is located on
Kyūshū Island,
Japan. The capital is the city of
Kumamoto.
History
Historically the area was called
Higo province and was renamed to Kumamoto prefecture during the
Meiji Restoration as part of the
abolition of the feudal system. Kumamoto literally means "bear root/origin", or, in less stilted English, "origin of the bear".
Geography
Map of Kumamoto Prefecture showing municipal boundries.
Kumamoto Prefecture is located in the center of
Kyūshū, the southernmost of the four major Japanese islands. It is bordered by the
Ariake inland sea and the
Amakusa archipelago to the west,
Fukuoka Prefecture and
ÅŒita Prefecture to the north,
Miyazaki Prefecture to the east, and
Kagoshima Prefecture to the south.
Mt.
Aso (1592 m), an extensive active
volcano, is in the east of Kumamoto Prefecture. This volcano is located at the center of the Aso
caldera, the most famous
caldera in Japan.
Cities
Fourteen cities are located in Kumamoto Prefecture:
Towns and villages
Towns and villages in each
district:
Mergers
Main articles: Merger and dissolution of municipalities of Japan
★ On
April 1,
2003, the municipalities of
Fukada,
Menda,
Ue,
Sue and
Okaharu from
Kuma District merged to form the new town of
Asagiri.
★ On
March 31,
2004, the
towns of
Himedo,
Matsushima,
Oyano and
Ryugatake from
Amakusa District merged to form the new
city of
Kami-Amakusa.
★ On
November 1, 2004, the
towns of
Chuo and
Tomochi from
Shimomashiki District merged to form the new town of
Misato.
★ On
January 1,
2005, the
towns of
Tanoura and
Ashikita from
Ashikita District merged to form the new town of
Ashikita.
★ On
January 15,
2005, the
towns of
Misumi and
Shiranuhi from
Uto District and the
towns of
Matsubase,
Ogawa and
Toyono from
Shimomashiki District merged to form the new
city of
Uki.
Uto District was dissolved with this merger.
★ On
January 15,
2005, the
city of
Yamaga merged with the
towns of
Kahoku,
Kamoto,
Kao and
Kikuka from
Kamoto District to form the new
city of
Yamaga.
★ On
February 11,
2005, the municipalities of
Aso,
Ichinomiya and
Namino from
Aso District merged to form the new
city of
Aso.
★ On
February 11,
2005, the municipalities of
Yabe and
Seiwa from
Kamimashiki District and
Soyo from
Aso District merged to form the new town of
Yamato in
Kamimashiki District.
★ On
February 13,
2005, the villages of
Choyo,
Hakusui and
Kugino from
Aso District merged to form the new village of
Minamiaso.
★ On
March 22,
2005, the
city of
Kikuchi merged with the municipalities of
Kyokushi,
Shichijo and
Shisui from
Kikuchi District to form the new
city of
Kikuchi.
★ On
August 1,
2005, the
city of
Yatsushiro merged with the municipalities of
Izumi,
Kagami,
Sakamoto,
Sencho and
Toyo from
Yatsushiro District to form the new
city of
Yatsushiro.
★ On
October 1,
2005, the towns of
Miyahara and
Ryuhoku from
Yatsushiro District merged to form the new town of
Hikawa.
★ On
October 3,
2005, the
city of
Tamana merged with the towns of
Taimei,
Tensui and
Yokoshima from
Tamana District to form the new
city of
Tamana.
★ On
February 27,
2006, the towns of
Koshi and
Nishigoshi from
Kikuchi District merged to form the
city of
Koshi.
★ On
March 1,
2006, the towns of
Kikusui and
Mikawa from
Tamana District merged to form the new town of
Nagomi.
★ On
March 27,
2006, the cities of
Hondo and
Ushibuka merged with the towns of
Amakusa,
Ariake,
Goshoura,
Itsuwa,
Kawaura,
Kuratake,
Shinwa and
Sumoto (all from
Amakusa District) to form the new
city of
Amakusa.
Economy
Kumamoto hosts a large
Honda automobile plant. Beginning in 2007, a Honda factory on the site will produce non-silicon
solar cells for homes and businesses, with a projected capacity roughly equivalent to 8,000 households/year.
[1]
Sports
The sports teams listed below are based in Kumamoto.
Football (soccer)
★
Rosso Kumamoto (
Kumamoto city)
Demographics
Tourism
Prefectural symbols
Miscellaneous topics
Kumamoto Prefecture is the 'sister state/prefecture' of
Montana in the
U.S.A.[2]
External links
★
Official Kumamoto Prefecture homepage
★
Kumamoto Links
★
Wikitravel guide to Kumamoto
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