Ogawa, Saitama
Geography. Ogawa is located in central Saitama Prefecture in the Ogawa basin and is surrounded by the Sotochichibu Mountains. Surrounding municipalities. Saitama Prefecture Climate. Ogawa has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa") characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ogawa is 14.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1746 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.0 °C. Demographics. Per Japanese census data, the population of Ogawa  peaked at around the year 2000 and has started to decline. History. The village of Ogawa was created within Hiki District, Saitama with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Ogawa annexed the neighboring villages of Okawa, Takezawa and Yawata on February 1, 1955. Tokigawa and Tamagawa merged to form the town of Tokigawa. Government. Ogawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral town council of 16 members. Ogawa, together with the towns of Tokigawa, Ranzan and Namekawa, contributes one member to the Saitama Prefectural Assembly. In terms  of national politics, the town is part of Saitama 10th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan. Economy. The town was traditionally famous for Japanese traditional papermaking (washi). Education. Ogawa has six public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education. Transportation. Railway. JR East - Hachikō Line