Fukushima prefecture

Fukushima-ken 福島 県
Basic data
Administrative headquarters :	Fukushima
Region :	Tōhoku
Main island :	Honshu
Area :	13,783.9  km²
Water content:	0.9  %
Residents :	1,830,006 (April 1, 2020)
Population density :	133 inhabitants per km²
Counties :	13
Municipalities :	59
ISO 3166-2 :	JP-07
Governor :	Yūhei Satō
Website:	www.pref.fukushima.jp
Symbols
Prefecture flag :
Prefecture tree :	Japanese zelkove
Prefecture flower :	Rhododendron brachycarpum
Vogel prefecture :	Daffodilcatcher
Citizens Day:	August 21

The Fukushima Prefecture ([ ɸɯkɯɕima ] Jap. 福島県 , Fukushima-ken ) is a prefecture in Japan . It is located in the Tōhoku region on the island of Honshū . The seat of the prefecture administration is the city of the same name, Fukushima .

geography

topographic map of the prefecture

Fukushima is the southernmost prefecture of the Tōhoku region and itself is divided into three regions: Hamadōri ( 浜 通 り ), Nakadōri ( 中 通 り ) and Aizu ( 会 津 ).

Hamadōri with an area of ​​2971 km² forms the eastern part and extends from the Pacific Ocean to the ridge of the Abukuma highlands ( 阿 武 隈 高地 , Abukuma-kōchi ). The region is the flattest and has a warm marine climate. The northern part with the district of Sōma , the city of Minamisōma , and the central part with the district of Futaba , are collectively referred to as the Sōsō region ( 相 双 ).

This is followed by the Nakadōri region with 5366 km², which extends to the ridge of the Ōu Mountains . It is not only the geographical, but also the economic center with Kōriyama , as well as the political and cultural center with the prefecture capital Fukushima .

The western region is Aizu with 5342 km². It consists to a large extent of high mountains and has therefore been considered remote since ancient times. However, in the east there are larger basins such as the elongated Aizu basin ( 会 津 盆地 , Aizu-bonchi ) with the regional center Aizu-Wakamatsu or the neighboring Inawashiro basin ( 猪苗 代 盆地 , Inawashiro-bonchi ) between the foot of the Bandai and the Inawashiro- Lake - Japan's fourth largest lake with 103 km². The Bandai Asahi National Park stretches from here to the north of the region , while the Nikkō National Park with the Ozegahara high moor is located in the southwest . In addition, the Hiuchi is located in Aizu , the highest mountain in Tōhoku at 2356 m.

history

The Fukushima area was incorporated into the Japanese state association no earlier than the 4th century. Fukushima prefecture dates back to the 718 established provinces of Iwaki and Iwase . The former extended over the coast (Hamadōri) and the latter over the hinterland (Nakadōri and Aizu) of today's Fukushima. Both were absorbed again in 724 in the Michinoku province , from which they were previously removed. However, these served as a model for the provinces of Iwaki and Iwashiro founded in 1869 (Iwashiro is also said to be the presumed correct name of the earlier Iwase). Within these provinces there were several fiefdoms ( Han ), which were replaced by prefectures as early as 1869 as losers in the Boshin War or in 1871 when the Han was abolished nationwide . During the first wave of prefectural mergers in 1871/72, the three prefectures Fukushima, Wakamatsu ( 若 松 県 , -ken ) and Iwamae ( 磐 前 県 , -ken ) were created. The Fukushima prefecture got its name from its capital Fukushima , whose name ultimately comes from the castle that no longer exists today, which was the seat of the former Fukushima fief . On August 21, 1876, the latter two prefectures were added to Fukushima Prefecture, which was given its current form.

