The people of this town went out fishing as far as the seas of the distant south, riding dugout boats. In small boats hollowed from a single tree, the men drove the fish into the nets, and the women carried the catch on their shoulders and went about selling it. The fishers of this town, called umin-chu — people who live by the sea — were known by name to far-off places. Passing through no Heisei-era merger, walking on its own, the town has still quietly increased its population at the southernmost tip — Itoman’s numbers carry inscribed in them the past of the drive-net fishers and the southernmost tip.
A city that opens onto the southernmost tip of the main island of Okinawa Prefecture. The population has consistently increased, from 54,974 in 2000 to 61,007 in 2020. Because this city did not undergo the Heisei mergers and has walked on its own, there is no merger-derived step in the recent course of the population. What I (Atlas) want to follow is not the sign "a city of the southern main island," but the causal thread: how the past of the drive-net fishers and the southernmost tip is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Itoman in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 61,000 (61,007 in 2020). Because this city did not undergo the Heisei mergers and has walked on its own, there is no merger-derived step in the recent course of the population. From 54,974 in 2000, it has consistently increased — to 55,816 in 2005, 57,320 in 2010, 58,547 in 2015, and 61,007 in 2020.
Looking inside, the figure of a fishing town that has lived with the sea appears. The share aged 65 and over has risen from 19.0% in 2015 to 22.2% in 2020, yet still stays at about two in ten. The household-with-children share is 27.4% in 2020 — a high level nationwide. The crude birth rate is 11.2 per thousand in 2020, also high. The Childcare Waitlist was 15 in 2024 and 3 in 2025, and years that are not zero continue. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.53 in fiscal 2023 — a level whose own tax revenue can cover a little over half of expenditure. The figure shows in the numbers: a fishing town of the umin-chu and their dugout boats increasing its population at the southernmost tip. Why it takes this form cannot be read without going back to the past of the fishers, the sea, and a walk on its own.
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 southernmost tip of the main island, the umin-chu and their dugout boats, the drive-net fishers, a walk on its own — the history behind the numbers
This city’s frame is set by the position of the southernmost tip of the main island, the dugout boat hollowed from a single tree, the fishers who drove fish into the nets, and a walk on its own. The starting layer is the sea and fishing. This land opens onto the southernmost tip of the main island of Okinawa and has lived together with the sea. The people rode small boats hollowed from a single tree and went out fishing as far as the seas of the distant south. After the underwater goggles were devised around the Meiji era, the fishing of diving into the sea and driving the fish into the nets developed: the men took to the drive nets, and the women to the peddling that carried the catch about for sale. Fishing that lived together with the sea was the foundation of this town.
This fishing town was known by name to far-off places. The people who live by the sea are called umin-chu, and the fishers of this town went out fishing as far as the various parts of the southern seas, and were widely known by name. In 1908, as a town of the people of the sea, this land became a town. The path to becoming a city, too, mirrors this town. In 1971, the town became a city, and thereafter, passing through no Heisei-era merger, it has walked on its own. At the southernmost tip of the main island, the fishing that lives with the sea grew, the drive-net fishers spread their name, and upon that past a walk on its own was layered — and so the present Itoman stands.
