Minamisōma, Fukushima

Minamisoma (Japanese南 相 马 市, - shi) is a city in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan.

Geography

The populated urban area was a nearly 10 km wide coastal plain, the east by the Pacific Ocean and west of the Abukuma Highlands (阿 武 隈 高地, Abukuma Kochi) is limited. The latter largely uninhabited and heavily forested hills makes up about half of the administered by the municipality area.

Minamisoma consists of three districts ( ku ), which go back to to 2005 independent communities and therefore do not grow together are: Kashima -ku in the north, Haramachi -ku in the middle and Odaka -ku in the south. The direct coastal area is only sparsely populated and is used mainly for agricultural purposes. The three centers of settlement are therefore located inland about 3-4 km.

Administrative borders Minamisoma the north by the county-level city Sōma, in the northwest of the village of Iitate and community in the southwest and south to the small town of Namie. The next major cities Sendai in the north and in the south Iwaki, both about 75 km away.

History

The city of Minamisoma was (小 高 町, machi - ) founder of the district Sōma on 1 January 2006 by the unification of the city Haramachi (原 町 市, -shi) with the small towns of Kashima (鹿岛 町, machi ) and Odaka. Today, these former communities form districts within Minamisoma, whose name is derived from the county and " South Sōma " means.

On 11 March 2011, the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami which triggered destroyed about 1,800 homes. After it had come at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima I, as a result of the earthquake to a nuclear disaster evacuation zone was established. The municipality Odaka and the southern part of Haramachi, a total of 107 km ² were within the 20- km exclusion zone and were completely evacuated, the rest of Haramachi and the southern part of Kashima, a total of 181 km ², were in the second to 30 km wide zone, in which the evacuation was recommended, while only were the remaining 111 km ² to be safe. For April 16, 2012 Parts of the evacuation zone were canceled, and some formerly completely blocked parts, such Odaka, can re-enter, but not be inhabited. Lived before the disaster still 71 561 inhabitants in the city, were as of February 27, 2014 2,967 deaths to mourn the earthquake and other causes, 20 remained missing, 7,276 moved away, 14,430 were still reported living abroad, and lived 46 868 still in the community.

According to a report by the TV channel 3sat a "normal" life in the city Minamisona is " not " possible. Agricultural areas are on the one hand covered with a layer of mud and debris, and on the other hand, the annual burden is 50 millisieverts.

Attractions

The region that is Minamisoma, Futaba Sōma and the district is known for the Sōma Nomaoi (相 马 野马 追). This National Important Cultural Property as excellent tradition is an annual horse race in late July with riders in full samurai armor, which goes back to the here working previously fief ( han ) Sōma.

In Minamisoma the listed Sakurai Kofun (桜 井 古坟), a hill grave with 74.5 m circumference and 6.8 m height from the 4th or 5th century is located. Another monument protected work is the Daihi -san no Sekibutsu (大悲山 の 石仏), a group of several stone Buddhas that were carved into the rock at a time. The Urajiri also a heritage - Kaizuka (浦 尻 贝 冢) is a Køkkenmøddinger with settlement remains from the prehistoric Jōmon period.

To the north is the combustion power plant Haramachi (原 町 火力 発 电 所, Haramachi karyoku hatsudensho ) with breakwaters, the incoming protrude more than 1.5 km into the sea. Because of the waves generated thereby the immediate area was a popular surf beach.

Traffic

The most important trunk road is the Joban highway to Misato in the prefecture of Saitama or Watari in Miyagi Prefecture. More important are the National Road 6 by Chūō in Tokyo and Sendai, and the National Road 114 after the Fukushima prefectural capital or in neighboring Namie.

At the national rail network is on the JR Joban Minamisoma - line, which will also drive on the express Super Hitachi, connected to Sendai or Ueno. The maintenance stations in the city are Momouchi, Odaka, Iwaki - Ōta, Haranomachi and Kashima, where Haranomachi is the main station.

Education

In Minamisoma are 16 elementary schools, 6 middle schools and 4 operated by the prefecture government high schools, which differ in their specializations:

• High school Haramachi (福岛 県 立 原 町 高等学校, Fukushima kenritsu Haramachi Kōtō Gakko )
• The Agricultural High School Minamisoma (相 马 农业 高等学校, Fukushima kenritsu Minamisoma nōgyō Kōtō Gakko )
• The Technical High School Odaka (福岛 県 立 小 高 工业 高等学校, Fukushima kenritsu Odaka Kōgyō Kōtō Gakko ) and
• The Handelsoberschule Odaka (福岛 県 立 小 高 商业 高等学校, Fukushima kenritsu Odaka shōgyō Kōtō Gakko ).

Add to that the private Shoei High School (松 栄 高等学校, Shoei Kōtō Gakko ).

As part of the evacuation Odakas, the two secondary schools, the middle school Odaka, and the four primary schools were umverlegt in other neighborhoods.