On this town’s seaside, paper has been made since the Edo era. Mizuhiki, the hanshi of calligraphy, thin nonwoven fabric — all go out into the world from this land. The value of its paper-product shipments has long led the nation. On a narrow plain squeezed between the sea and the mountains, two port towns have gone on making paper. In the Heisei era those two towns were founded by bundling a wish — the center of Shikoku — into a name, and now quietly lose population. Shikokuchuo’s numbers are the record of a town engraved by the history of the nation’s leading paper and a name wishing to be the capital.
A city that opens upon a narrow plain at the eastern edge of Ehime Prefecture, squeezed between the Seto Inland Sea to the north and the mountains to the south. Because this city was founded in 2004 when two cities and two towns and villages that had gone on making paper were newly bundled into one, the statistics treat the period from 2005 after the city’s founding. The population has fallen from 92,854 in 2005 to 82,754 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "the center of Shikoku," but the causal thread: how the history — the nation’s leading paper and a name wishing to be the capital — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Shikokuchuo in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about eighty-three thousand (82,754 in 2020). Because this city was founded in 2004 when two cities and two towns and villages that had gone on making paper were newly bundled into one, the population statistics for the city treat the period from 2005 after its founding. From the 92,854 of 2005, it fell to 90,187 in 2010, 87,413 in 2015, 82,754 in 2020.
Looking inside, the figure of a seaside city that goes on making paper appears. The share aged 65 and over rose by about nine points over fifteen years, from 23.6% in 2005 to 32.2% in 2020, passing three in ten. The household-with-children share was 17.3% (2020), and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.72 in fiscal 2023, a level — above the middle — able to cover more than seven-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of a city whose value of paper-product shipments goes on leading the nation, losing population and advancing aging after the merger, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of paper, the port towns and the merger.
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 · A narrow plain squeezed between sea and mountains, paper-making since the Edo era, the nation’s leading paper shipments, a name wishing to be the capital, the merger of two cities and two towns and villages — the history behind the numbers
This town’s skeleton is set by the terrain of a narrow plain squeezed between the sea and the mountains, the paper-making that has continued since the Edo era, the paper shipments that go on leading the nation, the city name carrying a wish to be the regional capital, and the merger of two cities and two towns and villages. The starting layer is paper. In this land of a narrow plain squeezed between the Seto Inland Sea to the north and the mountains to the south, paper has been made since the Edo era. Mizuhiki, the hanshi of calligraphy, thin nonwoven fabric — all go out into the world from this land, and the value of its paper-product shipments has long led the nation. The livelihood of going on making paper was this land’s foundation.
Upon this land of paper, a name carrying a wish to be the regional capital was laid. The road by which it became a city mirrors this town too. In 2004, two port towns and two towns and villages that had gone on making paper were newly bundled into one and founded. Into the new city’s name was put a wish to become the center of Shikoku should the structure of the country ever change in the future, also resting on a geography near the prefectural borders of Kagawa, Tokushima and Kochi. A narrow plain squeezed between the sea and the mountains, paper-making since the Edo era, the nation’s leading paper shipments, a name wishing to be the capital, and the merger of two cities and two towns and villages — this town’s shape stands upon the paper-making history held by a narrow plain squeezed between the sea and the mountains.
Source: Shikokuchuo City / the city of paper (paper-making has been thriving since the Edo era and the value of paper-product shipments has long led the nation; mizuhiki, shodo hanshi, nonwoven fabrics and other diverse paper products, with major paper companies headquartered here — overview) / Shikokuchuo City / the origin of the city name (a name chosen in the hope of becoming the capital should a regional-state system ever be introduced; also drawing on its geography near the borders of the three other prefectures of Kagawa, Tokushima and Kochi — overview) / Shikokuchuo City (formed on 2004-04-01 by the new merger of Kawanoe City / Iyomishima City / Doi Town and Shingu Village of Uma District; at the eastern edge of Ehime, with the Hiuchi-nada [Seto Inland Sea] to the north and the Hoo Mountains to the south; Kawanoe prospered as a port town — overview)
03 · On a seaside that goes on making paper, losing population and advancing aging after the merger
What characterizes Shikokuchuo is that, while holding the history of the nation’s leading paper, it has lost population and advanced aging after the merger. From the 92,854 of 2005, when the city was founded, to the 82,754 of 2020, about ten thousand fell over fifteen years. Even in this land whose value of paper-product shipments goes on leading the nation, one can read that a part of the young generation has moved toward larger cities or the opposite shore of the Seto Inland Sea, and the age of the whole town has risen. That the share aged 65 and over passed three in ten at 32.2% in 2020 is an expression of this.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025, and the household-with-children share was 17.3% (2020). A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.72 is a level able to cover more than seven-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, above the middle. One can read that the thickness of the establishments that go on making paper, and of the manufacturing livelihood linked to it, supports the tax base above the middle. The seaside city that goes on making paper now loses population while advancing aging after the merger. The population fell after the merger, aging passed three in ten at 32.2%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.72 is above the middle. The course by which a seaside city that goes on leading the nation in paper shipments nonetheless lost population appears in these numbers.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A narrow strip of paper, squeezed between the sea to the north and the mountains to the south
Shikokuchuo’s livelihood is made of the thickness of paper piled up by a narrow plain squeezed between the sea and the mountains. One is the origin of a land that goes on making paper, where, on a narrow plain squeezed between the Seto Inland Sea to the north and the mountains to the south, paper has been made since the Edo era and mizuhiki, the hanshi of calligraphy and thin nonwoven fabric are sent out into the world, the value of its paper-product shipments going on leading the nation. Another is the character of two port towns and two towns and villages bundled into a city name carrying a wish to become the center of Shikoku.
