Date, Fukushima

Date
伊達市
City
Date City Hall

Flag
Seal

Location of Date in Fukushima Prefecture
Date
 
Coordinates: 37°49′8.9″N 140°33′46.7″E / 37.819139°N 140.562972°E / 37.819139; 140.562972Coordinates: 37°49′8.9″N 140°33′46.7″E / 37.819139°N 140.562972°E / 37.819139; 140.562972
Country Japan
Region Tōhoku
Prefecture Fukushima
Area
 • Total 265.12 km2 (102.36 sq mi)
Population (March 31, 2018)
 • Total 61,207
 • Density 230/km2 (600/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+9 (Japan Standard Time)
- Tree Pinus densiflora
- Flower Peach
- Bird Wagtail
Phone number 024-575-2570
Address 180 Hobaramachi aza Funabashi, Date-shi, Fukushima-ken 960-0692
Website Official website

Date (伊達市, Date-shi) is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 May 2018, the city had an estimated population of 61,207 in 22,590 households and a population density of 230 persons per km2. The total area of the city was 265.10 square kilometres (102.36 sq mi).[1]

Geography

Date occupies the eastern half of the Fukushima Basin in northern Fukushima prefecture, with Miyagi Prefecture on its northern border. The area was once noted for sericulture.

Neighboring municipalities

Climate

Date has a humid climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa). The average annual temperature in Date is 12.8 °C (55.0 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,227 mm (48.3 in) with September as the wettest month.The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.5 °C (77.9 °F), and lowest in January, at around 1.4 °C (34.5 °F).[2]

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,[3] , the population of Date has declined over the past 40 years.

Census Year Population
1970 73,767
1980 74,186
1990 74,200
2000 71,817
2010 66,027

History

The area of present-day Date was part of ancient Mutsu Province, and was the ancestral home of the Date clan, which rose to prominence from the Kamakura period, and which ruled Sendai Domain during the Edo period. Under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate, most of the area was initially part of Yonezawa Domain, followed by Fukushima Domain and Yanagawa Domain before becoming tenryō territory under direct control of the shogunate, and was not part of the Date clan territories. After the Meiji Restoration, the area was organized as part of Nakadōri region of Iwaki Province, and administratively into numerous villages with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1898. On April 1, 1940, the village of Nagaoka became the town of Date.

The modern city of Date was established on January 1, 2006, from the merger of the towns of Date with Hobara, Ryōzen, Tsukidate and Yanagawa (all from Date District). The central locality is former Hobara.

A whole body skeleton of Paleoparadoxia was excavated in Yanagawa on August 21, 1984. The skeleton is named the “Yanagawa Specimen”.

Date is about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north-west of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the nuclear accident that followed the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Although outside the nuclear accident exclusion zone, the levels of radiation in the city caused residents, and especially schoolchildren, to remain indoors.[4]

Government

Date has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 25 members.

Economy

The economy of Date is primarily agricultural, with an emphasis on rice and horticulture. The area is noted for its peaches and dried persimmons. Taiyo Yuden operates a CD and DVD production plant in the Yanagawa Industrial Zone in Date, Fukushima.

Education

Date has 22 public elementary schools and six public junior high schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education. The city also has one private high school

  • Fukushima Prefectural Hobara High School
  • Fukushima Prefectural Yanagawa High School
  • Seiko Gakuin High School

Transportation

Railway

Highway

Local attractions

  • Ryōzen Shrine
  • site of Yanagawa Castle, the original home of the Date clan

International relations

Media related to Date, Fukushima at Wikimedia Commons

Notes

  1. ↑ "Date official home page" (in Japanese). Japan: Date city.
  2. ↑ Date climate data
  3. ↑ Date population statistics
  4. ↑ Takahiko Hyuga and Shigeru Sato (11 May 2011). "Fukushima Students Wear Masks as Radiation Looms". Bloomberg. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
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