A single chemical company in this town was the first in the world to turn into a product an element that emits a bright, shining blue light — long held difficult to achieve. With blue added to light-emitting elements that had only red and green, light of every color could now be made with little electricity. This technology would greatly change how the world lights and displays. And on the bay of this same town stand great thermal power plants in a row. This town, which a single company’s technology made known to the world, has widened its city area by merger. Anan’s numbers are the record of a town carved by the history of a chemical company and a bay’s electricity.
A city holding the southeastern edge of the Shikoku Mountains and Tachibana Bay in the eastern part of Tokushima Prefecture. To read its population, one must account for a merger. In 2006 the former Anan City merged anew with two neighboring towns to become the present Anan City. The population before the merger, in 2005, was 54,925; after the merger, in 2010, it was 76,063. From there it moved to 69,470 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the name "the City of Light" itself, but the causal thread: how the history — a chemical company and a bay’s electricity — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Anan in its numbers
In the 2020 Population Census this city’s population is 69,470, one step short of seventy thousand. To read this city’s population, one must account for a merger. In 2006 the former Anan City merged anew with two neighboring towns to become the present Anan City. The population before the merger, in 2005, was 54,925; after the merger, in 2010, it was 76,063. From there it fell gently after the merger to 73,019 in 2015 and 69,470 in 2020. The population step between 2005 and 2010 in this article mirrors the widening of the city area by this merger.
Looking inside, the figure of a town holding chemical and power industries appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 22.3% in 2000 to 33.3% in 2020; while many regional cities near four in ten, it stays at about three in ten. The household-with-children share was 21.0% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.75 in fiscal 2023 — a relatively high level for a regional city, able to cover about three-quarters of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of the town that put the world’s first blue light to practical use, holding nearly its population on the post-merger city area while keeping comparatively young, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of a chemical company and a bay’s electricity.
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 world’s first blue light, Tachibana Bay’s electricity, the merger that widened the city area — the history behind the numbers
This town’s history can be traced from the world’s first blue light achieved by a chemical company in the city, the thermal electricity lined up on the bay, and the merger that widened the city area. The central layer is the chemical company. In the middle of the Showa era a small chemical company arose in this land. In time that company took up the development of an element emitting a bright, shining blue light — long held difficult to achieve — and at the beginning of the Heisei era succeeded, for the first time in the world, in making it a product. Until then, light-emitting elements had only red and green and could not add blue; with blue added, light of every color could now be made with little electricity. This technology greatly changed how the world lights and displays, and the town came to be known to the world by this single company’s technology.
Another foundation that supported this town is electricity. On the shore of the bay this town holds stand great thermal power plants in a row, and this land became one of the foremost in the nation in the volume of electricity it generates. The chemical company’s blue light and the bay’s thermal electricity — light and energy became the two pillars of this town’s industry. The road by which it became a city mirrors this town, too. In the middle of the Showa era two towns came together to take city status, and in 2006 it merged anew with two neighboring towns, holding within its city area the land from the edge of the Shikoku Mountains to the shore of Tachibana Bay. The world’s first blue light and the bay’s electricity — Anan’s present continues from this history of chemistry and electricity, held by this land of the edge of the Shikoku Mountains and Tachibana Bay.
Source: Anan City, "the City of Light" (a chemical company in the city was the first in the world to make the high-brightness blue light-emitting diode a product in 1993; thermal power generation on Tachibana Bay — overview) / Anan City (took city status in 1958 by merging Tomioka Town and Tachibana Town; in 2006 the former Anan City + Nakagawa Town + Hanoura Town by a new merger; the Shikoku Mountains and Tachibana Bay — overview)
03 · In a town of chemistry and electricity, holding nearly its population after the merger and keeping comparatively young
What characterizes Anan is that, while holding the history of a chemical company that put the world’s first blue light to practical use and a bay’s electricity, it holds nearly the population of its post-merger city area and keeps comparatively young. From 76,063 in 2010 after the merger to 69,470 in 2020, some seven thousand fell over ten years, yet it still holds about seventy thousand. One can read that industry firm in both volume and quality — a chemical company that changed the world’s lighting and displays, and the bay’s thermal electricity — has taken root in the town, and the households working there have stayed, supporting the holding of the population without a great collapse. That the share aged 65 and over stays at about three in ten, 33.3% in 2020, is also one expression of this.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.75 is a level able to cover about three-quarters of expenditure with its own tax revenue — relatively high for a regional city. One can read that the chemical company that changed the world’s lighting and the power plants generating among the nation’s foremost volumes of electricity give this land a firm tax base. The town that put the world’s first blue light to practical use now holds nearly its population on the post-merger city area while keeping comparatively young. The population held without collapsing, the aging that does not reach four in ten, and the relatively high finances all extend from the same foundation, in which two industries of differing character — the blue-light technology that faces the world, and the bay’s electricity that supports society’s base — coexist on a single city area. Even looking only at the value of a fiscal capacity of 0.75, high for a regional city, one cannot read the reason a regional town keeps such strength — the structure supported by two pillars, an industry of quality and an industry of volume.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A town two industrial pillars keep from collapsing
In Anan, two industrial pillars of differing character coexist — the blue-light technology that faces the world, and the bay’s electricity that supports society’s base. The history that a chemical company in the city was the first in the world to make a product of an element emitting a bright, shining blue light, long held difficult, gives the town a technology that changed how the world lights and displays. The character by which great thermal power plants line the shore of the bay it holds, becoming among the nation’s foremost in the volume of electricity generated, makes light and energy the two pillars of industry. And this land, holding the edge of the Shikoku Mountains and Tachibana Bay, called in the siting of the chemical company and the bay’s electricity.
