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is a city located in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan.
As of March 2006, the city has an estimated population of 133,802 (Men 61,249; Women 72,553) and the density of 1,654.49 persons per km². The total area is 81.55 km².
The current mayor is Michio Koga.

Contents

Geography

History

Sister Cities

Industry

Transport

Airport

Railroad

Bus

Road

Shipping

External links

Geography

Omuta is located in the southernmost end of Fukuoka prefecture, is bordered by the Ariake Sea in the west, and meets Kumamoto prefecture to the south and east.
It contains Yamagi and Miike mountains, and the rivers Omuta, Suwa, Doumen and Kumagawa.

History

The oldest reference to Ōmuta, precisely Kunugi, one of a neighborhood in the current Ōmuta city, is found in ''Nihonshoki'' (720), the chapter of Emperor Keikō, whose historical existence is doubtful[1].
In the late 12th Century, three ponds were formed. This is supposed to be a result of volcano activities. Miike, one of neighborhood in Ōmuta is named after those three ponds (jp: " mi-ike").
In 1469 a farmer named Denzaemon found eventually coal in mountains, when he made a bonfire. Coal mining would become the main industry in this area.
In Edo period, Ōmuta was basically a part of Miike han (Miike Domain) and ruled by Tachibana clan who ruled also Yanagawa. In 1721, Ono Harunobu, karō (steward) of Yanagawa han (Yanagawa Domain) was granted Hirano Takatori yama and started to mine coal. In 1850s other two coal mines were opened.
In 1871, in a course of Meiji restoration, Han system was abolished and prefectures were founded. Ōmuta belonged to Miike (1871), Mizuma (1871-1876) and finally Fukuoka prefectures (1876-present) respectively.
Township Ōmuta and Miike, which would formed the core of the current city, were founded on April 1, 1889, in consequence of town and village administrative system, as towns in Miike county, Fukuoka. Meiji government ran coal mining in Miike at first themselves, but soon sold it to a private company in very low price, comparing with its value, and caused a scandal.
On March 1, 1917, Ōmuta got the city status. Ōmuta city had developed as an industrial city which centered on the Miike coal mine which existed from the 1860s to 1997. In 1891 railway began to operate, connecting Ōmuta with Fukuoka, which is operated today as Kagoshima Main Line. In 1902 Miike Port opened on Ariake Bay. New coal mines were opened, and Ōmuta became an industrial center in this region. 1908 Miike Port was opened to foreigners and in the next year Trade Taxation Office were settled along the port, as a branch of Nagasaki Trade Taxation Office.
While miners enjoyed good wage, their working conditions were not completely good as well as other Japanese laborers in general. In 1918 and 1924, big strikes and other protests arose respectively. Through a long time activities, in 1930s we found some improvement: women, prisoners and horses were no more found in mines, and miners were hired directly by the company.
In 1921 and 1941, mergers with Ōmuta and neighbor towns and villages occurred respectively, and in 1941 the city became as large as it is now. The 1941 merger was a side effect of World War II: the government led mergers in many places, thinking it would make municipal administrative more efficient. During the war, Ōmuta was bombed in 1944 and 1945, not only industrial area but also downtown.
In the late 1950s, Ōmuta reached its culmination. In 1959, Ōmuta recorded its largest population, 208,877. But Japanese industry began to switch their main energy resource from coal to oil. Coal mining became less popular and popular, many mines were closed, while Miike Mine remained one of the biggest coal mine in Japan until its closure in 1997. Many people left the city, since they couldn't find their new workplace around the city. It affects local economy in entire, and many shops in its downtown were closed consequently.
In 1960, the Japanese media observed the Miike dispute which was linked with the reform of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the United States of America.

Sister Cities

★ Datong (northern Shanxi Province in China)

★ Muskegon, Michigan (United States of America)

Industry

For the majority of its past in the modern age, Omuta was a coal mining town. However, with the recent closure of the Miike mine, industry has focused elsewhere.
Thanks to coal mining, chemical industry was developed. Currently, there is movement in the environmental recycling industry, centered on the generation of electricity from waste products.
Another main industry is Alminium fining, which has been also in a hard situation due to high price of electricity in Japan and its international competency is insufficient.
Commercial fishing continues out of the port, Kurosaki.

Transport

Airport

Saga and Kumamoto Airports are close, but a great many more passengers transit to or from Omuta through Fukuoka Airport due to its greater number of connecting flights and additional services.

Railroad

The city is serviced by JR Kyushu's Kagoshima Main Line for national intercity rail services which connects the city with Fukuoka, Kurume, Kumamoto or Kagoshima directly. JR provides also two night train services, one is bound to Kyoto, another to Tokyo. Formerly those night trains connected those cities with Kagoshima, but now their terminal is located in Kumamoto, due to decrease of numbers passengers in the past decades. Nishi-Nippon Railroad runs the Tenjin Omuta Line connecting Omuta to Fukuoka, in addition to industrial freight services.

Bus

General Shuttle and High-Speed buses are provided to nearby cities and airports by Nishi-Nippon Railroad

Road

Omuta is serviced by two Japanese national highways (208 & 389).

Shipping

Docks at Port Miike are the main way to approach the city by sea.

External links

★ Omuta official website in Japanese

★ Omuta official website in English