Ikata

Ikata (伊方町, Ikata-chō) is a town located in Nishiuwa District, Ehime, Japan.

On April 1, 2005 the former town of Ikata merged with the nearby towns of Seto and Misaki to form the new Ikata, which spans the Sadamisaki peninsula.

History

March 31, 1955 — The villages of Ikata and Machimi merge, forming the town of Ikata
September 30, 1977 — Reactor No. 1 of the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant begins operation
April 1, 2005 — Misaki, Seto, and the former town of Ikata merge to form the new town of Ikata

Seto's Mitsukue Bay was used for submarine training operations by the Japanese navy leading up to World War II, as the bay's shape is similar to that of Pearl Harbor^[1].

Geography

The Sadamisaki peninsula, Japan's longest peninsula, is extremely mountainous. The various neighborhoods of Ikata are found nestled among the foothills, connected only by winding coastal paths and a single highway, Route 197 (the Ikata leg of which is affectionately nicknamed "Melody Line").

Ikata is surrounded on three sides by ocean—the Iyo Sea (part of the Inland Sea) to the north, the Uwa Sea (Pacific Ocean) to the south, and the Hōyo Strait (separating Shikoku from Kyūshū) to the west.

Nearby cities and towns

Yawatahama to the East
Ōita, Ōita Prefecture to the West, across the Hōyo Strait

Transportation

Route 197 runs down the peninsula, then continues over to Kyūshū by means of ferries that connect Ikata's Misaki Port with Saganoseki (Ōita, Ōita) and Beppu, Ōita. Bus service runs up and down the peninsula, to and from Yawatahama. There are no trains in Ikata.

Points of interest

Sadamisaki Lighthouse — This lighthouse stands at the tip of the peninsula, overlooking the Hōyo Strait. On clear days you can see across to Kyūshū. 1.8 km of hiking trails and a campground lay at its feet.
Seto Wind Hill Park — This park is located atop a mountain in the Seto area. From it you can see many of Ikata's numerous windmills, spinning above the Inland Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Haikus about the windmills, submitted for Ikata's Windmill Festival, are on display in the park. See webcam images from the park, updated every hour.
Ikata Visitors Center — This hands-on science museum teaches all about nuclear power with beautiful interactive displays and fun activities for all ages. The building is connected to the Kirara-kan, which houses an aquarium and sells souvenirs and local agricultural products.

Red Wing Park — Named after Ikata's sister city, this park is home to Adventure Hill—a playground full of climbing nets, roller slides, and other exciting children's play equipment.

Roadside Stations

Ikata has two Roadside Stations:

Ikata Kirara-kan
Seto Agriculture Park

Culture

Food

Ikata is known for its mikans and mikan juice. More than 20 different varieties of mikan are grown in Ikata. The Seto area produces vegetables such as the bright-purple Kintarō potato, and also catches baby sardines called chirimen (ちりめん). Misaki has a strong fishing tradition, catching lots of horse mackerel (鯵, aji) and mackerel (鯖, saba).

One Ikata specialty cuisine is jakoten (じゃこ天), a tempura-fried patty of pressed white fish meat and vegetables. Other variations include jakokatsu (じゃこカツ), which is the same but fried and breaded like tonkatsu, and jako-croquette (じゃこコロッケ, jako-korokke) which is prepared like a croquette.

Language

Residents of Ikata speak the Iyo dialect of Japanese, which is similar in many respects to the Hiroshima dialect. One feature particular to the Nanyo (southern Ehime) region is the use of the particle ga (が) as a replacement for no (の) in some contexts.

Ex. "What are you doing?": Nani shiteru no? (何してるの？ Standard Japanese) becomes Nani shiyoru ga? (何しよるが？ Iyo-ben)

Ikata's largest town celebration in autumn, the Kinahaiya Ikata Festival, is another example of the Iyo dialect—kinahai ya (来なはいや) literally means "come on over" (kinasai yo 来なさいよ in standard Japanese).

Festivals and events

Kinahaiya Ikata Festival

Held in early August, this is Ikata's largest festival. Attractions include film and dance competitions, a taiko performance, children's sumo, and bare-handed fish catching, all concluded with a fantastic fireworks display in the evening.

