Oita

About Oita

Oita Prefecture covers 6,340.63 square kilometers, population about 1.065 million, capital Oita City 467,000 nearly half prefectural population designated core city. Mountains occupy 70 percent, with the Kuju range in the west including Naka-dake at 1,791 meters, the highest on Kyushu mainland, plus Sobo-Katamuki at 1,756 meters in the south designated as Sobo Katamuki Kokonoe Quasi-National Park. Plains limited to Nakatsu 79,000, Usa, Oita, and Saeki. Coastally it faces the Seto Inland Sea in the north with shallow sun, Bungo Strait to Shikoku in the east with a 10 km narrows between Saki Cape Oita and Sada Cape Ehime, strong current 12 knots, and the rias of Nippou Kaigan in the south designated as Nippou Kaigan Quasi-National Park. Old provinces were Buzen northern and Bungo main. In Edo it was divided into eight domains: Nakatsu 100,000 koku, Kitsuki, Hiji, Funai, Usuki, Saiki, Oka which is now Taketa 70,000, and Mori, with Hita as Tokugawa direct control tenryo managing Kyushu's tenryo via Saigoku-suji gundai daikan. On November 14, 1871 these were merged into Oita Prefecture, with Usa and Shimoge counties added from Fukuoka on August 21, 1876 to fix present borders, and Hisha mergers 58 to 18 municipalities in 2004-2006. Climate is transitional from Seto Inland type to Pacific side, four zones in weather forecasts. Northern area sees cloudy winters with monsoon through Kanmon Strait with occasional snow, central is clearer with mild winters 6.5C and small daily range, western inland basins Ebino? foggy with thunderstormed summers and 1,600-1,800 mm, southern is warm and rainy with typhoon downpours 1,800 mm borderline. Annual rainfall under 1,600 mm in Seto type areas, over 3,000 mm in upper mountains like Kuju with mist forest. Setouchi type I has drought risk with reservoir. Oita brands itself as Japan's No.1 Onsen Prefecture, with 4,445 sources and 279,253 liters per minute outflow, both national highs, using catchphrase Onsen-ken Oita. Beppu Onsen's Jigoku Meguri hell tour of seven colored ponds including cobalt blue Umi-Jigoku and blood-red Chi-no-Ike and Yufuin Onsen with Mt. Yufu 1,584 m daruma shape backdrop are internationally famous with many ryokan. Industry features premium fisheries – Seki-aji mackerel and Seki-saba caught in fast current of Hoyo Strait branded only when landed at Sashima port, Shiroshita karei flounder royal fish Edo, plus fugu tiger, eel, plus dried shiitake with star-marked Oita shiitake often topping national contests with Donko thick, and kabosu citrus squeezed on grilled fish reducing fish smell. Bungo beef marbled. The Oita coastal industrial complex hosts Nippon Steel Oita Works with No.1 blast furnace and chemical ENEOS, while northern Nakatsu clusters around Daihatsu Kyushu vehicle assembly since 2004 forming northern Kyushu automotive zone with Fukuoka's Toyota, Nissan. Isson-Ippin One Village One Product movement started here under Governor Morihiko Hiramatsu in 1979 inspiring worldwide replication in Thailand OTOP. Tourism highlights include Beppu's eight baths Takegawara with sand bath, Yufuin basin with Mt. Yufu and Lake Kinrinko morning mist of torii, Takasaki Monkey Park with over.