Aizuwakamatsu

Aizuwakamatsu (会津若松市 Aizuwakamatsu-shi?) is a city located in Fukushima Prefecture, in northern Honshū, Japan. As of September 2014, the city had an estimated population of 122,715 and a population density of 321 persons per km². The total area was 383.03 km².

The city was formed via mergers of smaller towns over the past century:
 * On April 1, 1937, a part of Machikita village (from Kitaaizu District) was merged into the city of Wakamatsu.
 * On April 1, 1951, the village of Machikita (remaining parts) (from Kitaaizu District) was later merged into Wakamatsu.
 * On January 1, 1955, 7 villages of Kitaaizu District (Kouya, Kouzashi, Monden, Ikki, Higashiyama, Ōto and Minato) were merged into Wakamatsu. And the city's name changed to "Aizuwakamatsu".
 * On April 1, 1955, a part of the town of Hongō (locality of Oya) (from Ōnuma District) was merged into Aizuwakamatsu.
 * On November 1, 2004, the village of Kitaaizu (from Kitaaizu District) was merged into Aizuwakamatsu. Therefore, Kitaaizu District was dissolved as a result of this merger.
 * On November 1, 2005, the town of Kawahigashi (from Kawanuma District) was merged into Aizuwakamatsu.

Aizuwakamatsu in Joe Steele
At the end of World War II, U.S. President Joe Steele and Soviet leader Leon Trotsky met in the small town of Wakamatsu to discuss the partition of Japan and future relations between the two world powers. The town was selected since it as the biggest on the Agano River which formed the boundary between South and North Japan, de facto puppet states of the two countries.

One morning, Charlie Sullivan, President Steele's speech-writer had a surprise meeting with his brother Sgt. Mike Sullivan who he hadn't seen in eight years, since his arrest and conviction as a "wrecker".