Иката: Таулы түбектің географиясы мен дамуы

Following a recent merger with the neighboring towns of Misaki and Seto, the town now spans the mountainous Sadamisaki Peninsula, the narrowest peninsula in Japan and the westernmost point on the island of Shikoku. This unique geography has greatly influenced Ikata's growth. On the one hand, it has presented significant challenges to urban development that were not overcome until recently in the town's long history. On the other, the peninsula is what gives the town its beautiful mountain and ocean scenery which, bolstered by significant investments in infrastructure and tourist facilities, has formed the basis for a burgeoning tourism industry. In addition to the beauty of its rugged, natural landscape, Ikata has long been known for fishing and mikan orange farming. In recent years Ikata has also become a hotspot of modern energy production—the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant produced much of Shikoku's electricity until it was shut down in 2012 following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (before being reactivated in 2018), and the town's windy mountains are dotted by dozens of windmills.

Ikata is on the Sadamisaki Peninsula, Japan's narrowest peninsula and the westernmost point on the island of Shikoku. The peninsula is extremely mountainous, with steep cliffs and precious little usable flat land. To combat this, the town's bays and ponds have seen vigorous coastal reclamation efforts dating back to the early Meiji period (late 1800s). The length of the peninsula makes accurate weather prediction difficult for the town; when driving down Melody Line, it is not uncommon to find it sunny between one set of tunnels, rainy between another, and foggy between yet another. Ikata's position, stretching out into the ocean, also makes it a frequent target for typhoons.

Ikata is a small town, with a population of 8,196 as of June 30, 2023. The total land area of the town is 94.37 km2, making the population density 113 persons per km2. However, much of the land on the peninsula is quite mountainous and not suited for development; the population density of the individual settlements, which are squeezed into the small bay areas in the foothills of the mountains, is much higher. Extrapolating from data based on the most recent land survey, only 3.21% of the town's land is inhabited; this puts the population density at a much higher 3,510 persons/kilometer squared. Like much of rural Japan, Ikata faces a rapidly declining and aging population. According to the Ikata website, roughly 40% of the town's population is 65 or older. Furthermore, many elementary and middle schools have closed since the 1970s. Those that remain have very small student populations. For example, Ikata Elementary School is Ikata's largest elementary school; there were 303 students in 1987, 162 in 2006, and 128 in 2014; Toyonoura Elementary was Old Ikata's smallest school; it had 51 students in 1987, and only 14 in 2007. the population of Ikata has been decreasing steadily since the 1950s, and is now less than third of what it was a century ago.

The Sadamisaki Peninsula area has been inhabited since at least the Jōmon period (10,000–300 BC), as evidenced by the discovery of stone tools and earthenware pots in the Misaki and Kushi neighborhoods. In 1963 a local man discovered a stone ax dating to the mid Yayoi period (300 BC–250 AD) in his farm plot in the Kawachi neighborhood. Upon further investigation by the Japan Archaeological Society in 1986, the area was recognized as containing the remains of a highland settlement ([[:ja:高地性集落). This is a type of settlement usually located several tens of meters above the surrounding area on mountainsides, and is peculiar to the Yayoi period. Entering the Edo period and the Tokugawa shogunate, the Uwa District came under control of the Uwajima Domain (宇和島藩). From 1610 to 1612, the first Uwajima feudal lord, Tomita Nobutaka, gathered farmers from the local area to dig a canal through the thinnest part of the Sadamisaki Peninsula, Seto's Mitsukue neighborhood. The project was soon canceled due to insufficient funds. By this time, the name Ikata (伊方浦) can be seen in records of taxes paid to the feudal lords. A monument named The Nine War Heroes (九軍神) stands in Suka Park in Mitsukue as a memorial dedicated to the nine young men (ages 21–28) who were stationed in the Mitsukue area for these exercises. According to the plaque on the monument, the men were quite friendly with the locals, and stories are still told about them in the neighborhood to this day. The men died on December 8, 1941, during one of the initial attacks on Pearl Harbor. In 1955 another round of mergers corresponding to the Great Shōwa Merger reduced the number of municipal entities to three. In 1977 the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant began operation as the first nuclear power plant on the island of Shikoku. On April 1, 2005, Ikata merged with the nearby towns of Misaki and Seto to create the new town of Ikata, which spans the Sadamisaki Peninsula.

March, 2014. National attention turns to Ikata as the towns elections near. Many wonder if Ikata will approve the restart of its nuclear power generators. The installation of many new windmills in 2006 and 2007 solicited a significant amount of noise complaints from nearby residents.

