Owase-shi

In the latest Population Census the population is about 16,000 (16,252 in 2020). This city’s population is not a step from a large merger, but has lost about three-tenths, that is, some seven thousand, in twenty years — from 23,683 in 2000 to 22,103 in 2005, 20,033 in 2010, 18,009 in 2015 and 16,252 in 2020. It is a curve of a town facing the Kumano Sea shrinking on a steep gradient.

Looking inside, the population decline and aging run deep. The share aged 65 and over reached 43.8% in 2020, well past four in ten. The household-with-children share is very low at 12.4%, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.34 in fiscal 2023 — its own tax revenue can cover only about a third of expenditure, and reliance on the allocation tax is very large. The figure of a town of rain, greatly reducing its population and deepening its aging while its finances are strongly supported by the allocation tax, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the Owase cypress and the heavy rainfall.

Owase’s skeleton is set by the geography of being ringed at its back by mountains and facing the Kuroshio sea, and by the rain that geography brings. About nine-tenths of this town’s area is mountain forest, and the coast is an intricate ria. And because it faces the Kumano Sea where the Kuroshio flows and is ringed at its back by mountains, some of the heaviest rainfall in the whole country falls here — the normal value of annual precipitation reaches about 3,970 millimeters. It is among the rainiest places in Japan.

That rain raised an industry. Through artificial afforestation said to have begun in 1624 (Kan’ei 1), cypress has been planted and raised in this land. The heavy rain and the steep mountain terrain raise strong, reddish cypress of close-set growth rings — the Owase cypress. Above all, its toughness being proven at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake raised the standing of Owase cypress. The geographic condition of rain was translated into a product, fine cypress — an example, in economic geography, of natural conditions giving rise to a peculiar industry.

And the sea, too, gave this town an industry. The intricate ria coast holds the natural fine harbor of Owase Port, and fishery from near to distant waters developed. In 1954 (Showa 29), one town and four villages merged into the present city area. One of the nation’s heaviest rainfalls raised cypress, and the ria sea held fishing harbors — this town’s shape stands upon the history of heavy rainfall held by a land ringed at its back by mountains and facing the Kuroshio sea.

What characterizes Owase is that, while holding the industries of forestry and fishery raised by rain, it has lost about three-tenths of its population in twenty years. From 2000 to 2020 some seven thousand were lost, and the share aged 65 and over reached 43.8%, well past four in ten. In a town based on forestry and fishery — both industries readily facing the aging of their bearers and the slump of prices — one can read that the flow of the young generation moving to cities such as Tsu and Nagoya is strong, and that the population decline and the deepening of aging proceed on a steep gradient. The lowness of a household-with-children share of 12.4% is the expression of that population composition.

That shrinking appears in the fiscal numbers, too. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.34 is a level whose own tax revenue can cover only about a third of expenditure, with very large reliance on the allocation tax. It mirrors the fact that, against administrative expenditure prone to being high because of the terrain pinched between mountains and sea, the tax source of a town based on forestry and fishery is limited. Even so, the Childcare Waitlist has stayed at zero, and the childcare capacity against a reduced population is maintained. The town of rain now greatly reduces its population and deepens its aging while its finances are strongly supported by the allocation tax. The population has lost three-tenths, the aging is well past four in ten, and the fiscal stamina is weak. The terrain pinched between mountains and sea, prone to high expenditure, and the tax source limited to forestry and fishery, give rise to this weakness from the same root.

Owase holds several functions of its own. One is the history of Owase cypress raised by one of the nation’s heaviest rainfalls, holding an origin in which the geographic condition of rain gave rise to fine cypress. Another is the fishery of Owase Port held by the ria coast, which keeps its character of fisheries that developed in a land pinched between mountains and sea. And the geography of one of the nation’s heaviest rainfalls, with a normal value of annual precipitation reaching about 3,970 millimeters, gives this town the peculiar structure in which rain shaped the town’s industries.

Owase is a town of mountains and sea where one of the nation’s heaviest rainfalls raised cypress. From the land of Owase cypress forestry, to a town of fishing harbors of the ria — the geography "ringed at its back by mountains and facing the Kuroshio sea" called one of the nation’s heaviest rainfalls, and that rain raised cypress, the sea held fishing harbors, and the town’s skeleton was set. Once, one of the nation’s heaviest rainfalls was the blessing that raised fine Owase cypress. Now that same rain, before a forestry facing the aging of its bearers and the slump of prices, is no force to hold back the decline of population. A blessing of geography can, with the times, cease to be the support of an industry.