Wakayama Prefecture Hirogawa has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall.

The story was popularized by Inamura no Hi: The Burning Rice Fields by Tsunezo Nakai (translated and published in English by Sara Cone Bryant) and Lafcadio Hearn's Gleanings in Buddha-Fields (1897).

Hamaguchi devoted himself to helping fellow villagers find jobs and built confidence by constructing a huge seawall.

He also established a private academy called "Taikyu-sha" (current Taikyu Junior/High School) to give the villagers the opportunity to learn.

In 1907, George Trumbull Ladd, assisting Marquis Ito Hirobumi, visited the school and later published his journal Rare Days in Japan (1910).

On the way back to Wakayama – for Hiro Mura is more than twenty miles from the nearest railway station- three men to each jinrikisha, running with scarcely a pause and at a rate that would have gained credit for any horse as a fairly good roadster, brought us to the well-situated tea-house at Wakano-ura.

Hirogawa collectively with the other municipalities of Arida District, contributes two members to the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly.