Shingū, Wakayama
Geography. Shingū is located near the southern tip of the Kii Peninsula, on the west side of the mouth of the Kumano River, in the southeastern tip of Wakayama Prefecture. It faces the Pacific Ocean to the east. Parts of the city are within the limits of the Yoshino-Kumano National Park. Neighboring municipalities. Wakayama Prefecture Mie Prefecture Nara Prefecture Climate. Shingū has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa") characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Shingū is . The average annual rainfall is with June as the wettest  month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The area is subject to typhoons in summer. The highest temperature ever recorded in Shingū was on 22 August 2016. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 27 February 1981. Demographics. Per Japanese census data, the population of Shingū has decreased steadily over the past 60 years. History. The area of the modern city of Shingū was within ancient Kii Province, and per the "Nihon Shoki" was the home of the "Kumano Kuni no miyatsuko", a local king ruling the Kumano region which  straddles what is now southern Wakayama and Mie prefectures. The settlement had prospered since before the Kamakura period as a timber distribution center using the Kumano River, and as an entrance to the Kumano Sanzan shrines. During the Edo period, it was part of the holdings of the Kii Tokugawa clan, and was the castle town Shingū Domain in the Edo period. After the Meiji restoration, the area became part o Higashimuro District, Wakayama, and the town of Shingū was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Shingū and the neighboring town of Miwasaki  merged to form the city of Shingū on October 1, 1933. Shingū annexed the village of Takeda on September 30, 1956. On October 1, 2005, the town of Kumanogawa (from Higashimuro District), an exclave between Nara and Mie prefectures, was merged with Shingū. Government. Shingū has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 15 members. Shingū contributes one member to the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Wakayama 3rd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan. Economy. Shingū is the  central commercial city of the Kumano Region and is one of the largest cities in Wakayama Prefecture. Primary industries include forestry, commercial fishing, growing of leafy vegetables such as "komatsuna" and horticulture, and "Kumano brand" beef. Secondary industries are centered around timber and paper processing. Education. Shingū has five public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Wakayama Prefectural Department of Education. The city also has one private middle school and one private high school. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped, and  one vocational education school. Transportation. Railway. JR Tōkai – Kisei Main Line Local attractions. Cuisine. A main dish is Nare-zushi, a very traditional type of sushi which, centuries ago, was imported from Southeast Asia to China, and from China to Japan. Narezushi was the birth of sushi, and influenced how the Japanese later made their own styles of sushi that most of us know today.