is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. , the city had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 433,436 in 194,216 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

of 3800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The name of the city is written with a single ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

'' character: , a reference to ''

Quercus dentata ''Quercus dentata'', also called Japanese emperor oak or daimyo oak ( ja, 柏, ''kashiwa''; ; ko, 떡갈나무, ''tteokgalnamu'') is a species of oak native to East Asia ( Japan, Korea and China). The name of the tree is often translated as ...

'', commonly known in English as the Japanese emperor oak or daimyo oak.

Geography

Kashiwa is located on the

Shimōsa Plateau The is a plateau on the Kantō Plain in central Honshu, Japan. The plateau covers most of northern Chiba Prefecture. The plateau was historically richly agricultural, but in the 20th century the western and central Shimōsa Plateau became one ...

in the far northwestern corner of Chiba Prefecture, about 30 kilometers from the prefectural capital at Chiba and 25 to 35 kilometers from central Tokyo. It is separated from Ibaraki Prefecture to the north by the Tone River. Located on the Kanto Plain, the city is flat, with an elevation of between 5 and 32 meters above sea level.

Neighboring municipalities

*Chiba Prefecture **

Matsudo 260px, Matsudo City Hall is a city in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 498,575 in 242,981 households and a population density of 8100 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Matsudo is ...

** Abiko ** Inzai **

Kamagaya is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 109,941 living in 50,485 households and a population density of 5200 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kamagaya is located i ...

** Noda **

Shiroi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 63,190 in 26,204 households and a population density of 1800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The name of the city comes f ...

Nagareyama Nagareyama City Hall is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 200,136 in 84,800 households and a population density of 5,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Nagareyama ...

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

** Toride ** Moriya

Climate

Kashiwa has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kashiwa is 14.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1358 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.5 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kashiwa has been increasing rapidly over the past 70 years.

History

Early history

Kashiwa has been settled since ancient times, and was historically part of Shimōsa Province. The area around Kashiwa was the site of the Battle of Sakainehara in 1478 early in the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

(1467 – 1573). During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

(1603 – 1868), the area was '' tenryō'' territory controlled directly by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. The shogunate established a number of horse ranches which provided war horses for the army of the shogunate. The Tokugawa shogunate put much effort into draining the marshy areas of Lake Tega (Lake Teganuma) during the Edo period as part of large-scale land reclamation carried out across Japan. Kashiwa was developed as a post station on the Mito Kaidō, which connected the capitol at

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

with

Mito Mito may refer to: Places *Mito, Ibaraki, capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan *Mito, Aichi, a Japanese town *Mito, Shimane, a Japanese town * Mitō, Yamaguchi, a Japanese town * Mito District, a district in the province of Concepción, Per ...

in present-day

Modern history

After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

in 1868, Kashiwa Village was created in Chiba Prefecture on October 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Kashiwa was connected to Tokyo by rail in 1896, and rail construction during the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

(1868 – 1912) established the area as a commercial center. Kashiwa became a town on September 15, 1926. Kashiwa, like much of northern Chiba Prefecture, saw the development of numerous military installations in the 1930s, notably after the

Mukden Incident The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, ...

in 1931. The

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

established Kashiwa Air Field and Kashiwa Military Hospital, and Kashiwa became a military town. The air field was abandoned after the end of World War II, but the hospital continues to exist as the Kashiwa Public Hospital. On September 1, 1954, Kashiwa absorbed neighboring Kogane Town and Tsuchi and Tanaka villages to form the new city of . However, many politicians in Kogane Town were vehemently opposed to the merger, and forced its dissolution on October 15, 1954 with most of former Kogane Town merging with Matsudo city instead. On November 1, 1954, Fuse Village broke away from Tokatsu, eventually joining Abiko Town to form the city of Abiko. The remaining portion of Tokatsu was renamed Kashiwa on November 15, 1954. On December 25, 1955 a fire of unknown origin destroyed the former Kashiwa City Hall, and burned down most of the center of the city. In the 1960s, Kashiwa was designated for reconstruction with a special fund from the central government, which included Japan's first pedestrian decks, completed at Kashiwa Station in 1973. Also during this period, new town developments greatly expanded the city's population. On April 1, 2008, Kashiwa was designated as a core city, with increased local autonomy. In August 2010, the city population exceeded 400,000 people.

