On this town’s shore there is an old shrine said to hold a history of more than sixteen hundred years. Enshrined there is a figure told in legend to have subdued the eastern lands. This land, a fishing shore that caught bonito of old, as the modern age drove its boats by power and made them larger, widened its fishing grounds from the coast to distant seas. Now it holds one of the country’s leading fishing ports, landing bonito and tuna caught in distant seas. This town, which was the shore of an old shrine, went on increasing its population until recent years. Yaizu’s numbers are the record of a town inscribed with the shore of an old shrine and deep-sea fishing.
A city opening onto the plain facing Suruga Bay, in the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. To read the population, a merger must be taken into account. In 2008, Yaizu City incorporated a neighboring town and widened its city area. The population in 2005, before the incorporation, was 120,109, and 143,249 in 2010, through the incorporation. From there it moved on to 136,845 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "the town of the fishing port," but the causal thread: how the history — the shore of an old shrine and deep-sea fishing — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · See the present Yaizu in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about one hundred forty thousand (136,845 in 2020). To read this city’s population, a merger must be taken into account. In 2008, Yaizu City incorporated a neighboring town and widened its city area. The population in 2005, before the incorporation, was 120,109, and 143,249 in 2010, through the incorporation. From there, through 139,462 in 2015 to 136,845 in 2020, it has come down gently after the incorporation. The step in population between 2005 and 2010 in this article mirrors that widening of the city area by incorporation.
Looking inside the figures, the form of a town holding fishing and industry appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 17.0% in 2000 to 29.9% in 2020, but amid the many provincial cities nearing four in ten, it stays at about three in ten. The household-with-children share is high at 22.6% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.82 in fiscal 2023 — a high level for a provincial city, whose own tax revenue can cover something over eight-tenths of expenditure. The figure of the shore of an old shrine, keeping its population nearly constant in the post-incorporation city area while keeping its youth comparatively, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the shore of an old shrine and deep-sea fishing.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency) / Real Estate Information Library (MLIT)
02 · The old shrine enshrining a god who subdued the east, from the bonito shore to deep-sea tuna, the incorporation that widened the city area — the history behind the numbers
This town’s skeleton is set by the shore of an old shrine said to hold a history of more than sixteen hundred years, by the fishing that widened from that shore to distant seas, and by the incorporation that widened the city area. The old layer is the shrine and the shore. On this town’s shore there is an old shrine said to hold a history of more than sixteen hundred years, enshrining a figure told in legend to have subdued the eastern lands. At the start of the year, a festival drawing on that tradition has also continued. The people of this shore went out to the sea and caught fish of old, and among them the fishing for bonito was active from the Edo era.
And in the modern age, the fishing of this shore changed its character. Coming to drive its boats by power rather than wind or oar, and making the boats larger, the fishing grounds widened from the coast to distant seas far off. The fishing for tuna grew in addition to bonito, and this shore grew into a base of deep-sea fishing, landing fish caught in distant seas. Under state policy, the development of the fishing port also advanced, and this port became one of the country’s leading fishing ports for landings. The industry of processing the caught fish also took root in the town. The path to becoming a city, too, mirrors this town. This land gained city status in the mid-Showa era, and in 2008 it incorporated a neighboring town and widened its city area. From the shore of an old shrine enshrining a god who subdued the east, to a port that lands tuna from distant seas — this town’s shape stands upon the history of shrine and fishing held by this shore facing Suruga Bay.
Source: Yaizu Fishing Port (a bonito-fishing port since the Edo era; mechanized and enlarged in the modern era into a deep-sea tuna-fishing base; a designated Class-3 fishing port of the state — overview) / Yaizu City (city status in 1951 / the incorporation of Oigawa Town in 2008 / Yaizu Shrine = a shrine of more than 1,600 years enshrining Yamato Takeru / deep-sea fishing — overview)
03 · In the town of the deep-sea fishing port, keeping the post-incorporation population nearly constant and keeping its youth comparatively
What characterizes Yaizu is that, while holding the history of a base of deep-sea fishing, it keeps the post-incorporation city area’s population nearly constant and keeps its youth comparatively. From 143,249 in 2010, through the incorporation, to 136,845 in 2020, about six thousand decreased in ten years, but it still keeps about one hundred forty thousand. The port landing fish caught in distant seas and the industry of processing fish support the town’s life, and the location of the plain in the central part of the prefecture has been blessed with convenience for commuting to nearby cities. Fishing, processing and commuting convenience overlap, and the town has kept its population from greatly collapsing, as it can be read. That the share aged 65 and over stays at about three in ten at 29.9% in 2020, and that the household-with-children share is high at 22.6%, are expressions of that.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.82 is a level whose own tax revenue can cover something over eight-tenths of expenditure, high for a provincial city. Deep-sea fishing, the processing industry and the income of the residents give thickness to the tax source, as it can be read. The shore of an old shrine now keeps its population nearly constant in the post-incorporation city area while keeping its youth comparatively. The population slightly decreased after incorporation, the aging is about three in ten, and the fiscal stamina is high. That these line up to point in a young direction is because deep-sea fishing and the processing industry have kept the working generation’s places to work on the shore.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · The town that lands bonito and tuna from distant seas, from the shore enshrining a god who subdued the east
Yaizu holds several functions of its own. One is the history of the shore of an old shrine said to hold a history of more than sixteen hundred years, holding the old layer that enshrines a figure told in legend to have subdued the eastern lands. Another is the character by which the bonito fishing from the Edo era, through the modern mechanization and enlargement, grew into a base of deep-sea fishing that lands tuna from distant seas, keeping a fishing port that boasts one of the country’s leading landings. And the location of a plain facing Suruga Bay called the fishing, called the processing industry, and was blessed with commuting convenience.
