This land lies in a valley of the inland coalfield. Once, several of the leading coal mines of Chikuho stood here in a row, and the valley was full of vigor with coal. But when the age of coal departed, the mines closed without a single one remaining, and the valley lost its industrial foundation. A single mountain-set city and three adjoining towns, those four, were bound into one, and the present city was established. The city’s name was taken from the old county name of this land. This coal-mine valley of Chikuho became a city by binding four, and after the merger has greatly lost population. Kama’s numbers are the record of a town in which the age after coal and a merger are inscribed.
A city that opens in a coalfield valley of the inland, near the center of Fukuoka Prefecture. This city was established in 2006 when one city and three towns were newly bound into one, so the city’s population statistics treat 2010 onward, after establishment. From its 42,589 in 2010 to 35,473 in 2020, it has greatly declined. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a city of Chikuho," but the causal thread: how the history of the age after coal and a merger is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Kama in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 35,000 (35,473 in 2020). This city was established in 2006 when one city and three towns were newly bound into one, so the city’s population statistics treat 2010 onward, after establishment. From its 42,589 in 2010, to 38,743 in 2015, to 35,473 in 2020, some seven thousand more were lost over ten years.
Looking inside, the figure of a valley-set city walking the age after coal, greatly raising its age, appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 35.7% in 2015 to 40.4% in 2020, passing four in ten. The household-with-children share is 16.6% (2020), and the crude birth rate is 4.8 per thousand in 2020. The Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.28 in fiscal 2023, a level whose own tax revenue can cover only a little under three-tenths of expenditure, with a large degree of reliance on the local allocation tax. This valley, where several of the leading coal mines of Chikuho stood in a row, has greatly lost population after the merger and deepened its aging. To read that steep drop, one must go back over the age of coal mining that flourished by the coal in the depths of the ground, the walk after the mines closed without a single one remaining, and the history of the merger of one city and three towns.
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 coalfield valley, the coal mines of Chikuho, the age after coal, the merger of one city and three towns — the history behind the numbers
This town’s skeleton is set by the landform of a coalfield valley of the inland, the coal mines of Chikuho, the age after coal, and the merger of one city and three towns. The starting layer is the coalfield valley. This land lies in the inland near the center of Fukuoka Prefecture, and opens in a coalfield valley. This valley, holding coal in the depths of the ground, was the modern foundation of this town.
In this valley several of the leading coal mines of Chikuho stood in a row. At the height of the age of coal, several mines brought vigor to the valley. But when the nation switched its source of energy away from coal, the mines closed without a single one remaining, and the valley lost its industrial foundation. The population fell greatly after the age of coal, and depopulation advanced. The path to becoming a city also reflects this town. In 2006 a single mountain-set city and three adjoining towns, those four, were newly bound into one, and the present city was established. The city’s name was taken from the old county name of this land. A coalfield valley, the coal mines of Chikuho, the age after coal, and the merger of one city and three towns — this town’s form stands upon the history of the age after coal and a merger, carved by a valley holding coal.
Source: Kama City / the Chikuho Coalfield (in the Chikuho area near the center of Fukuoka; once flourished as one of the leading coal-mining cities of Chikuho, but the mines have all closed and the population is declining — overview) / Kama City / the origin of the name (after the old county name "Kama County"; in 1896 Kama County and Honami County merged to form Kaho County — overview) / Kama City (established on 2006-3-27 by the equal merger of Yamada City and Inazuki, Usui and Kaho Towns of Kaho County; the former Yamada City alone was 10,679 in 2000 — overview)
03 · In a coal-mine valley of Chikuho, greatly losing population after the merger
What characterizes Kama is that, while it holds the history of the age after coal, it greatly loses population after the merger. From 42,589 in 2010, after the city was established, to 35,473 in 2020, some seven thousand more were lost over ten years. In a valley that lost coal, its mainstay industry, one can read that much of the young generation moved toward larger cities and the age of the town as a whole greatly rose. That the share aged 65 and over, at 40.4% in 2020, passes four 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 16.6% in 2020, and the crude birth rate is 4.8 per thousand in 2020. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.28 is a level whose own tax revenue can cover only a little under three-tenths of expenditure, showing the large degree of reliance on the local allocation tax seen in common in a valley that lost the industry of coal. The coal-mine valley of Chikuho walks the age after coal while greatly losing population after the merger. The population loss of some seven thousand more over ten years, the aging passing four in ten, and the finances thin by tax revenue alone — these are not separate disorders. They are branches grown from a single root: that a single mainstay, coal, was pulled out, and no large industry to replace it could be gained.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A valley holding coal walks the age after coal, bound from four towns
In Kama are carved several traces left by the valley that dug coal. The history of a coalfield valley, in the inland near the center of Fukuoka Prefecture, holding coal in the depths of the ground. The face of the age after coal, where, after several of the leading coal mines of Chikuho stood in a row and flourished, the mines closed without a single one remaining and it lost its industrial foundation. And the face of a land of merger, where a single mountain-set city and three towns were bound into one, and the old county name was made the city’s name.
