Yatsushiro, Kumamoto
Encyclopedia
is a city
Cities of Japan
||A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of...

 located in Kumamoto
Kumamoto Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyushu Island. The capital is the city of Kumamoto.- History :Historically the area was called Higo Province; and the province was renamed Kumamoto during the Meiji Restoration. The creation of prefectures was part of the abolition of the feudal system...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

On August 1, 2005, the city merged with the municipalities of Izumi
Izumi, Kumamoto
was a village located in Yatsushiro District, Kumamoto, Japan.On August 1, 2005 Izumi, along with the towns of Kagami and Senchō, and the villages of Sakamoto and Tōyō, all from Yatsushiro District, was merged into the expanded city of Yatsushiro and no longer exists as an independent...

, Kagami
Kagami, Kumamoto
was a town located in Yatsushiro District, Kumamoto, Japan.On August 1, 2005 Kagami, along with the town of Senchō, and the villages of Izumi, Sakamoto and Tōyō, all from Yatsushiro District, was merged into the expanded city of Yatsushiro and no longer exists as an independent municipality.As of...

, Sakamoto
Sakamoto, Kumamoto
was a village located in Yatsushiro District, Kumamoto, Japan.On August 1, 2005 Sakamoto, along with the towns of Kagami and Senchō, and the villages of Izumi and Tōyō, all from Yatsushiro District, was merged into the expanded city of Yatsushiro and no longer exists as an independent...

, Senchō
Sencho, Kumamoto
was a town located in Yatsushiro District, Kumamoto, Japan.On August 1, 2005 Senchō, along with the town of Kagami, and the villages of Izumi, Sakamoto and Tōyō, all from Yatsushiro District, was merged into the expanded city of Yatsushiro and no longer exists as an independent municipality.As of...

 and Tōyō
Toyo, Kumamoto
was a village located in Yatsuhiro District, Kumamoto, Japan.On August 1, 2005 Tōyō, along with the towns of Kagami and Senchō, and the villages of Izumi and Sakamoto, all from Yatsushiro District, was merged into the expanded city of Yatsushiro and no longer exists as an independent municipality...

 to form the new expanded city of Yashushiro.

As of April 30, 2011, Yatsuhiro has a population of 133,630 and a density of 196.34 persons per km². The total area is 680.59 km².

Yatsushiro is known for its Myokensai festival on November 23 of each year, which includes a parade of horses through the streets of the city. Also, each fall Yatsushiro hosts one of Japan's largest fireworks displays.

Yatsushiro is known locally for its banpeiyu fruits which bear a resemblance to hugely over-sized grapefruits.

The city's landmarks include the ruins of Yatsushiro Castle (now part of a shinto shrine) and the often overlooked port area that offers magnificent views of the nearby Amakusa islands
Amakusa
Amakusa is a series of islands belonging to Japan, off the west coast of Kyushu . The biggest of the Amakusa islands is Shimoshima Island, 26.5 miles long and 13.5 miles in extreme width...

 and the local paper factory.

A flight of 777 stairs into the nearby mountains is located at one end of the town and is a popular attraction. The lookout point provides a panoramic view of the town and the coastal areas.

The main shopping area, the honmachi, is a covered arcade that runs for several city blocks. However, since the opening of two large malls nearby the area has been in decline.

Famous people from Yatsushiro

  • Aki Yashiro
    Aki Yashiro
    , real name Akiko Masuda on August 29, 1950 in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan), is a Japanese enka singer and painter...

    , singer
  • Eri Ishida, actress
  • Junichi Kashiwabara, baseball player
  • Kaiseki Sata, monk
  • Kazumi Sonokawa, baseball player
  • Kimiko Jinnai, badminton player
  • Kosuke Noda, baseball player
  • Matsuki Miyazaki
    Matsuki Miyazaki
    was a Japanese medical doctor, the director of the Kyushu Sanatorium in Kumamoto, Japan. He studied war and leprosy and found that stress was a great factor in the development of leprosy. He later established a leprosy center belonging to Japan Leprosy Mission of Asia, in India...

    , doctor
  • Nobuhiko Matsunaka
    Nobuhiko Matsunaka
    is a left fielder and designated hitter for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.Matsunaka is the only active hitter in Japanese professional baseball to have ever led the league in all three Triple Crown categories in the same season...

    , baseball player
  • Nobuyuki Hirai, weather presenter
  • Shoko Asahara
    Shoko Asahara
    , born on March 2, 1955, is a founder of the controversial Japanese new religious group Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway and several other crimes, for which he was sentenced to death...

    , founder of Aum Shinrikyo
    Aum Shinrikyo
    Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....

  • Yujiro Fukushima, composer
  • Yuriko Hatano, announcer

External links

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