The area enjoys a warm maritime climate with hot, humid summers and mild, cool winters.

Shizuoka Prefecture Per Japanese census data,[1] the population of Shimada has remained steady over the past 50 years.

[2] Shimada (Kanaya) began as an outlying fortification to Kakegawa Castle erected by Yamauchi Kazutoyo in the Sengoku period to control the crossing of the Ōi River.

The area was mostly tenryō territory under direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate with a daikansho based at a Jinya located within Shimada-juku.

On April 16, 1889, the two towns were connected by rail, with the opening of Shimada Station on the Tōkaidō Main Line.

[3] Shimada has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 20 members.