Miyawaka-shi

In the latest Population Census the population is about 26,000 (26,298 in 2020). This city was established in 2006 when two towns were newly bound into one, so the city’s population statistics treat 2010 onward, after establishment. From its 30,081 in 2010, to 28,112 in 2015, to 26,298 in 2020, it has declined.

Looking inside, the figure of a valley-set city, having gone through an industrial transition, raising its age appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 33.1% in 2015 to 36.7% in 2020, well over three in ten. The household-with-children share is 19.1% (2020), and the crude birth rate is 7.3 per thousand in 2020. The Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.63 in fiscal 2023, a level able to cover a little over six-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, somewhat thick for a regional city. While holding a great automobile plant, this valley-set city has lost population after the merger. That seemingly disjointed figure falls into place when one traces the age of coal mining that flourished by digging coal, the changeover of industry that welcomed a plant thereafter, and the history of the merger of two towns.

This town’s skeleton is set by the old history of the sacred paddy of a shrine enshrining the god of the sea, the valley where coal was dug, the great automobile plant, and the merger of two towns. The starting layer is the origin of the place-name. In old times this land was a sacred paddy donated to a shrine enshrining the god of the sea, and that "Kanda" [sacred paddy] is handed down to have turned in time into the place-name "Miyata." That it was a god’s paddy was the old foundation of this land.

This valley-set land flourished by coal in the modern era. This valley, belonging to the inland coalfield, was full of vigor as a land where coal was dug. But when the age of coal departed, the valley lost its industrial foundation. Afterward a great automobile plant was built here, and the town changed its form from a land of coal into a land that makes cars. The path to becoming a city also reflects this town. In 2006 "Miyata" and the adjoining "Wakamiya," two towns, were newly bound into one, and the present city was established. The place-name from Kanda to Miyata, the valley of coal mines, the great automobile plant, and the merger of two towns — this town’s form stands upon the history of an industrial transition and a merger, carved by a valley that was a god’s paddy.

What characterizes Miyawaka is that, while it holds the history of an industrial transition, it loses population after the merger. From 30,081 in 2010, after the city was established, to 26,298 in 2020, some four thousand were lost over ten years. Even in this land holding a great automobile plant, because the land is valley-set there is a limit to places to live, and one can read that part of the young generation moved toward larger cities and the age of the town as a whole rose. That the share aged 65 and over, at 36.7% in 2020, is well over three in ten is an expression of that.

On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025, the household-with-children share is 19.1% in 2020, and the crude birth rate is 7.3 per thousand in 2020. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.63 is a level able to cover a little over six-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, showing the somewhat thick tax revenue seen in a city holding a great plant. The land that welcomed a great plant after the age of coal walks on, having gone through an industrial transition, while losing population after the merger. The population that fell after the merger, the aging well over three in ten, and the finances somewhat thick for a regional city by holding a plant — the population decline and the fiscal thickness, seemingly contradictory, are not separate facts. That the mainstay changed over from coal to cars reflects both sides: it holds up the tax source, while it cannot keep people beyond the limit of livable land in the valley.

In Miyawaka remain several traces of industry changing over. The old history of a god’s paddy, where the land that was the sacred paddy of a shrine enshrining the god of the sea turned into the place-name "Miyata." The face of an industrial transition, having welcomed a great automobile plant after flourishing by digging coal as part of the inland coalfield. And the face of a land of merger, where the two towns of "Miyata" and "Wakamiya" were bound into one.

Miyawaka is a town where a valley that dug coal changed over its industry to a land that makes cars. That is precisely why its population falls while its fiscal capacity stays somewhat thick for a regional city. Into the valley from which coal, the mainstay, had been pulled out came a plant that makes cars, another mainstay — that changeover holds up the tax source and produces at once the two seemingly contradictory numbers of population decline and fiscal thickness.