Anan is a town that put the world’s first blue light to practical use and generates electricity on the bay. The world’s first blue light achieved by a single chemical company, and the thermal electricity lined up on the bay — the geography of "holding the edge of the Shikoku Mountains and Tachibana Bay" gave a place for the chemical company to take root, called in the bay’s electricity, and shaped the town’s outline. A technology that faces the world, and electricity that supports society’s base. Two industries of differing character coexist on a single city area — Anan’s outline is drawn at the place where this land, holding the edge of the Shikoku Mountains and Tachibana Bay, called in both.
Source: Anan City, "the City of Light" (a chemical company in the city was the first in the world to make the high-brightness blue light-emitting diode a product in 1993; thermal power generation on Tachibana Bay — overview) / Anan City (took city status in 1958 by merging Tomioka Town and Tachibana Town; in 2006 the former Anan City + Nakagawa Town + Hanoura Town by a new merger; the Shikoku Mountains and Tachibana Bay — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — reading Anan by two pillars, the technology of quality and the electricity of volume
Lay out Anan’s numbers and the indicators of a regional city keeping comparatively young and strong line up: a slight post-merger fall of population, an aging rate of 33.3%, a household-with-children share of 21.0%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.75. In the habit of reading ledgers with an accountant’s eye, the first thing I want to note is that this city’s population step arises from the 2006 merger. The population before the merger, in 2005, was 54,925, and the figure of 76,063 in 2010 is the result of merging anew with two neighboring towns. When reading the population figures in time series, if one overlooks this step between 2005 and 2010, one misreads the figure of the town. That is why one must read it after noting the pre-merger value.
Upon that, what I want to read is that, while a regional town, it keeps the high level of a fiscal capacity of 0.75 and an aging rate that stays at about three in ten. A regional town, the farther from large cities, tends to be poor in industry and places of work, and to lose population and deepen aging easily. That Anan has kept its strength without becoming so can be read as because an industry holding a technology linked to the world — a chemical company that changed the world’s lighting and displays — and an industry of firm volume — power plants generating among the nation’s foremost volumes of electricity — have taken root on this single city area. It is the thread by which two industries of differing character, a technology facing the world and electricity supporting society’s base, give a regional town a firm footing. That a single company gives rise to a technology that changes the world also supports the footing of the very town where that company is — Anan’s numbers mirror that bond between industry and town. While holding nearly its population on the post-merger city area, how the town carries this history of technology and electricity on to the next generation is a question proper to a town on the shore of Tachibana Bay. Read with the name "the City of Light," or read as "a town that put the world’s first blue light to practical use and generates electricity on the bay," the support behind the same fiscal capacity of 0.75 looks wholly different. The population step arises from the 2006 merger, and one must read the post-merger slope after noting the 2005 value. Upon that, two pillars — the technology that changes the world and the electricity that supports society — keep a fiscal capacity and a youth high for a regional town. A technology that reaches the world supports the very footing of that town — how highly to value these two pillars as the security of staying on to live is left to the reckoning of the one who puts down roots.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Anan City, "the City of Light" (a chemical company in the city was the first in the world to make the high-brightness blue light-emitting diode a product in 1993; thermal power generation on Tachibana Bay — overview) / Anan City (took city status in 1958 by merging Tomioka Town and Tachibana Town; in 2006 the former Anan City + Nakagawa Town + Hanoura Town by a new merger; the Shikoku Mountains and Tachibana Bay — 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_f