In this city, on a low hill of the Katsuren Peninsula, there are the ruins of a castle built up of piled stone. These castle ruins, where a clan that gathered power through maritime trade in the old age of Ryukyu held seat, are now counted among the heritage of the world. In the sea of this same city float several islands, and those islands are tied to the main island by a long road and bridges that run over the sea. Two cities and two towns became one to form this city, which holds both a World Heritage castle ruin and a road over the sea that ties the islands, and still increases its population. Uruma City’s numbers are the record of a city inscribed with the past of a merger and its islands.
A city that opens onto the southern shore of an inlet and a peninsula jutting into the sea, in the central part of the main island of Okinawa Prefecture. To read its population, one must take account of a merger. This city was born in 2005 when two cities and two towns were newly established by merger. The population of 2005, when it was born of merger, was 113,535, and from there it has increased to 125,303 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a city made by merger," but the causal thread: how the past of a World Heritage castle ruin and a road over the sea that ties the islands is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Uruma in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 125,000 (125,303 in 2020). To read this city’s population, one must take account of a merger. This city was born in 2005 when two cities and two towns were newly established by merger. The population of 2005, when it was born of merger, was 113,535, and from there, through 116,979 in 2010 and 118,898 in 2015, to 125,303 in 2020, it has consistently increased after the merger.
Looking inside, the figure of a city that keeps increasing its population and keeps its youth appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 16.2% in 2005, when it was born of merger, to 22.4% in 2020, yet while many regional cities of the mainland approach four in ten, it stays in the early part of the two-in-ten range and leaves much youth. The household-with-children share is high at 27.1% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.47 in fiscal 2023 — own tax revenue does not reach the middle of expenditure, and reliance on the allocation tax is large. The figure shows in the numbers: the city that holds both a World Heritage castle ruin and a road over the sea consistently increases its population while leaving much youth. Why it takes this form cannot be read without going back to the past of a merger and its islands.
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 merger of two cities and two towns, a castle ruin built by maritime trade, a road over the sea that ties the islands — the history behind the numbers
This city’s frame is set by the merger in which two cities and two towns became one, the World Heritage castle ruin built by maritime trade, and the road over the sea that ties the islands. The starting layer is the merger. This city was born in 2005 when two cities and two towns, differing in character, were newly established by merger. Municipalities each holding their own past became one, and held in one city area everything from the southern shore of an inlet, to a peninsula jutting into the sea, to the offshore islands.
Several pasts overlap in the city area held by this merger. One is the castle ruin. On a low hill of the peninsula jutting into the sea, there are the ruins of a castle where a clan that gathered power through maritime trade in the old age of Ryukyu held seat. Built up of piled stone, these castle ruins were counted among the heritage of the world as one of the gusuku and related properties of Ryukyu. Another is the road over the sea. In the sea of this city float several islands, and those islands are tied to the main island by a road and bridges that run long over the sea. That road running over the sea ties the living of the islands to the main island, and has also become a scenery that calls in visitors. A World Heritage castle ruin, and a road over the sea that ties the islands — this city’s form stands upon the past of a merger and its islands held by the city area in which two cities and two towns became one.
Source: Uruma City (on 2005 the two cities of Gushikawa and Ishikawa and the two towns of Katsuren and Yonashiro were newly established by merger; the southern shore of Kinwan Bay / the Katsuren Peninsula and eight islands; the five islands of Ikei, Miyagi, Henza, Hamahiga and Yabuchi are tied to the main island by a causeway over the sea and by bridges — overview) / Uruma City "Merger" / Katsuren Castle ruins (in 2000 the Katsuren Castle ruins were registered as a World Heritage site as part of "Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu" — overview)
03 · In a city born of merger, consistently increasing the population and leaving much youth
What characterizes Uruma is that, while it holds the past of a World Heritage castle ruin and a road over the sea that ties the islands, it consistently increases its population and leaves much youth. From 113,535 in 2005, when it was born of merger, to 125,303 in 2020, more than twelve thousand were added over fifteen years. While many regional cities of the mainland lose population, behind this city continuing to increase one can read that, in the position of the central main island, households raising many children keep up their living, and the younger generation has stayed in the city. That the household-with-children share is high at 27.1% in 2020, and that the share aged 65 and over stays in the early part of the two-in-ten range at 22.4%, are expressions of that young population composition too.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.47 is a level whose own tax revenue does not reach the middle of expenditure, with large reliance on the allocation tax. It mirrors that, while increasing the population and leaving much youth, the own tax source has its limits. The city that holds both a World Heritage castle ruin and a road over the sea still consistently increases its population while leaving much youth. The population consistently increases, the aging is in the early two-in-ten range, and the fiscal stamina is on the weak side — this city of the central main island shows a movement the reverse of that by which the regional cities of the mainland lose population and deepen their aging.
