Mino-shi

In the latest Population Census the population is about 137,000 (136,868 in 2020). Its course is a consistent increase. From 124,898 in 2000, through 127,135 in 2005, 129,895 in 2010, 133,411 in 2015, to 136,868 in 2020, more than twelve thousand were gained over twenty years.

Looking inside, the figure befitting a city holding housing at the foot of Hokusetsu appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 13.4% in 2000 to 25.8% in 2020, but while many regional cities approach four in ten, it stays at about a quarter and keeps its youth. The household-with-children share is high, at 24.3% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist is zero in 2024 and fourteen in 2025, increasing somewhat in recent years. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.89 in fiscal 2023, a comparatively high level able to cover nearly nine-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of the town to which a private railway ran out toward a famous waterfall, increasing its population consistently while keeping its youth, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the waterfall and suburban housing.

This town’s skeleton is set by a famous waterfall, a scenic place in the mountain recesses, by the private railway that ran out to that waterfall, and by the idea of suburban housing that the private railway brought in. The beginning layer is the waterfall. In the northern mountain recesses of this town there is a famous waterfall with a drop, where the water falls in one drop from a rock wall. Known from of old as a scenic place, this waterfall, around which in autumn the autumn leaves color the area, was a noted place that drew people into the mountain recesses. Later this area was designated a park set by the state, as one of the projects commemorating the centennial of the Meiji era.

Toward this scenic place, a private railway ran out at the end of the Meiji era. A private railway was laid linking the center of a great city with a land that was then a hot-spring resort and with this scenic waterfall, and the town was joined to the city center by a single line. The person who led this private railway brought in not merely the carrying of people, but the idea of opening and selling residential land along the line. The form of living — dwelling in the suburbs while commuting to the city center — which had been little seen before, took shape along this private-railway line, and became one type of the later suburban residential area. The road to becoming a city too mirrors this town. This land became a city in the late 1950s, and since then has increased its population as a residential area along the private-railway line. The famous waterfall, the private railway that ran out to the scenic place, the idea of suburban housing, and the foot of the hills of autumn leaves — this town’s shape stands upon the history of the waterfall and the private railway that the foot where the mountains of Hokusetsu fall to the plain held.

What characterizes Mino is that, holding the history of the private railway that ran out to the famous waterfall and the idea of suburban housing, it increases its population consistently and keeps its youth. From 124,898 in 2000 to 136,868 in 2020, more than twelve thousand were gained over twenty years. While many regional cities shed population, behind this town’s continuing to increase can be read that it is easy to commute to the Osaka city center, and that a residential area spread together with greenery at the foot of Hokusetsu, so that child-rearing households stayed in the town. That the share aged 65 and over stays at about a quarter, at 25.8% in 2020, and the household-with-children share is high, at 24.3%, is also the expression of that young population make-up.

On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist is zero in 2024 and fourteen in 2025, increasing somewhat in recent years. It can be read as the expression that child-rearing households flow into the residential area and demand for childcare is increasing. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.89 is a level able to cover nearly nine-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, comparatively high. It can be read that the income of the many households living in the residential area at the foot supports the tax base comparatively high. The consistently increasing population, the aging that stays at about a quarter, and the comparatively high finances — these three are not separate merits, but the appearance of the same flow, in which the child-rearing households flowing into the residential area at the foot and their income support an increasing population and a higher-side tax base as one continuous thing.

Mino holds several functions of its own. One is that it holds a famous waterfall, a scenic place where the water falls in one drop from a rock wall, drawing people into the mountain recesses together with the autumn leaves, and designated a park set by the state. Another is the histories that overlapped upon the waterfall — the private railway that ran out to this scenic place at the end of the Meiji era, and the idea of suburban housing that the private railway brought in. And the landform of the foot where the mountains of Hokusetsu fall to the plain gave this land the famous waterfall, and the private railway that ran out to that scenic place.

Mino is the town where the private railway that ran out to the famous waterfall spread suburban housing. From the famous waterfall in the mountain recesses, through the private railway that ran out to the scenic place and the idea of suburban housing, to the foot of the hills of autumn leaves — the geography of "opening at the foot where the mountains of Hokusetsu fall to the plain" called in the famous waterfall, and called in the private railway that ran out to that scenic place. Many suburban residential areas spread as pushed out by the swelling of the city center, but this town was the reverse. A private railway ran out in order to carry people to the scenic place of the famous waterfall, and because that private railway brought in the idea of opening residential land along the line, a place to live was born. The line that ran out for sightseeing called in the residential area.