Location of the Fukushima I nuclear power plant in relation to seven regions of Fukushima Prefecture

In the worst earthquake since measurements began in Japan, the Tōhoku earthquake on March 11, 2011, the prefecture was one of the most seriously affected areas with the second-highest intensity level 6 on the JMA scale . This quake and a tsunami triggered by it also led to serious accidents up to core meltdowns and accidents at the Fukushima I and Fukushima II nuclear power plants , as a result of which a nuclear emergency was declared for the first time in the history of Japan. The evacuation radius around the Fukushima I power plant of 20 km, which was designated after the nuclear accident, was converted into a restricted zone on April 21, 2011, which can only be entered with an official special permit.

politics

Political groups in the prefectural parliament
(as of November 20, 2019)

    

A total of 58 seats

• LDP : 31
• Kenmin Rengō ("Prefectural Citizens Association "; DVP , KDP , SDP , non-party): 18
• KPY : 5
• Kōmeitō : 4

Former Lieutenant Governor Masao Uchibori has been the governor of Fukushima since 2014 . In the 2018 gubernatorial election he was confirmed for a second term with over 90% of the vote. The turnout fell to 45.04%, the second lowest value after 2010 . The prefectural parliament with its regular 58 members was last re-elected in November 2019 . The Liberal Democratic Party gained two seats to 31, an absolute majority. The People's Democratic Party received ten seats (−1), the Japanese Communist Party unchanged five. The voter turnout fell by around five points compared to the 2015 election to a new record low of 41.68%.

In the national parliament , Fukushima is represented by five directly elected members of the House of Representatives - in 2017 the LDP won three of the five constituencies in Fukushima , the Democrats Emi Kaneko and Kōichirō Genba , who were candidates without party nominations, won constituencies 1 and 3.The prefecture has only been elected to the council house since 2013 now one instead of two MPs, which means that it is now one of the single-seat constituencies that often make decisions. In 2016 , democrat Teruhiko Mashiko Fukushima narrowly won against the second incumbent, Mitsuhide Iwaki , and in 2019 , liberal democrat Masako Mori prevailed against opposition candidate Sachiko Mizuno.

Administrative division

A regional division of
Hamadōri Prefecture :

Sōma ( 相 馬 , in some contexts with Futa ba read as 相 双 , Sino-Japanese Sōsō )

Futaba ( 双 葉 , possibly with Sō ma as Sōsō )

Iwaki ( い わ き )

Nakadōri:

Fukushima ( 福島 , possibly with Adachi to the "prefectural order", 県 北 , kenpoku )

Adachi ( 安達 , possibly with Fukushima to the "prefectural north ")

Kōriyama ( 郡山 ) / "prefectural center" ( 県 中 , kenchū )

Shirakawa ( 白河 ) / "prefectural south " ( 県 南 , kennan )

Aizu:

Kitakata ( 喜 多方 ), possibly with Wakamatsu but without South Aizu as Aizu

Aizu-Wakamatsu ( 会 津 若 松 ), possibly with Kitakata but without South Aizu as Aizu

"South Aizu" ( 南 会 津 , Minami-Aizu )

Since 2008 there are still 59 municipalities in Fukushima: 13 [district] cities (- shi ) - three of them in a special form for big cities -, 31 [district] cities (- machi ) and 15 village communities (- mura ) . After the introduction of today's community forms in the Great Meiji Territorial Reform in 1889, there were initially over 400 communities in 21 districts and no independent city, the first became the city of Wakamatsu in 1899 (Aizu-Wakamatsu since extensive incorporation in 1955) from the Northern Aizu district ( Kita-Aizu ) . The capital Fukushima was detached from Shinobu County in 1907 . Before the Great Shōwa Territorial Reform of the 1950s, Fukushima still had over 350 parishes, and in 2000, before the Great Heisei Territorial Reform, there were 90.

Remarks:

• For the sake of legibility, multi-part place and district names (double places, to differentiate between provincial / regional / fiefdom / prefecture / district names, cardinal points, etc.) and regional authority suffixes have been separated by a hyphen, the other Romanization practice is inconsistent.
• There are areas with an unclear course of the municipality boundaries.

