Mutsu is a city located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan., the city had an estimated population of 56,244, and a population density of 65 persons per km², in 28,778 households. The total area of the city is, making it the largest municipality in Aomori Prefecture in terms of area.
Mutsu has a rare oceanic climate or warm-summer humid continental climate by 0 °C isoterm, the south of the city being the northern boundary of the hot-summer type in Aomori, disregarding rural areas in the west. The city is characterized by warm summers and cool to cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Mutsu is 7.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1339 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 20.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around -4.6 °C.
Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Mutsu has declined over the past 40 years.
History
Mutsu was founded as September 1, 1959 through the merger of the former towns of Ōminato and Tanabu. Tanabu had been the location of a daikansho under the Morioka Domain in the Edo period, and was a resettlement and colonization zone for dispossessed ex-samurai of the defeated Aizu Domain after the Boshin War. The village of Ōminato was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on 1 April 1889, and was raised to town status on November 10, 1928. Ōminato was a port town, and home to the Ōminato Guard District, a major base for the Imperial Japanese Navy until the end of World War II. The town and its military base were bombed repeatedly from the middle of July to middle of August 1945 during World War II. The base facilities were used by the United States Navy during the occupation of Japan, and by the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force to date. Ōminato merged with the adjacent town of Tanabe to form the city Ōminato-Tanabu on September 1, 1959; its name was changed to Mutsu in 1960. At the time, it was the only city with a hiragana name, which was adopted to avoid confusion with the original kanji word Mutsu which indicates the old province that covered most of the modern Tōhoku region. On March 14, 2005, the towns of Kawauchi and Ōhata, and the village of Wakinosawa were merged into Mutsu.
The economy of Mutsu is heavily dependent on agriculture, forestry and fishing, especially scallop aquaculture in Mutsu Bay. The city is also the location for various facilities of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and was the home port for the nuclear powered research vessel Mutsu, until its decommissioning in 1997.
