is the easternmost of the three

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s of the city of Shizuoka in

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

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 ...

History

Shimizu-ku was created on April 1, 2005, when Shizuoka became a

city designated by government ordinance A , also known as a or , is a Japanese city that has a population greater than 500,000 and has been designated as such by order of the Cabinet of Japan under Article 252, Section 19, of the Local Autonomy Law. Designated cities are delegate ...

(a "designated city"). Its area is almost identical to former Shimizu city, which

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

with Shizuoka city on April 1, 2003. Shizuoka annexed the town of Kanbara from Ihara District on March 31, 2006, and the town of

Yui Yui may refer to: People * Yui (name), a Japanese name *Yui (singer) (born 1987), Japanese singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress * Yui people or Ibi, a Timucuan-speaking people in what now is Georgia, United States Places * Yui, Sh ...

on November 1, 2008, adding these former municipalities to Shimizu-ku. Since ancient times, Shimizu thrived as a harbor town due to its good natural harbor. In addition, five post stations of Tōkaidō were located in Shimizu: (

Kanbara-juku was the fifteenth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in what is now part of the Shimizu-ku ward of Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is one of four former post stations located in Shimizu-ku. History The orig ...

Okitsu-juku was the seventeenth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in what is now part of the Shimizu-ku area of Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. History Okitsu-juku was established in 1601, just before the beginning of the ...

Ejiri-juku was the eighteenth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is one of four former post stations located in what is now part of the Shimizu-ku area of Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was 3.4 kilometers from Okitsu-juku, th ...

, and

Yui-shuku was the sixteenth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in the Shimizu-ku area of Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is one of four former post stations located in Shimizu-ku. Area information At the ''Tōkaidō ...

, all of which brought prosperity to the area 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 ...

. 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 ...

, an Imperial decree in July 1899 established Shimizu as an open port for trading with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

.US Department of State. (1906)
''A digest of international law as embodied in diplomatic discussions, treaties and other international agreements'' (John Bassett Moore, ed.), Vol. 5, p. 759
Shimizu became an international trade port for the export of

green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since th ...

, as well as housing a major

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, ...

and affiliated industries. A Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

, ''

Chibi Maruko-chan is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Momoko Sakura. The series depicts the simple, everyday life of Momoko Sakura, a young girl everyone calls ''Maruko'', and her family in suburban Japan in the year 1974. Maruko is a tro ...

'' put Shimizu on the national map. This manga is written by

Momoko Sakura (8 May 1965 – 15 August 2018) was the pen name of a Japanese manga artist from Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture. She was best known as the creator of the long-running manga ''Chibi Maruko-chan''. Biography Miki Miura, was born 8 May 1965. She rev ...

, a native of Shimizu. Shimizu is also noted for its enthusiasm with

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, with the local J.League professional club

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which be ...

having a strong support base.

Geography

Shimizu is located on the coast of

Suruga Bay Suruga Bay (駿河湾, ''Suruga-wan'') is a bay on the Pacific coast of Honshū in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is situated north of a straight line from Omaezaki Point to Irōzaki Point at the tip of the Izu Peninsula and surrounded by Hon ...

of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

and covers a wide area from a coastal plain to the hills. The view of

Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest ...

at Shimizu as seen across the bay from the

Miho no Matsubara 250px, ''Hagoromo no Matsu'' where it is said the angel floated is a scenic area on the Miho Peninsula in Shimizu Ward of Shizuoka City, Japan. Its seven-kilometre seashore is lined with pine trees. It is the location of the legend upon w ...

appears in many pictures and paintings.

Neighboring municipalities

Shizuoka Prefecture *

Fuji Fuji may refer to: Places China * Fuji, Xiangcheng City (付集镇), town in Xiangcheng City, Henan Japan * Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan * Fuji River * Fuji, Saga, town in Saga Prefecture * Fuji, Shizuoka, city in Shizuoka Prefec ...

Fujinomiya is a city located in central Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 132,507 in 56,655 households, and a population density of 340 persons per km². The total area of the city is . History The city name comes from ...

* Suruga-ku, Shizuoka city * Aoi-ku, Shizuoka city Yamanashi Prefecture * Nambu

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Matsuzaki is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Economy

Shimizu was introduced in a Japanese school textbook of geography as a city with all three industries: agriculture,

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

and commerce.

Primary industry

Shimizu is known for producing Japanese mandarin oranges, and

in the mountainous area and around the

Nihondaira is a scenic area located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Japan. A plateau at the centre of Shizuoka city, with a maximum altitude of , Nihondaira is famous for its views of Mount Fuji, the Izu Peninsula, the Japanese Southern Alps, Shimizu Por ...

Shimizu Port Shimizu may refer to: People * Shimizu (surname) (清水, "clear" or "pure water"), a common Japanese surname Places Japan *Shimizu, Fukui -chō, town, Fukui Prefecture *Shimizu, Shizuoka -chō, town, Shizuoka Prefecture *Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka ...

is a major

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must oft ...

port. Production of

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

s used to be the highest in Japan.