The narrow plain at the eastern edge of Ehime, squeezed between the Seto Inland Sea to the north and the mountains to the south, set the paper-making of the Edo era and linked it to modern papermaking. Because of its position near the prefectural borders of Kagawa, Tokushima and Kochi, it even called a wish to become the center of Shikoku into the city’s name. Mizuhiki, the hanshi of calligraphy, and thin nonwoven fabric still go out into the world from this narrow plain.
Source: Shikokuchuo City / the city of paper (paper-making has been thriving since the Edo era and the value of paper-product shipments has long led the nation; mizuhiki, shodo hanshi, nonwoven fabrics and other diverse paper products, with major paper companies headquartered here — overview) / Shikokuchuo City / the origin of the city name (a name chosen in the hope of becoming the capital should a regional-state system ever be introduced; also drawing on its geography near the borders of the three other prefectures of Kagawa, Tokushima and Kochi — overview) / Shikokuchuo City (formed on 2004-04-01 by the new merger of Kawanoe City / Iyomishima City / Doi Town and Shingu Village of Uma District; at the eastern edge of Ehime, with the Hiuchi-nada [Seto Inland Sea] to the north and the Hoo Mountains to the south; Kawanoe prospered as a port town — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — read the name of a wish and the real population apart
Lay out Shikokuchuo’s numbers and the indicators of a seaside city that goes on making paper line up: a post-merger fall of population, an aging rate of 32.2%, a household-with-children share of 17.3%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.72. But with the eye that reads the long thickness of a single industry in profit and loss, what I want to read here is the depth of the history that this town’s livelihood is "paper-making, continued since the Edo era, whose value of paper-product shipments has long led the nation." On a narrow plain squeezed between the sea to the north and the mountains to the south, mizuhiki, the hanshi of calligraphy and thin nonwoven fabric are made and sent out into the world. The chain by which the livelihood of going on making paper linked to modern manufacturing explains well the above-middle figure of a fiscal capacity of 0.72.
The other thing I want to consider is that into this town’s name is put "a wish to become the center of Shikoku." When two port towns and two towns and villages were bundled, into the new city’s name was put a wish to become the center of Shikoku should the structure of the country ever change in the future. There is the rarity of a stance toward the future being woven into the place-name itself. Yet the city that bears that name, too, while going on leading the nation in paper shipments, has lost population after the merger and advanced aging past three in ten. I want to lay out and read both the name of a wish and the flow of the real population. Just as in auditing one checks the numbers themselves so as not to be pulled along by the name of an account, I want to read this city’s name and reality apart. Into the city’s name is put a wish toward the future — that, if the structure of the country changes, it will become the center of Shikoku. But the wish the place-name bears, and the reality of losing population and advancing aging while going on leading the nation in paper shipments, are matters written on different lines. The name of a wish does not pad the real numbers. That the paper-making of the Edo era linked to modern papermaking, and that its shipments reached the nation’s top, is a sure history; but the wish for the capital put into the place-name remains in the future tense, still awaiting realization. A confirmed past and a not-yet future live together in a single city’s name.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Shikokuchuo City / the city of paper (paper-making has been thriving since the Edo era and the value of paper-product shipments has long led the nation; mizuhiki, shodo hanshi, nonwoven fabrics and other diverse paper products, with major paper companies headquartered here — overview) / Shikokuchuo City / the origin of the city name (a name chosen in the hope of becoming the capital should a regional-state system ever be introduced; also drawing on its geography near the borders of the three other prefectures of Kagawa, Tokushima and Kochi — overview) / Shikokuchuo City (formed on 2004-04-01 by the new merger of Kawanoe City / Iyomishima City / Doi Town and Shingu Village of Uma District; at the eastern edge of Ehime, with the Hiuchi-nada [Seto Inland Sea] to the north and the Hoo Mountains to the south; Kawanoe prospered as a port town — 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: wave24_3