Tamano-shi

In the 2020 Population Census the population of Tamano-shi is 56,531 — about 57,000. This city’s population is not a step from a large merger; it has come down clearly and steadily over twenty years, from 69,567 in 2000 to 67,047 in 2005, 64,588 in 2010, 60,736 in 2015, and 56,531 in 2020 — a loss of more than thirteen thousand. It is a straight curve of a port town shrinking.

Looking inside the figures, aging runs deep. The share aged 65 and over reaches 38.5% in 2020. Households with children make up a low 16.3%, and the Childcare Waitlist has been zero in recent years. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.52 in fiscal 2023, putting it on the side that covers about half of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The numbers show a port town that once linked Honshu and Shikoku holding both a falling population and deep aging. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without tracing the history of Uno Port, the ferry, and shipbuilding.

Tamano’s skeleton is set by the geography of a port facing the Seto Inland Sea, which divides Honshu and Shikoku. In early-modern times this land took salt fields opened along the coast and fishing as its main industries, and held the port of Hibi, which flourished as a port of call. This town started as a port town opened toward the sea.

Modern railways and shipping turned that port town into a knotting place. Uno Port was built in the late Meiji era, and when the Uno Line opened in 1910, on that very day the Uko Ferry connecting Uno Station and Takamatsu Station began service. By this ferry, linking Honshu and Shikoku across the strait, Tamano became a transport hub where people and goods transferred. It was the terminus of the railway and the sea gateway to Shikoku.

And in this port town another thick industry struck root: shipbuilding. The shipbuilding division of Mitsui & Co. was founded at Hibi in 1917 and completed its first vessel, the Kaisei-maru. This led on to the later Mitsui Shipbuilding, and Tamano became a town of shipbuilding. A copper-refining facility was also placed at Hibi. Beginning as a port town of salt fields and fishing, becoming the knotting port of the ferry, and becoming a town of shipbuilding — this town’s form stands on the history of a Seto Inland Sea port.

What characterizes Tamano-shi is that, while losing the role of the ferry that linked Honshu and Shikoku, it has remained a town of shipbuilding. That the Seto Ohashi Bridge was built and the strait-crossing ferry vanished greatly changed Tamano’s standing as a transport hub. One can read that the loss of this knotting role casts a shadow over the population fall of more than thirteen thousand over twenty years. The aging rate has risen to 38.5%, and the share of households with children is a low 16.3%.

Even so, the core of the shipbuilding industry remains. After the ferry vanished, the shipyard descended from Mitsui Shipbuilding keeps building ships at Tamano, and one can read this shipbuilding as bearing on the strength of a Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.52. The Childcare Waitlist, too, has been zero in recent years, and the place for the reduced number of children is kept. The port town that linked Honshu and Shikoku has now lost the role of the ferry, holding a falling population and deep aging, while keeping the core of a town of shipbuilding. The loss of the role of knotting a strait crossing, and that it still builds ships — look only at the side of the lost role and it is a shrinking port town; look only at the side of the remaining industry and it is a town of ships. Only with both in the same field of view does Tamano’s present standing come into shape.

Tamano has layered several histories upon the location of facing a strait that divides Honshu and Shikoku. One is its origin as a port town that flourished on salt fields and fishing facing the Seto Inland Sea. Another is its character as Uno Port, where the Uko Ferry departed and arrived, keeping the memory of a transport hub that linked Honshu and Shikoku across the strait. And the shipbuilding descended from Mitsui Shipbuilding, founded at Hibi, gives this town the face of a town of shipbuilding.

The location of facing a strait that divides Honshu and Shikoku drew to this land a port town of salt fields and fishing, the transport hub of Uno Port where the Uko Ferry departed and arrived, and the shipbuilding descended from Mitsui Shipbuilding founded at Hibi. With the opening of the Seto Ohashi Bridge the knotting role of the ferry was lost, but the industry of building ships remained. A port facing the Seto Inland Sea, the memory of knotting a strait crossing — the contrast of the lost role and the remaining industry shapes Tamano’s present standing.