eastern edge of the town. Ikata is surrounded on three sides by ocean—the Iyo Sea (part of the Inland Sea ) to the north, the Uwa Sea ( Pacific Ocean ) to the south, and the Hōyo Strait (separating Shikoku from Kyūshū ) to

2145-435: The municipal system more efficient. Although the government purports to respect self-determination of the municipalities, some consider the policy to be compulsory. As a result of mergers, some cities such as Daisen, Akita temporarily had very large city assemblies. Some people see it as a form of federalism ; they consider that the ultimate goal is to change Japan into a union consisting of more autonomous states. So far,

2200-411: The name Ikata ( 伊方浦 , Ikata-ura ) can be seen in records of taxes paid to the feudal lords.The Mitsukue neighborhood prospered as a port town during the feudal period, as it was used as a port of rest for daimyō on their way to and from the capital as part of the sankin-kōtai system. This traffic was likely the source of the demand for Nobutaka's abortive attempt to create a shortcut through

2255-474: The name Ikata is unclear and there are several competing theories. Ikata is known for its mikans and mikan juice. More than 20 different varieties of mikan are grown in Ikata. Old Ikata also has a very old sake brewing tradition that dates back to the Edo period , with several tōji brewmasters in the local area. There is even a museum dedicated to the Ikata Tōji. The Seto area produces vegetables such as

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2310-472: The nearby city of Yawatahama , polls indicated that Misaki residents still preferred to merge with Honai and Yawatahama, rather than Seto and Old Ikata, despite their being discontiguous (a Misaki-Honai-Yawatahama merger would make Misaki an exclave ). Ultimately this was found to be impractical, and the Misaki-Seto-Ikata merger was approved with some grumbling over the naming of the new town. Once

2365-561: The number of independent settlements from 26 to 6. More recently, Seto's Mitsukue Bay was used for submarine training operations by the Imperial Japanese Navy leading up to World War II , as the bay's shape is similar to that of Pearl Harbor . A monument named The Nine War Heroes ( 九軍神 , Kyū gunshin ) stands in Suka Park in Mitsukue as a memorial dedicated to the nine young men (ages 21–28) who were stationed in

2420-541: The peninsula, to and from Yawatahama , and offers express buses from Misaki to Matsuyama . However, commuter buses run infrequently and, due to the length of the peninsula and the scattered nature of the town's neighborhoods, bus travel remains more expensive and less convenient than in denser areas. Some tour buses also come across the strait from Kyūshū by ferry. Relations with Ikata's only overseas sister city, Red Wing , Minnesota , USA , originally began as an exchange of technical knowledge and skills between engineers at

2475-507: The peninsula. A decade after the Meiji Restoration , in March 1878 the Uwa District was divided into the current Kitauwa , Minamiuwa , Higashiuwa , and Nishiuwa districts (North-, South-, East-, and West-Uwa, respectively). Ikata was designated a village ( 村 , mura ) in 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system, and other neighborhoods along the peninsula soon followed suit, many merging to reduce

2530-461: The period from 1888 to 1889, when the modern municipal system was established. Before the mergers, existing municipalities were the direct successors of spontaneous hamlets called hanseison ( 藩政村 ) , or villages under the han system . This han system is still reflected in the postal system for rural areas as postal units called ōaza ( 大字 ) . The mergers slashed the number of ‘natural settlements’ ( 自然集落 , shizen shūraku ) that existed at

2585-648: The road built to celebrate its anniversary that was completed and added in 2011, so the road could literally have a "melody". The road "plays" parts of two Japanese songs when certain sections of the road are driven over. Unlike the old roads, Melody Line boasts two full lanes and runs relatively straight down the peninsula. Seated high in the mountains, drivers can enjoy views of both the Pacific Ocean and Inland Sea. The route terminates at Misaki and continues over to Kyūshū by ferries that connect Misaki Port with Saganoseki ( Ōita, Ōita ) and Beppu, Ōita . Melody Line

2640-419: The time from 71,314 to 15,859 cities, towns and villages, justified at the time by the increased scale and relevance of the resulting respective autonomous governing bodies. The second wave, called "the great Shōwa mergers" ( 昭和の大合併 , shōwa-no-daigappei ) , took place over the period from 1953 to 1956. It reduced the number of cities, towns and villages by over half, from 9,868 to 3,472 with purposes of

2695-424: The town's long history. On the other, the peninsula is what gives the town its beautiful mountain and ocean scenery which, bolstered by significant investments in infrastructure and tourist facilities, has formed the basis for a burgeoning tourism industry. In addition to the beauty of its rugged, natural landscape, Ikata has long been known for fishing and mikan orange farming. In recent years Ikata has also become

2750-447: The town; when driving down Melody Line, it is not uncommon to find it sunny between one set of tunnels, rainy between another, and foggy between yet another. Ikata's position, stretching out into the ocean, also makes it a frequent target for typhoons . Ikata is a small town, with a population of 8,196 as of June 30, 2023. The total land area of the town is 94.37 km, making the population density 113 persons per km. However, much of

2805-553: The west. The climate in Ikata is warm, with an average year-round temperature of 16–17 °C (61–63 °F) and 1,500 ml of yearly rain. The coldest parts of winter remain above freezing (5 °C or 41 °F on average), with snowfall seen only once or twice per year. Rain is concentrated in the rainy season in June and July, and also in September. The length of the peninsula makes accurate weather prediction difficult for

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2860-433: Was Old Ikata's smallest school; it had 51 students in 1987, and only 14 in 2007. before it closed in 2010. Currently, Futami Elementary is Ikata's smallest Elementary school with 21 students. However, plans are in effect to close the school at the end of the current fiscal year (April, 2015). This population issue was a significant part of the impetus for the recent merger of Old Ikata with Seto and Misaki . While Old Ikata

2915-425: Was held in April 2006, with Kazuhiko Yamashita defeating rival Kiyohiko Takakado by only 90 votes. Voter turnout was 87.43%. There has been and remains political resistance among some Ikata residents to the nuclear power plant. The most recent mayoral election took place on April 13, 2014 which found incumbent Yamashita in seat for his third term as mayor. 85.33% of the total 9,190 eligible voters turning out to cast

2970-402: Was local ferries that connected the bays of each neighborhood. In 1963, the original Japan National Route 197 was completed. It follows the coastline, and is thus extremely winding and narrow, with very little room for cars to pass. Traversing the peninsula by this route takes hours and can be quite nerve-wracking; this earned it the ire of the locals, who came up with a disparaging nickname that

3025-425: Was upgraded to a designated city in 2003. The creation of Minami Alps in 2003 is the first example of a katakana city name. Most of Japan's rural municipalities largely depend on subsidies from the central government. They are often criticized for spending money for wasteful public enterprises to keep jobs. The central government, which is itself running budget deficits, has a policy of encouraging mergers to make

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