Source: Itoman City / the Itoman fishers (the fishing town of the Itoman fishers [umin-chu = people of the sea], who went out as far as the southern seas in the dugout boats called sabani; after the underwater goggles were devised in the Meiji era, drive-net fishing developed — overview) / Itoman City (the southernmost tip of the main island of Okinawa; town status in 1908 [a town of the people of the sea] → city status on 1971-12-1; it did not undergo the Heisei mergers and continued on its own — overview)
03 · In a fishing town of the umin-chu and their dugout boats, increasing the population while remaining the southernmost tip
What characterizes Itoman is that, while it holds the past of the drive-net fishers, it has increased its population on its own, without merger, remaining the southernmost tip. From 54,974 in 2000 to 61,007 in 2020, some six thousand were added over twenty years. Behind this fishing town that has lived with the sea continuing to increase, one can read the position of being in the southern part of the main island, close to Naha, and the circumstance that the living of the people who live by the sea has continued as a place to dwell. That the crude birth rate is high nationwide at 11.2 per thousand in 2020, and that the household-with-children share is high at 27.4% in 2020, are expressions of a city with many young households and many children. That the share aged 65 and over still stays at 22.2% in 2020 overlaps with this too.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was 15 in 2024 and 3 in 2025, and years that are not zero continue. Because children are many and the population is increasing, there are years when the places of childcare cannot keep up with demand — that is the structure. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.53 is a level whose own tax revenue can cover a little over half of expenditure, and, while relying on the local allocation tax as well, the living of those who dwell here supports the tax source. The fishing town of the umin-chu and their dugout boats is now increasing its population at the southernmost tip, while holding the challenge — peculiar to an increasing city — of a shortage of childcare places. The population increases, the children are many, and the Waitlist continues in years that are not zero. The position of the southernmost tip, close to Naha, settles young households, and the abundance of their children breeds the shortage of childcare places — the movement peculiar to an increasing city appears overlaid.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A city where a land that lives with the sea at the southernmost tip of the main island became a fishing town of the umin-chu
In Itoman, several faces of differing character overlap. One is the past of an umin-chu fishing town — at the southernmost tip of the main island of Okinawa, living together with the sea, going out fishing as far as the southern seas in dugout boats hollowed from a single tree. Another is the character of a land of drive-net fishing — after the underwater goggles were devised in the Meiji era, developing the fishing of diving into the sea and driving the fish into the nets, and being known to far-off places by the name of its fishers. And the position of opening to the sea at the southernmost tip of the main island drew the living that lives together with the sea, and the fishing, into this land.
The land that opened to the sea at the southernmost tip of the main island set the living that lives together with the sea, raised the drive-net fishing, and became an umin-chu fishing town. The living of the people who went out to the southern seas in boats hollowed from a single tree lies at the root of this town. It is a city where the geography of "a land that opens to the sea at the southernmost tip of the main island of Okinawa" raised, in one and the same land, the distinctive fishers’ culture of the umin-chu.
Source: Itoman City / the Itoman fishers (the fishing town of the Itoman fishers [umin-chu = people of the sea], who went out as far as the southern seas in the dugout boats called sabani; after the underwater goggles were devised in the Meiji era, drive-net fishing developed — overview) / Itoman City (the southernmost tip of the main island of Okinawa; town status in 1908 [a town of the people of the sea] → city status on 1971-12-1; it did not undergo the Heisei mergers and continued on its own — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — the memory of the umin-chu who set out for the southern seas in dugout boats, and a present that swells with many children
Lay out Itoman’s numbers and the indicators of a fishing town that has lived with the sea line up: a consistently increasing population, an aging rate of 22.2%, a household-with-children share of 27.4%, a crude birth rate of 11.2, and a fiscal capacity of 0.53. But what first draws my (Atlas’s) heart — an eye that wants to trace back even to the history behind the numbers — is the past that this city is "an umin-chu fishing town that went out fishing as far as the seas of the distant south in dugout boats hollowed from a single tree, and developed the fishing of diving into the sea and driving the fish into the nets." The living that lived together with the sea made this town’s name known to far-off places, and the skill of its fishers reached the various parts of the southern seas. The land of the southernmost tip that opened to the sea raised the distinctive fishers’ culture of the umin-chu — this chain explains the making of this town well.
Another thing I want to consider is that this city’s crude birth rate is high nationwide at 11.2 per thousand in 2020, and that years in which the Waitlist is not zero continue. Because children are many, young households live here, and the population is increasing, there are years when the places of childcare cannot keep up with demand. While many regional cities lose population and keep their Waitlist at zero, this city increases its population and holds challenges peculiar to an increasing city — this structure cannot be grasped by looking at one number alone. Whether one reads it off as "a city of the southern main island," or reads it as a city where a land that lives with the sea at the southernmost tip of the main island became an umin-chu fishing town, will change with the reader’s way of living. The memory of the umin-chu who set out for the southern seas in dugout boats, and a present that keeps swelling with many children, are folded together in a single fishing town — the task of taking even that overlap and measuring it against one’s commute or household budget, that alone I leave in the hands of the very person who lives there.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Itoman City / the Itoman fishers (the fishing town of the Itoman fishers [umin-chu = people of the sea], who went out as far as the southern seas in the dugout boats called sabani; after the underwater goggles were devised in the Meiji era, drive-net fishing developed — overview) / Itoman City (the southernmost tip of the main island of Okinawa; town status in 1908 [a town of the people of the sea] → city status on 1971-12-1; it did not undergo the Heisei mergers and continued on its own — 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 (wave31-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: wave31w_