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. , 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 using a ...

of 433,436 in 194,216 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

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 family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' character: , a reference to '' Quercus dentata'', 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 of ...

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 The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the Kantō ...

. 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 ** Abiko ** Inzai ** Kamagaya **

Noda NoDa (short for "North Davidson") is a popular arts district in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is located in the North Charlotte neighborhood on and around North Davidson Street and 36th Street, approximately one mile northeast of Upt ...

** Shiroi ** 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 file:Oohorinowatashi 001.JPG, 260px, Ohori-no-watashi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 104,329 in 44,755 households and a population density of 1492 persons per km². The p ...

** Moriya

Climate

Kashiwa has a Humid subtropical climate (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 was a province of Japan in the area modern Chiba Prefecture, and Ibaraki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Shimōsa''" in . It lies to the north of the Bōsō Peninsula (房総半島), whose name takes its first ''kanji'' from ...

. 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 characte ...

(1603 – 1868), the area was ''

tenryō 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' ...

'' 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 horse The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot designs ...

s 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 was an old road, '' kaidō,'' in Japan starting from the center of Edobashi (today’s Nihonbashi). It was built to connect Edo with Mito in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture. Travelers from Edo called it the Mito Kaidō, but travelers from Mito called ...

, which connected the capitol at Edo with Mito 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 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 Emperor o ...

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 In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central 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 , 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 r ...

and the Chiba 13th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy

Kashiwa is a regional commercial center and a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

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, 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, Kashiwa Campus *

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

, Kashiwa Campus * Reitaku University * Nishōgakusha University * Kaichi International University

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 –

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 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 ...

- Tobu Urban Park Line * - - - - -

Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company -

Tsukuba Express The , or TX, is a Japanese railway line operated by the third-sector company Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company, which links Akihabara Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and Tsukuba Station in Tsukuba, Ibaraki. The route was inaugurated on 24 Aug ...

* -

Highways

* * * *

Sports

Kashiwa is home to the professional football team Kashiwa Reysol.

Twin towns – sister cities

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

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 0 ...

, 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, professional baseball player * Fumio Imamura, Olympic race walker * Naoki Ishikawa, professional soccer player * Kirinji Kazuharu, sumo wrestler *

Kotoshōhō Yoshinari is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kashiwa, Chiba. He made his debut in November 2017 and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in May 2020. He wrestles for Sadogatake stable. His highest rank has been ''maegashira'' 3. Career He b ...

, sumo wrestler * Masato Kobayashi, professional kickboxer * Yuri Mitsui, actress, model *

Yōko Oginome , real name , is a former pop idol, actress and voice actress, who gained popularity in the mid-1980s. Her fans often call her Oginome-chan. She is represented by the talent management firm Rising Production. Career Oginome spent most of her ...

, singer * Takeshi Okano, manga artist * Megumi Urawa, voice actress *

Kazunori Yamauchi , nicknamed "Kaz", is a Japanese game designer and professional racing driver. He is CEO of Polyphony Digital and producer of the '' Gran Turismo'' video game series. Polyphony Digital He became the president of Polyphony Digital after designi ...

, video game designer *

Shintaro Katsu was a Japanese actor, singer, and filmmaker. He is known for starring in the ''Akumyo'' series, the ''Hoodlum Soldier'' series, and the ''Zatoichi'' series. Life and career Born Toshio Okumura (奥村利夫 ''Okumura Toshio'') on 29 Novemb ...

, 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 Abe ...

, 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