Shima is located on the southern half of Shima Peninsula in far eastern Mie Prefecture, facing Ise Bay of the Pacific Ocean. The city has a complicated rias coast with two large inlets: Matoya Bay and Ago Bay. Matoya Bay is famous for oyster cultivation and Ago Bay is famous for pearl cultivation. Both are sightseeing spots and all of the city is within the borders of the Ise-Shima National Park.
Shima has three inhabited islands; Watakano Island, Kashiko Island and Masaki Island. Watakano Island is located in Matoya Bay, and the others are in Ago Bay.
Shima has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Shima is 16.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1965 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 6.8 °C.[3]
Demographics
Per Japanese census data,[4] the population of Shima has decreased rapidly over the past 20 years.
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±%
1950
65,444
—
1960
65,266
−0.3%
1970
62,032
−5.0%
1980
63,065
+1.7%
1990
62,877
−0.3%
2000
61,628
−2.0%
2010
54,694
−11.3%
2020
46,057
−15.8%
History
All of Shima was within the borders of ancient Shima Province. With the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the town of Waga and villages of Katada, Fuseda, Koshiga, and Goza were established. The town of Shima was established on December 1, 1954 by the merger of these municipalities. Shima was raised to city status on October 1, 2004, from the merger of the former town of Shima with the towns of Ago, Daiō, Hamajima and Isobe (all from Shima District). Recently there has been anger from its famous divers aimed at its sexist new tourist mascot.[5]
Government
Shima has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 20 members. Shima contributes two members to the Mie Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Mie 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.
Economy
Commercial fishing and tourism play important roles in the local economy.
Education
Shima has seven public elementary schools and six public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Mie Prefectural Department of Education. There is also one private high school.