List of parishes in Fukushima (since 2008)

Surname	Suffix / type	Circle (- gun )	Area (October 1, 2019)	Population ( April 1, 2020)	Authority key (07 ... - [check digit])	region
Fukushima (seat of the prefecture administration)	-shi , "core city"	-	767.72 km²	285.035	201		Nakadōri / kenpoku / Fukushima
Aizu-wakamatsu	-shi	-	382.97 km²	118,643	202		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Kōriyama	-shi , "core city"	-	757.2 km²	330.310	203		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Iwaki	-shi , "core city"	-	1,232.02 km²	338.045	204		Hamadōri / Iwaki
Shirakawa	-shi	-	305.32 km²	59,406	205		Nakadōri / kennan / Shirakawa
Sukagawa	-shi	-	279.43 km²	75,493	207		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Kitakata	-shi	-	554.63 km²	46,061	208		Aizu / Kitakata
Sōma	-shi	-	197.79 km²	37,099	209		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Sōma
Nihonmatsu	-shi	-	344.42 km²	54,995	210		Nakadōri / kenpoku / Adachi
Tamura	-shi	-	458.33 km²	35,532	211		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Minami-Sōma	-shi	-	398.58 km²	53,179	212		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Sōma
Date	-shi	-	265.12 km²	58,891	213		Nakadōri / kenpoku / Fukushima
Motomiya	-shi	-	88.02 km²	30,334	214		Nakadōri / kenpoku / Adachi
Koori	-machi	Date	42.97 km²	11,586	301		Nakadōri / kenpoku / Fukushima
Kunimi	-machi	Date	37.95 km²	8796	303		Nakadōri / kenpoku / Fukushima
Kawamata	-machi	Date	127.7 km²	12,861	308		Nakadōri / kenpoku / Fukushima
Ōtama	-mura	Adachi	79.44 km²	8932	322		Nakadōri / kenpoku / Adachi
Kagamiishi	-machi	Iwase	31.3 km²	12,286	342		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Ten'ei	-mura	Iwase	225.52 km²	5198	344		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Shimogō	-machi	Minami-aizu	317.04 km²	5159	362		Aizu / Minami-Aizu
Hinoemata	-mura	Minami-aizu	390.46 km²	539	364		Aizu / Minami-Aizu
Tadami	-machi	Minami-aizu	747.56 km²	4070	367		Aizu / Minami-Aizu
Minami-aizu	-machi	Minami-aizu	886.47 km²	14,523	368		Aizu / Minami-Aizu
Kitashiobara	-mura	Yama	234.08 km²	2554	402		Aizu / Kitakata
Nishi-aizu	-machi	Yama	298.18 km²	5701	405		Aizu / Kitakata
Bandai	-machi	Yama	59.77 km²	3360	407		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Inawashiro	-machi	Yama	394.85 km²	13,613	408		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Aizu fear	-machi	Kawanuma	91.59 km²	15,162	421		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Yugawa	-mura	Kawanuma	16.37 km²	3030	422		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Yanaizu	-machi	Kawanuma	175.85 km²	3111	423		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Mishima	-machi	Ōnuma	90.81 km²	1468	444		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Kaneyama	-machi	Ōnuma	293.92 km²	1923	445		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Shōwa	-mura	Ōnuma	209.46 km²	1198	446		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Aizu Misato	-machi	Ōnuma	276.33 km²	19,395	447		Aizu / Aizu-Wakamatsu
Nishigō	-mura	Nishi-Shirakawa	192.06 km²	20,457	461		Nakadōri / kennan / Shirakawa
Izumizaki	-mura	Nishi-Shirakawa	35.43 km²	6229	464		Nakadōri / kennan / Shirakawa
Nakajima	-mura	Nishi-Shirakawa	18.92 km²	4816	465		Nakadōri / kennan / Shirakawa
Yabuki	-machi	Nishi-Shirakawa	60.4 km²	16,866	466		Nakadōri / kennan / Shirakawa
Tanagura	-machi	Higashi-Shirakawa	159.93 km²	13,395	481		Nakadōri / kennan / Shirakawa
Yamatsuri	-machi	Higashi-Shirakawa	118.27 km²	5451	482		Nakadōri / kennan / Shirakawa
Hanawa	-machi	Higashi-Shirakawa	211.41 km²	8315	483		Nakadōri / kennan / Shirakawa
Samegawa	-mura	Higashi-Shirakawa	131.34 km²	3055	484		Nakadōri / kennan / Shirakawa
Ishikawa	-machi	Ishikawa	115.71 km²	14,459	501		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Tamakawa	-mura	Ishikawa	46.67 km²	6437	502		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Hirata	-mura	Ishikawa	93.42 km²	5897	503		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Asakawa	-machi	Ishikawa	37.43 km²	6077	504		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Furudono	-machi	Ishikawa	163.29 km²	4708	505		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Miharu	-machi	Tamura	72.76 km²	17,436	521		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Ono	-machi	Tamura	125.18 km²	9605	522		Nakadōri / kenchū / Kōriyama
Hirono	-machi	Futaba	58.69 km²	3934	541		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Futaba
Naraha	-machi	Futaba	103.64 km²	3937	542		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Futaba
Tomioka	-machi	Futaba	68.39 km²	1292	543		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Futaba
Kawauchi	-mura	Futaba	197.35 km²	1856	544		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Futaba
Ōkuma	-machi	Futaba	78.71 km²	196	545		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Futaba
Futaba	-machi	Futaba	51.42 km²	0	546		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Futaba
Namie	-machi	Futaba	223.14 km²	937	547		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Futaba
Katsurao	-mura	Futaba	84.37 km²	420	548		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Futaba
Shinchi	-machi	Sōma	46.7 km²	8137	561		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Sōma
Iitate	-mura	Sōma	230.13 km²	1452	564		Hamadōri / Sōsō / Sōma
Sum Fukushima	-ken 13 -shi , 31 -machi , 15 -mura	13 -gun	13,783.9 km²	1,830,006	000

