Izumo, Shimane

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Izumo soba, a variety of soba named after Izumo

Izumo (出雲市; -shi) is a city located in Shimane, Japan. Izumo is known for "Izumo soba" (noodles) and the Izumo Taisha shinto shrine.

1 Demographics
2 Transportation
3 Accommodations
4 Town twinning
5 References in manga and video games
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Demographics

The modern city was founded on November 3, 1941.

As of 2003, the city had an estimated population of 87,940 and density of 510.30 persons per km². The total area was 172.33 km².

On March 22, 2005, the city merged with cities of Hirata and four cities from Hikawa District to form the new city of Izumo.

After the creation of the new city, the estimated total population is 148,746 and the combined area of the new city of Izumo is 543.43km².

[edit] Transportation

Izumo is serviced by two rail networks. The JR West Sanin Main Line, connecting Izumoshi Station to Okayama through Yonago and Matsue, and then continuing west past Oda along the coast to Hamada.

The secondary rail network is the Ichibata Electric Railway. The Dentetsu Izumo-shi Station is the terminus, and the line runs from Izumo to Matsue, passing through and connecting Hirata. The Dentetsu line also branches out and runs to Izumo Taisha from Kawato Station.

[edit] Accommodations

Close to the JR Line station are several large and quality hotels, including the Tokoyo Inn, Hotel A1, Izumo Green Hotel Morris and the Ichibata Twin Leaves Hotel.

Despite the relatively small size of the city, Izumo has a wide range of fast food and popular restaurant stores. These include McDonalds (two locations), KFC, MOS Burger (two locations), Dom Dom Burger, Gusto, Joyfull, Mister Donut and Bamiyan amongst others.

Media Cafe Arion and Third Station, located opposite each other, are affordable and comfortable options for internet access, comics, pool, and other forms of entertainment.

[edit] Town twinning

Izumo has a town twinning relationship with these sister cities:

Santa Clara, California (1986)
Hanzhong, People's Republic of China (1996)
Évian-les-Bains, France (2002)
Kalajoki, Finland (2003)

[edit] References in manga and video games

In the anime and manga Shaman King, the main character Yoh Asakura is from Izumo.
The main character of anime and manga Blue Seed is from Izumo.
In the video game Golden Sun: The Lost Age, a town is named Izumo that follows the story of the Kushinada.