Yaizu is the town that, from the shore enshrining a god who subdued the east, lands bonito and tuna from distant seas. From the bonito shore where the old shrine is enshrined, making its boats larger by power, to the deep-sea fishing port that catches tuna in distant seas — the geography of "facing Suruga Bay, with a deep sea pressing offshore" called the fishing, called the expansion into distant seas, and set the town’s skeleton. From the shore of the old shrine enshrining a god who subdued the east, making its boats larger by power and crossing the deep sea pressing offshore, a port that pursues bonito and tuna in distant seas grew. Beside the old faith enshrined on the shore, the voice of landings still rises.
Source: Yaizu Fishing Port (a bonito-fishing port since the Edo era; mechanized and enlarged in the modern era into a deep-sea tuna-fishing base; a designated Class-3 fishing port of the state — overview) / Yaizu City (city status in 1951 / the incorporation of Oigawa Town in 2008 / Yaizu Shrine = a shrine of more than 1,600 years enshrining Yamato Takeru / deep-sea fishing — overview)
05 · Atlas note — before the old shrine, the voice of the auction still rises
Lay out Yaizu’s numbers and the indicators of a town holding fishing and industry, comparatively keeping its youth and stamina, line up: a slight decline in population after incorporation, an aging rate of 29.9%, a household-with-children share of 22.6%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.82. But what I (Atlas), with an eye used to ledgers, want first to note is that this city’s step in population comes from the incorporation of 2008. The population in 2005, before the incorporation, was 120,109, and the figure of 143,249 in 2010 is the result of incorporating a neighboring town. When reading the population numbers as a time series, if one overlooks this step between 2005 and 2010, one misreads the town’s figure. That is just why it must be read after noting the pre-incorporation value.
With that in view, what I want to read is that, while a fishing town, it keeps a Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.82, high for a provincial city, and the household-with-children share is also high. A provincial fishing town is often swayed by the state of the sea and the fish around the fishing, and finds it hard to keep the footing of its population and finances. That Yaizu has kept its stamina without becoming so can be read as because, in addition to the port landing fish caught in distant seas, the industry of processing fish took root in the town, and further the location of the plain in the central part of the prefecture has been blessed with convenience for commuting to nearby cities. The thread is that fishing, the processing industry and commuting convenience support the town’s footing while supplementing one another. It can also be read that, rather than leaning thickly on one industry, the overlapping of several footings supports the stamina of the fishing town. As it keeps its population nearly constant in the post-incorporation city area, how the town joins this history of the shore of an old shrine and deep-sea fishing to the next generation is a question peculiar to a town on the shore of Suruga Bay. What I (Atlas) have laid out is the thread up to there. At the start of the year, a festival still continues at the old shrine that enshrines the god said to have subdued the east. At the port before that shrine, boats returned from distant seas land tuna, and the voice of the auction rises. The faith of sixteen hundred years and the voice of that day’s landing lie side by side on the same shore of Suruga Bay. Yaizu’s numbers are a copy of what shape the four hundred years of work piled upon this shore now take.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Yaizu Fishing Port (a bonito-fishing port since the Edo era; mechanized and enlarged in the modern era into a deep-sea tuna-fishing base; a designated Class-3 fishing port of the state — overview) / Yaizu City (city status in 1951 / the incorporation of Oigawa Town in 2008 / Yaizu Shrine = a shrine of more than 1,600 years enshrining Yamato Takeru / deep-sea fishing — overview)
Editor’s note: all figures and sources are drawn from official statistics. The prose follows Atlas’s voice, and AI (atlas-handcrafted-reverse-v1 (Daiki 2026-06-02)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: wave16_5