police

The current main building of the prefectural administration of Fukushima in Sugimatsuchō in the city of Fukushima, built in 1954 (extension 1971)

Prefectural Police Bell 412 EP

The Fukushima Prefectural Police ( 福島 県 警察 , Fukushima-ken-keisatsu ) is one of the smaller nationwide, but with around 3,500 police officers is the second largest police force in the Tōhoku police region after that of Miyagi. It has 22 police stations / districts: eleven in Nakadōri, six in Hamadōri and five in Aizu. The police headquarters and the Prefectural Public Security Commission are headquartered in the main building complex of the Prefectural Administration.

Largest towns according to the 2000 and 2005 censuses

local community	Resident October 1, 2000	Resident October 1, 2005
Iwaki	360.138	354,403
Kōriyama	334.824	338.830
Fukushima	291.121	290,867
Aizu-wakamatsu	135,415	131.402
Sukagawa	79,409	80,383
Minamisōma	75,246	72,837
Shirakawa	66,048	65,711
Nihonmatsu	66,077	63.179
Kitakata	58,571	56,396
Tamura	45.052	43,253
Sōma	38,842	38,630

Remarks

1. ↑ Enlargement through incorporation in 2008
2. ↑ Enlargements through incorporations in 2004, 2005
3. ↑ Enlargement through incorporations in 2005
4. ↑ Sum of the population of the forerunner communities that merged in 2006 to form the city of Minami-Sōma; Destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011, the second evacuation zone: nearly 20 km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant located
5. ↑ 2005 merged with other parishes to form a new city of Shirakawa
6. ↑ 2005 merged with other parishes to form a new city Nihonmatsu
7. ↑ 2006 merged with other parishes to form a new city of Kitakata
8. ↑ Sum of the population of the predecessor communities from Tamura County, which merged in 2005 to form the city of Tamura
9. ↑ Destruction by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011

Partnerships

• Stadtbergen in Germany
• British Columbia in Canada
• Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China
• New Zealand

Demographics

Development of the population of the communities in Fukushima between the 2005 and 2010 censuses
Increase

> 10.0%

7.5-10.0%

5.0-7.5%

2.5-5.0%

0.0-2.5%

Decrease

0.0-2.5%

2.5-5.0%

5.0-7.5%

7.5-10.0%

> 10.0%

The prefectural population peaked at 2.13 million in the 1995 census and has declined with every census since then. According to statistics from the prefecture administration, the population of Fukushima as of January 1, 2018 was 1,877,876 in 746,003 households. The proportion of people over 65 years of age reached 30.2% in 2017. In some rural communities, especially in Aizu, it exceeds 40%. In addition to the natural demographic development (declining since 2003) and the emigration mainly to more urban prefectures (the migration balance has been negative since 1995), the consequences of the 2011 earthquake have intensified the population decline in recent years. In 2011, more than 33,000 net people or more than 1.6% of the population left the prefecture, and in 2012 more than 13,000 - in the years before the disaster it had been 7,000 annually. In the following years, this value fell at times to below 2,000 per year. In 2017, the migration balance was back at −7,408, the natural birth balance reached a new low of −11,474. Overall, with the exception of three small municipalities belonging to the district (Ōtama, Nishigō, Shinchi), all municipalities in Fukushima recorded a decrease in population in 2017.