Heavy industry

The waterfront area was formerly an industrial area and there were shipyards, iron works, and numerous canneries. Most of the heavy industry has been replaced by commercial venues.

Commerce

At Shimizu Station, the "Shimizu Ekimae Ginza" shopping area used to be the city center of Shimizu. However, there are no longer any

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appe ...

s. The

Seiyu Voice acting in Japan is an industry where actors provide voice-overs as characters or narrators in media including anime, video games, audio dramas, commercials, and dubbing for non-Japanese films and television programs. In Japan, and a ...

that remained near the station closed in March 2015. Since many large suburban shopping centers have been expanding, the shopping area downtown is not as lively as it used to be. Lately, department stores like Nagasaki-ya,

Marui is a Japanese multinational retail company which operates a chain of department stores in Tokyo as well in other major Japanese cities. They are best known for their women's fashion and accessories, which are aimed at the 25–35 age ran ...

, Seifu and

Daiei , based in Kobe, Hyōgo, Kobe, is one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan. In 1957, Isao Nakauchi founded the chain in Osaka near Sembayashi Station on the Keihan train line. Daiei is now under a restructuring process supported by Maruben ...

have closed, one after the another. Moreover, since Shimizu merged with Shizuoka, a plan is being implemented to move fundamental functions to the area around

Higashi-Shizuoka Station is a railway station on the Tōkaidō Main Line in Aoi-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tōkai). Lines Higashi-Shizuoka Station is served by the Tōkaidō Main Line, and is ...

as the third central area of the city in addition to Shimizu and Shizuoka.

Transport

Highway

Tōmei Expressway The is a national expressway on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is operated by Central Nippon Expressway Company. The expressway is designated as E1 under the "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering", because it parallels N ...

Japan National Route 1 is a major highway on the island of Honshū in Japan. It connects Chūō, Tokyo in the Kantō region with the city of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture in the Kansai region, passing through the Chūbu region en route. It follows the old Tōkaidō west ...

* Japan National Route 52 * Japan National Route 149 * Japan National Route 150

Rail

JR Central is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical r ...

Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...

** *

Shizuoka Railway Shizuoka–Shimizu Line The is a railway line in Shizuoka Prefecture, between Shin-Shizuoka in Aoi Ward and Shin-Shimizu in Shimizu Ward, all within the city of Shizuoka. This is the only line operated by the private railway operator Shizuoka Railway (Shizutetsu ...

** Until 1984, the Shimizukō Line ran 8 km into Miho in the heart of the Shimizu peninsula. Local bus services provide many routes throughout Shimizu-ku.

Sea Port

*The Port of Shimizu is a long established mid-size sea port, catering to container ships, dry bulk ships and cruise ships ( https://www.portofshimizu-intl.com/ ). It is well located, being in between the two major port areas of Japan, i.e. the

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populou ...

ports of Tokyo, Kawasaki and Yokohama ( Keihin ports) and the

Osaka Bay Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. ...

ports of Osaka and Kobe ( Hanshin ports. The Port of Shimizu has a water depth of about 12 meters; its attractiveness has been enhanced over the past years by the construction of new road and rail links which contribute to expanding its commercial hinterland. In tonnage, imports (about 6.5 million tons) are close to twice export volumes, but in trade value exports are twice as valuable as imports. The Port of Shimizu container traffic is about balanced, with over 250,000 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) in each direction, with auto parts and chemicals amongst the main cargo types. Major international container lines provide weekly services on major trade routes, including North America, Europe and Asia, with about 110 calls per months on 28 trade routes. The port of Shimizu also includes a terminal to receive LNG tankers and store imported

Liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

; it is operated by Shimizu LNG, a subsidiary of Shizuoka Gas (Japan is the world's largest importer of LNG). The Port of Shimizu is also connected to other Japan ports. In particular, it is served by a

Roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

service serving the port of Ōita, on the north-east coast of the southern island of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

. This service, which sails three times a week and has a transit time of 20 hours, has enabled a modal shift of freight trucks from road to sea, thereby contributing to decreasing congestion and pollution on roads.

Leisure

Football

Shimizu is famous as one of the top cities in Japan where

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

is quite popular. It is well known as the home town of a J.League team,

. An earlier club, ''Hagoromo Club'' (which spun off its parent company Nippon Light Metal) represented Shimizu in the old

Japan Soccer League , or JSL, was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional ...

in the 1970s. The local elementary schools and junior high schools equip fields with night lighting for soccer and Shimizu has maintained this infrastructure for a long time. Since 1987, the national soccer competition “ Shimizu Cup” for boys and girls has been held in August. A famous son of the city is Japan youth international and

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

footballer, Koki Mizuno.

Local attractions

References

---- * {{Authority control Wards of Shizuoka (city)