Kama is a town where a valley holding coal walks the age after coal, bound from four towns. Walk the valley whose pit mouths have closed and the walk thereafter shows in the scenery. To a valley that lost one mainstay, no great plant came as it did to Miyawaka, and the young generation went out of the valley. Even binding four municipalities, the population decline itself does not stop — this city, bearing the old county name, walks the age after coal as a quiet valley still.
Source: Kama City / the Chikuho Coalfield (in the Chikuho area near the center of Fukuoka; once flourished as one of the leading coal-mining cities of Chikuho, but the mines have all closed and the population is declining — overview) / Kama City / the origin of the name (after the old county name "Kama County"; in 1896 Kama County and Honami County merged to form Kaho County — overview) / Kama City (established on 2006-3-27 by the equal merger of Yamada City and Inazuki, Usui and Kaho Towns of Kaho County; the former Yamada City alone was 10,679 in 2000 — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — in a coal-mine valley of Chikuho, asking whether a merger brings the population back
Lay out Kama’s numbers and the indicators of a valley-set city walking the age after coal line up: a population that greatly falls after the merger, an aging rate of 40.4%, a household-with-children share of 16.6%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.28. But to put it with the accountant’s eye (Atlas) that looks first at when the mainstay was pulled out, what I want to read here is the steep way the industry was pulled out — that this town "flourished by the leading coal mines of Chikuho, and then the mines closed without a single one remaining and it lost its industrial foundation." A valley supported by a single mainstay, coal, finds it hard, when that mainstay is pulled out, to gain a large industry to replace it. The chain by which the later course of a valley-set city divides greatly according to whether it could welcome a new large industry after the mainstay industry was pulled out explains well the thinness of this town’s fiscal capacity of 0.28.
Another thing I want to consider is that this town "still greatly loses population even after binding four municipalities." A merger was one choice for keeping the administrative stamina, but even after widening the city area by merger, the population decline itself does not stop.
Whereas neighboring Miyawaka welcomed a plant that makes cars and held up its tax source, no replacing mainstay came into this valley, and even after binding four towns the people still went on falling. A merger is, after all, an answer for keeping the administrative stamina, and does not in itself call back the young generation that went out. Whether to view this city as a valley holding the memory of coal mines, or as the whole of four towns where living still goes on, is left to the eye of each who visits. Whereas neighboring Miyawaka welcomed a plant that makes cars, no replacing mainstay came into this valley, and even after binding four towns the people still went on falling.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Kama City / the Chikuho Coalfield (in the Chikuho area near the center of Fukuoka; once flourished as one of the leading coal-mining cities of Chikuho, but the mines have all closed and the population is declining — overview) / Kama City / the origin of the name (after the old county name "Kama County"; in 1896 Kama County and Honami County merged to form Kaho County — overview) / Kama City (established on 2006-3-27 by the equal merger of Yamada City and Inazuki, Usui and Kaho Towns of Kaho County; the former Yamada City alone was 10,679 in 2000 — 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 (wave34-west 2026-06-04)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: wave34w_