Toba, Mie
Geography. Toba is located on the northeastern tip of Shima Peninsula in far eastern Mie Prefecture, facing Ise Bay of the Pacific Ocean to the north and east. The area is famous for oysters and for cultured pearls. The entire city area is within the borders of the Ise-Shima National Park. Toba administers numerous islands in the Ise Bay, the most important of which are: Neighboring municipalities. Mie Prefecture Climate. Toba has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa") characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Toba is  . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . Demographics. Per Japanese census data, the population of Toba has decreased rapidly over the past 30 years. History. The area of modern Toba has been continuously inhabited since before the Jōmon period. During the Sengoku period, the area was under the control of pirates, from whom emerged Kuki Yoshitaka (from Nakiri district) as a dominant ruler. After having dominated the local seacoasts, he established Toba as his capital and built a castle there . Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the castle became the center for Toba Domain. In the Edo period, Toba flourished in trade and as a transshipment port between Osaka and Edo. The town of Toba was created with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Toba was raised to city status on November 1, 1954, by merging with seven neighboring villages in Shima District. Government. Toba has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 14 members. Toba contributes one member to the Mie Prefectural Assembly. In terms of  national politics, the city is part of Mie 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan. Economy. Commercial fishing, including cultivated pearls, and tourism play important roles in the local economy. Education. Toba has nine public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government and one public high school operated by the Mie Prefectural Department of Education. The Toba National College of Maritime Technology, one of the five maritime technology colleges in Japan which offers merchant marine programs such as Deck officer, Marine Engineering and other advanced programs related to maritime education. is  located in Toba, as is the Sugashima Marine Biological Laboratory - Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University. Culture. Toba city hosts the highest number of ama divers in Japan. "Toba and Shima, cities where you can meet ama divers" has been defined as the 73th stories of Japanese heritage. Transportation. Railway. JR Tōkai - Sangū Line