Government

Kashiwa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

city council of 36 members. Kashiwa contributes five members to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Chiba 8th district and the

Chiba 13th district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called Parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional ...

of the lower house of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

Economy

Kashiwa is a regional commercial center and a bedroom community for nearby Chiba and Tokyo. Due to its good transportation connection with Tokyo, an estimated 42.3% of the working population (2015 census) commute to Tokyo for work. The city has a mixed industrial base, with food processing industries forming an important portion of the economy.

Nikka Whisky Distilling The is a producer of Japanese whisky and other beverages headquartered in Tokyo. It is owned by Asahi Group Holdings. The company operates a number of distilleries and other facilities in Japan, including two Japanese whisky distilleries, the Y ...

, Asahi Soft Drinks, and Ito Ham all have production facilities in Kashiwa. There is some residual agriculture of turnips, onions and spinach.

Education

Universities

Chiba University is a national university in the city of Chiba, Japan. It offers Doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. The university was formed in 1949 from ex ...

, Kashiwa Campus * University of Tokyo, Kashiwa Campus *

Reitaku University is a private university in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea ...

* Nishōgakusha University *

Kaichi International University is a private university in Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, ...

Primary and secondary education

*Kashiwa has 42 public elementary schools and 20 public middle schools operated by the city government, and three private combined middle/high schools and one combined middle/high school operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education. The city has eight public high schools operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education and two private high schools. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters ar ...

–

Jōban Line The Jōban Line ( ja, 常磐線, ) is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line officially begins at Nippori Station in Arakawa, Tokyo before the line officially ends at Iwanuma Station in Iwanuma, ...

* - -

Tōbu Railway -

Tobu Urban Park Line is a Japanese commuter railway and ''keiretsu'' holding company in the Greater Tokyo Area as well as an intercity and regional operator in the Kantō region. Excluding the Japan Railways Group companies, Tobu's rail system is the second long ...

* - - - - -

Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company The is a third-sector railway operating company in Japan. It was established on 15 March 1991 to construct the 58.3 km Tsukuba Express (then known as the ''Jōban Shinsen'') commuter railway line from in Tokyo to in Ibaraki Prefecture ...

- Tsukuba Express * -

Highways

* * * *

Sports

Kashiwa is home to the professional football team

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadi ...

Twin towns – sister cities

Kashiwa is twinned with: * Ayase, Japan (1967) * Camden, Australia (1997) *

Chengde Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about 225 km northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

, China (1983) *

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, United States (1991) * Torrance,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States (1973)

Notable people

Shigeyuki Furuki is a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's Central League. Before playing for the Giants he was a member of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. When he comes to bat, his fans often sing a cheer that goes t ...

, professional baseball player *

Fumio Imamura Fumio Imamura ( ja, 今村文男; born November 5, 1966 in Chiba) is a retired male race walker from Japan. He twice competed for his native country at the Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), ...

, Olympic race walker * Naoki Ishikawa, professional soccer player *

Kirinji Kazuharu Kirinji Kazuharu, real name Kazuharu Tarusawa (9 March 1953 – 1 March 2021) was a sumo wrestler from Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1967, reaching the top '' makuuchi'' division in 1974. His highest rank ...

, sumo wrestler * Kotoshōhō Yoshinari, sumo wrestler * Masato Kobayashi, professional kickboxer *

Yuri Mitsui , is a Japanese actress and model. She is also a race car driver. She was born in Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geograp ...

, actress, model * Yōko Oginome, singer *

Takeshi Okano is a Japanese manga artist known both for his own works as well as being the collaborative artist with manga writers such as Shou Makura and Tatsuya Hamazaki. His most notable work has been ''Jigoku Sensei Nūbē'' which has adapted into an anim ...

, manga artist *

Megumi Urawa is a Japanese voice actress who works for Aoni Production. Filmography Television animation *''Chibi Maruko-chan'' (1990), Tomiko Tomita, Midori Yoshikawa, Hiromi Maeda, Maki Makimura, Yamada's mother, Yoshiko's Mother, Taguchi, Tarō, Himeko, ...

, voice actress * Kazunori Yamauchi, video game designer * Shintaro Katsu, actor and singer, died in Kashiwa. *

Yoshitaka Sakurada is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). He formerly served as Minister of State for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Fourth Ab ...

, politician(former Minister of State for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic game).

References

External links

Official Website

Kashiwa International Relations Association Website
{{Authority control Cities in Chiba Prefecture Populated places established in 1954 1954 establishments in Japan