Ikata has a mayor council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 13 members. Ikata together with Yawatahama, contributes two members to the Ehime Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Ehime 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan. 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 contiguous Nishiuwa District towns (Misaki, Seto, Old Ikata, and Honai) to merge. 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. Once the merger was decided upon, suggestions for the new town's name were solicited from the residents. Despite the many other reasonable suggestions and the seeming unfairness toward Seto and Misaki, the "new" name was chosen to be "Ikata." 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 2006 for corruption relating to government construction contracts. He resigned soon thereafter. A second race was held in April 2006, with Kazuhiko Yamashita defeating rival Kiyohiko Takakado by only 90 votes. Voter turnout was 87.43%. There has been and remains political resistance among some Ikata residents to the nuclear power plant. The most recent mayoral election took place on April 13, 2014 which found incumbent Yamashita in seat for his third term as mayor. 85.33% of the total 9,190 eligible voters turning out to cast a ballot. Mr. Yamashita garnered a total of 3,266 of the electorate while a certain Mr. Yoshihisa Hatanaka (see above) came in second place with a total of 2,399 votes. A non Ikata resident of the "People Who Don't Need Nukes" Party (原発いらない人々) managed to win slightly more than 1% of the electorate with 104 votes.

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.

The former town of Seto erected eleven Mitsubishi MWT 1000 wind generators in January 2002. The Old Ikata installed two Vestas V52 850 kW 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. The town plans to have a total of 60 generators within the next few years.

Ikata is the site of Shikoku's only nuclear power plant. The Ikata Nuclear Power Plant has two Mitsubishi 538 MWe Pressurized Water Reactor units with the Two Reactor Coolant Loop design (similar to the original Westinghouse design at Prairie Island, Kewaunee, and Point Beach plants) and one Mitsubishi Pressurized Water Reactor unit with the Three Reactor Coolant Loop design (similar to the Westinghouse Surry, North Anna, and Robinson plants). Units 1 and 2 started up on September 30, 1977 and March 19, 1981 respectively. Unit 3 is a three loop PWR rated at 846 MWe that started up on December 15, 1994. April 1, 2007, marked a milestone for the Ikata plant as it reached a total of 300 million kilowatt hours of energy generated since beginning operations in 1977.

Ikata has six public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government. The city has one public high school operated by the Ehime Prefectural Board of Education.

Ikata has no passenger rail service. The closest station is the JR Shikoku Yawatahama Station on the Yosan Line.

Due to Ikata's length and mountainous terrain, regular bus service did not reach the tip of the peninsula until the 1960s. Until then, the only public transportation available was local ferries that connected the bays of each neighborhood. In 1963, the original Japan National Route 197 was completed. It follows the coastline, and is thus extremely winding and narrow, with very little room for cars to pass. Traversing the peninsula by this route takes hours and can be quite nerve wracking; this earned it the ire of the locals, who came up with a disparaging nickname that is a pun on the actual name: "the Don't go there Terrible Road" (イクナ酷道).

The Ikata leg of the new National Route 197 was completed in 1987 and is the heart of transportation in modern Ikata, affectionately nicknamed "Melody Line". This nickname later spawned a musical road portion of the road built to celebrate its anniversary that was completed and added in 2011, so the road could literally have a "melody". The road "plays" parts of two Japanese songs when certain sections of the road are driven over. Unlike the old roads, Melody Line boasts two full lanes and runs relatively straight down the peninsula. Seated high in the mountains, drivers can enjoy views of both the Pacific Ocean and Inland Sea. The route terminates at Misaki and continues over to Kyūshū by ferries that connect Misaki Port with Saganoseki (Ōita, Ōita) and Beppu, Ōita. Melody Line is such an improvement over the old roads that it has become a significant Ehime sightseeing attraction in itself, with many tourists coming to see cherry blossoms in the spring. Together with the city of Iyo's seaside Route 378, Melody Line makes one of the prefecture's recommended sightseeing routes, and one of JTB's "100 Hidden Treasures of Japan" ([[:ja:日本の秘境100選). Iyo Railway bus service runs up and down the peninsula, to and from Yawatahama, and offers express buses from Misaki to Matsuyama. However, commuter buses run infrequently and, due to the length of the peninsula and the scattered nature of the town's neighborhoods, bus travel remains more expensive and less convenient than in denser areas. Some tour buses also come across the strait from Kyūshū by ferry.

The origin of the name Ikata is unclear and there are several competing theories. Ika can be found in the names of places surrounded by mountains or located in foothills; ta can mean "land". Ikata could therefore be "a place by the mountains". In the Ainu language, ika means "to pass through the mountains and cross the land". However, the Ainu are thought to have had little influence as far south as Shikoku.

Ikata is known for its mikans and mikan juice. More than 20 different varieties of mikan are grown in Ikata. Old Ikata also has a very old sake brewing tradition that dates back to the Edo period, with several tōji brewmasters in the local area. There is even a museum dedicated to the Ikata Tōji. 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, producing many horse mackerel (鯵) and mackerel (鯖). Four Misaki Fishing Co op products are part of the Ehime "With Love" (『愛』ある) brand: Horse mackerel, mackerel, largehead hairtail (太刀魚), and abalone (鮑). 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) which is prepared like a croquette.

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 sentence final particle ga (が) as a replacement for no (の) in some contexts. For example, Nani shiteru no? (何してるの？ "What are you doing?" in standard Japanese) becomes Nani shiyoru ga? (何しよるが？) in Iyo dialect. Ikata's largest town celebration in late summer, 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).

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.

Shūji Nakamura, 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics winner, inventor of the blue LED, hails from the former town of Seto. Adventurer Hyōichi Kōno successfully reached the North Pole in 1997. He died 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. He was born in the Kuchō neighborhood of Ikata.