Misaki Autumn Festival

The Misaki area holds its largest event of the year, the Autumn Festival (秋祭り, akimatsuri), in early October. The main attraction is the battle between the Ox Demon (牛鬼, ushioni) and the Four Drums (四ツ太鼓, yotsudaiko), which are two ceremonial mikoshi floats carried by the young local men and women. Participants compete in repeatedly pulling the floats up along a giant scaffolding, then trying to drop theirs on top of the other.

Ōku Shan Shan Dance

Every September, the Ōku neighborhood of the former town of Seto performs the Shan Shan Dance (しゃんしゃん踊り, Shanshan-odori). The purpose of the dance is to placate the dead spirit of a woman who is said to have washed ashore in Ōku long, long ago.

Industry

Ikata's main industries are farming (largely citrus fruits such as mikans), fishing, and electrical power. Ikata produces a substantial fraction of Shikoku's electricity. There are two main power production methods currently in use.

Wind power

The former town of Seto erected eleven Mitsubishi MWT-1000 wind generators in January 2002. The "old" Ikata installed two Vestas V52-850kW generators in March 2005. Together they have an expected yearly energy output of 34,700 MWh. Ikata is investing heavily in wind power infrastructure, with 45 additional towers currently under construction. They plan to have a total of 60 generators within the next few years.

Nuclear power

The island of Shikoku has only one nuclear power plant, and this is located in Ikata town. The Ikata Nuclear Power Plant has two Mitisubishi 538 MWe Pressurized Water Reactor units with the 2 Reactor Coolant Loop design (similar to original Westinghouse design as Prairie Island, Kewaunee, and Point Beach plants) and one Mitsubishi Pressurized Water Reactor unit with the 3 Reactor Coolant Loop design (similar to the Westinghouse Surry, North Anna, and Robinson plants). Units 1 and 2 started up in February 1977 and August 1981. Unit 3 is a 3 loop PWR rated at 846 MWe that started up in June 1994.

The Ikata Power Plant was referenced in the 1995 movie Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Godzilla attempts to attack the power plant, but meets resistance from the Self Defense Force's "Super-X III" weapon.

International exchange

Ikata puts much effort into expanding the horizons of its residents through its annual international exchange program. Since 1995, Ikata middle school students have traveled to the town's American sister city, Red Wing, Minnesota, for home stays of one to two weeks. Students from Red Wing likewise come to Ikata to learn about life in rural Japan.

Sister cities

Ikata has two sister cities, both of which also have nuclear power plants:

Tomari, Japan, since February 1998
Red Wing, United States, since August 1995

Politics

File:Ikata Nuclear Power Plant Protest Sign.jpg

Sign protesting the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant. "(We are) absolutely opposed to the MOX fuel plan!!"

Ikata experienced significant political turbulence leading up to and immediately following the April 1, 2005 merger with Seto and Misaki.

To begin with, multiple potential merger plans were put forth, one of which was for all of the Nishiuwa District towns (Misaki, Seto, Old Ikata, and Honai) to merge together. However, when Honai announced that it would merge with the nearby city of Yawatahama, polls indicated that Misaki residents still preferred to merge with Honai and Yawatahama, rather than Seto and Old Ikata, despite their being discontiguous (a Misaki-Honai-Yawatahama merger would make Misaki an exclave). Ultimately this was found to be impractical, and the Misaki-Seto-Ikata merger was approved with some grumbling over the naming of the new town.

Following the merger a heated mayoral race was held, with 11 members of incumbent Kiyoyoshi Nakamoto's campaign arrested for electoral fraud. Challenger Yoshihisa Hatanaka ultimately won, only to be arrested in February of 2006 for corruption relating to government construction contracts. He resigned soon thereafter.

A second race was held, with Kazuhiko Yamashita defeating rival Kiyohiko Takakado by only 80 votes.^[2]

There has been and still remains political resistance among some Ikata residents to the nuclear power plant. Most recently this has revolved around the now-approved plan to implement MOX fuel in Unit 3 of the Ikata plant.

Notable people from Ikata

Shūji Nakamura, inventor of the blue LED, hails from the former town of Seto.
Adventurer Hyōichi Kōno successfully reached the North Pole in 1997.^[3] He passed away in 2001 while attempting to walk from the North Pole back to his birthplace, the former town of Seto.
Nenten Tsubouchi is a haiku poet whose unique and quirky poems have been featured in elementary school textbooks in Japan.^[4] He was born in the Kuchō neighborhood of Ikata.