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 that bound two cities and two towns and held a castle ruin and a road over the sea
Uruma’s past begins where, in 2005, two cities and two towns were newly established by merger and bound into one city area everything from the southern shore of an inlet, to the peninsula, to the offshore islands. In that city area, the castle ruin where a clan that gathered power through maritime trade held seat is counted among the heritage of the world, and the islands of Ikei, Miyagi, Henza, Hamahiga and Yabuchi are tied to the main island by a causeway over the sea and by bridges. The same city area holds the differing pasts of a castle ruin and a road over the sea.
From the merger in which two cities and two towns became one, to the World Heritage castle ruin built by maritime trade, to the road over the sea that ties the islands. The geography of opening onto the southern shore of an inlet, a peninsula, and the offshore islands called in the castle of maritime trade, and called in the road over the sea that ties the islands. In this city area of the central main island, a merger and its islands overlap.
Source: Uruma City (on 2005 the two cities of Gushikawa and Ishikawa and the two towns of Katsuren and Yonashiro were newly established by merger; the southern shore of Kinwan Bay / the Katsuren Peninsula and eight islands; the five islands of Ikei, Miyagi, Henza, Hamahiga and Yabuchi are tied to the main island by a causeway over the sea and by bridges — overview) / Uruma City "Merger" / Katsuren Castle ruins (in 2000 the Katsuren Castle ruins were registered as a World Heritage site as part of "Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu" — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — in a city that holds both a World Heritage castle ruin and a road over the sea, reading a movement the reverse of the mainland
Lay out Uruma’s numbers and the indicators of a city that increases its population while leaving much youth line up: a consistently increasing population, an aging rate of 22.4%, a household-with-children share of 27.1%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.47. Looking with the eye of an accountant that first doubts this city’s numbers, what I want to note is that this city was born in 2005 when two cities and two towns were newly established by merger. This article’s population takes as its starting point the 113,535 of 2005, when it was born of merger. The numbers before that belong to the history of separate municipalities, and cannot be lined up in time series as the course of this city’s population. That is precisely why it must be read with the year it was born of merger noted as the starting point.
On that basis, what I want to read is that this city, the reverse of many regional cities of the mainland, "keeps increasing" its population. On the mainland, while many regional cities lose population and deepen their aging, this city consistently increases its population and keeps the share aged 65 and over in the early part of the two-in-ten range. That the household-with-children share is high, exceeding twenty-seven percent, supports that youth. The contrast that the regional cities of the mainland and the cities of Okinawa show differing tendencies in the very movement of population shows clearly the difference in the flows of population by region. On the other hand, as the Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.47 shows, while increasing the population and keeping its youth, the own tax source has its limits.
The castle of a clan that gained its wealth from the sea became the heritage of the world, and that same sea is now a bridge that supports the living of the islands — the wealth that the sea of Katsuren raised, and the road over the sea that still ties the islands, I (Atlas) lay out side by side here.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Uruma City (on 2005 the two cities of Gushikawa and Ishikawa and the two towns of Katsuren and Yonashiro were newly established by merger; the southern shore of Kinwan Bay / the Katsuren Peninsula and eight islands; the five islands of Ikei, Miyagi, Henza, Hamahiga and Yabuchi are tied to the main island by a causeway over the sea and by bridges — overview) / Uruma City "Merger" / Katsuren Castle ruins (in 2000 the Katsuren Castle ruins were registered as a World Heritage site as part of "Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu" — 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: wave17_8