The number of foreigners registered in the municipalities across the prefecture was 12,794 at the end of 2017. This corresponds to a share of foreigners of almost 0.7%. Most of them come from China (People's Republic), the Philippines, Vietnam and Korea (both countries).

• 

  outline

• 

  Wakamatsu Castle

• 

  Abukuma River

• 

  Road signs in Fukushima Prefecture

Web links

Commons : Fukushima Prefecture  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Prefecture website (Japanese, English, German, etc.)
• Fukushima Travel Guide (English)
• Fukushima Prefectural Library (Fukushima kenritsu toshokan) : 明治 初年 白河 ・ 三 春 両 県 の 国 絵 図 ( Meiji shonen Shirakawa, Miharu ryō-ken no kuniezu , "Maps of the two prefectures Shirakawa and Miushharu ] [two of the early predecessors of Fuk Meiima ] -Years ")

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hama-dori. Fukushima Prefecture, accessed December 23, 2011 . 
2. ↑ Naka-dori. Fukushima Prefecture, accessed December 23, 2011 . 
3. ↑ Aizu. Fukushima Prefecture, accessed December 23, 2011 . 
4. ↑ Fukushima Prefectural Administration: On the Day of Prefectural Citizens (kenmin no hi) August 21 (Japanese)
5. ^ History and Tradition. Fukushima Prefecture, accessed March 23, 2011 . 
6. ↑ Tetsuo Ishikawa, Seiji Yasumura, Kotaro Ozasa, Gen Kobashi, Hiroshi Yasuda, Makoto Miyazaki, Keiichi Akahane, Shunsuke Yonai, Akira Ohtsuru, Akira Sakai, Ritsu Sakata, Kenji Kamiya, Masafumi Abe: The Fukushima estimation of Health Management external doses: to residents in Fukushima Prefecture . In: Scientific Reports . tape 5 , no. 12712 , 2015, p. 1-11 , doi : 10.1038 / srep12712 . (Published online on August 4, 2015), here: p. 5, Figure 3 ("Map showing the location of the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP in relation to seven areas of Fukushima Prefecture"); License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
7. ↑ Government establishes a restricted zone around Fukushima. In: Die Zeit , April 21, 2011.
8. ↑ Fukushima Prefectural Parliament : Members by parliamentary group , accessed on November 23, 2019.
9. ↑ 福島 県 知事 選 現 職 の 内 堀 氏 ２ 回 目 の 当選 . In: NHK Senkyo Web. October 29, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2019 (Japanese). 
10. ↑ 2019 福島 県 議 選 各 党 議席 . In: NHK Senkyo Web. November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2019 (Japanese). 
11. ↑ Ishida Satoshi: 郡 区 町 村 編制 法 下 の 郡 ・ 区 （1889 年 1 月） 7 福島 県
12. ↑ Fukushima Prefecture Police: 福島 県 の 警察 署 7/30/1 ("Police stations of Fukushima Prefecture 1.7. [Heisei 30 [= 2018]")]
13. ↑ Fukushima Prefecture Police (Japanese), Information for Foreigners (English, Chinese, Korean)
14. ↑ Fukushima Prefectural Administration: Public Safety Commission (Japanese)
15. ↑ Fukushima Prefectural Administration (Fukushima kenchō) , Statistics Department (tōkei-ka) : 福島 県 現 住 人口 調査 年報 , 福島 県 の 推 計 人口 人口 （福島 県 現 住 人口 調査 年報） 平 成 29 年 版 (pdf), accessed August 11, 2018.
16. ↑ Fukushima Prefectural Administration , International Office (kokusai-ka) : 福島 県 の 国際 化 の 現状 , 01 在 住 外国人 等 の 状況 (pdf), p. 2. Accessed August 11, 2018.

Coordinates: 37 ° 24 '  N , 140 ° 28'  E