The name of Kotoura in Japanese is formed from two kanji. The first, 琴, refers to the traditional Japanese 13-stringmusical instrument, and the second, 浦 means "cove". The name of the town is taken from a stretch of the coast on the Japan Sea called Koto-no-ura (琴ノ浦).
Kotoura is classified as a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kotoura is 15.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2097 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.1 °C.[2]
Demography
Per Japanese census data,[3] the population of Kotoura has been as follows. The population has been slowly declining since the 1950s
Following the Meiji restoration, the area was organized into villages within Tōhaku District, Tottori Prefecture The town of Kotoura was formed on September 1, 2004 by the merger of the towns of Tōhaku and Akasaki.
Government
Kotoura has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral town council of eight members. Kotoura, collectively with the other municipalities of Tōhaku District, contributes three members to the Tottori Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Tottori 2nd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.
Economy
The economy of Kotoura is based agriculture and food processing, including sake and soy sauce brewing.
Education
Kotoura has four public elementary schools and two public junior high schools operated by the town government. The town does not have high school, but the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education operates a special education school for the handicapped.
^"Kotoura". Nihon Daihyakka Zensho (Nipponika) (日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ) “Large Encyclopedia of Japan (Nipponika)”) (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. Archived from the original on 2007-08-25. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
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