Kawasaki 川崎市 | |
---|---|
Kawasaki City | |
Coordinates: 35°31′N139°42′E / 35.517°N 139.700°E | |
Country | Japan |
Region | Kantō |
Prefecture | Kanagawa Prefecture |
First official recorded | late 4th century |
City Settled | July 1, 1924 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Norihiko Fukuda |
Area | |
• Total | 143.01 km2 (55.22 sq mi) |
Population (January 1, 2020) | |
• Total | 1,531,646 |
• Density | 11,000/km2 (28,000/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+9 (Japan Standard Time) |
- Tree | Camellia |
- Flower | Azalea |
Phone number | 044-200-2111 |
Address | 1 Miyamoto-chō, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa-ken 210-8577 |
Website | www |
Kawasaki [a] , officially the Kawasaki City [b] , is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, one of the main cities of the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area. It is the second most populated city in Kanagawa Prefecture after Yokohama, and the eighth most populated city in Japan (including the Tokyo Metropolitan Area). [1]
As of October 1,2017 [update] , the city has an estimated population of 1,503,690, with 716,470 households, [1] and a population density of 10,000 persons per km2. Kawasaki is the only city in Japan with more than one million inhabitants that is not a prefectural capital. The total area is 142.70 km2 (55.10 sq mi).
Archaeological evidence from the Japanese Paleolithic and Jōmon period can only be found in the northwest Tama Hills. The course of the Tama and the coast of the Bay of Tokyo have also changed in historical times, so that large parts of the urban area are geologically young.
With the introduction of the Ritsuryō legal system, the area came to the Musashi Province in the 7th century. In the Nara period, the center of the Tachibana district was probably in the area of today's Takatsu district. Since the Heian period, the domain of the Inage clan has expanded here. Around the Heiken-ji Buddhist temple (better known as Kawasaki-Daishi), founded in 1128, a monzen-machi, a busy district for the supply of pilgrims, soon emerged. Between the Kamakura period and Sengoku period, smaller feudal lords ruled the area until it finally came under the control of the Later Hōjō clan.
In 1611, Koizumi Jidayū had Nikaryō Yōsui built, a canal system on the right bank of the Tama for irrigating the fields, which in some cases still runs through the densely built-up city. On the long-distance Kaidō roads Tōkaidō and Nakaharakaidō built by Edo-Bakufu, stations were built in the area of what would later become Kawasaki, which increased its importance. The Kawasaki station (Kawasaki-juku, near today's Kawasaki station) on the Tōkaidō was not officially recognized until 1623 as the last of the 53 Tōkaidō stations. The Bakufu let the bridges over the Tama collapse and there were ferry connections to nearby Edo in several places in today's Kawasaki, which laid the foundation for the development of the city.
The rapid urbanization of the area, which continues to this day, began in the Meiji and Taishō eras. In 1872, Kawasaki Station was established on the Tōkaidō Main Line which was Japan's first railway line. [2] In 1889, the city (machi) Kawasaki in the district (gun) Tachibana was created according to the Japanese municipal system introduced the year before. In 1912 the border between Kanagawa and Tokyo prefectures was established as the Tama River. On July 1, 1924, the independent city (shi-) of Kawasaki with 48,394 inhabitants was formed through a merger with the city of Daishi (formerly Daishigawara) and the village of Miyuki. [3]
People from the Korean peninsula were made to work in the industrial sector in the city, [4] working on railways construction, or rebuilding roads damaged by U.S. bombings towards the end of WWII. [5] People from Okinawa were also coming to the city, and in 1924, the oldest Okinawans Association in Japan was founded in Kawasaki. [6] [7]
As part of World War II, the city was bombed three times by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) between April 1945 and July 1945. The most serious attack was an area bombing with Napalm bombs on April 15, 1945. The attacks destroyed around 35% of the urban area and claimed 1,520 dead and 8,759 injured. The attacks burned down 9.3 km2 of the city (see Bombing of Tokyo).[ citation needed ] Kawasaki became a target of the first mainland bombing by the US military in 1942, followed by multiple bombings, partly due to the city's heavy and chemical industrial complex supplying the war efforts in Asia and the Pacific. [8]
On April 15, 1945, large parts of the area around the train station and the industrial area at the port were destroyed by air raids. Since the 1950s, residential areas for commuters have been created in the northeastern part of the city, which are connected directly to the centers of Tokyo by new railway lines. On April 1, 1972, Kawasaki became a decree-designated city (seirei shitei toshi) with 5 districts. 1973 [3] the population exceeded the million mark. In 1982 the new districts of Miyamae and Asao were created by splitting off from the districts of Takatsu and Tama. In the course of deindustrialization, industrial areas have recently been increasingly converted into residential areas (mostly Multi-family residential), so that a further increase in population density can be expected.
According, to the Köppen Climate Classification, it is a humid subtropical climate (Cfa).
Climate data for Kawasaki (1991-2021 for everything apart from Sun Hours which is 1999-2019) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.7 (47.7) | 9.4 (48.9) | 12.6 (54.7) | 16.9 (62.4) | 21.2 (70.2) | 24.1 (75.4) | 27.7 (81.9) | 29.0 (84.2) | 26.0 (78.8) | 20.8 (69.4) | 15.8 (60.4) | 11.1 (52.0) | 18.6 (65.5) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 4.8 (40.6) | 5.5 (41.9) | 8.8 (47.8) | 13.6 (56.5) | 18.1 (64.6) | 21.4 (70.5) | 25.1 (77.2) | 26.3 (79.3) | 23.3 (73.9) | 17.9 (64.2) | 12.6 (54.7) | 7.5 (45.5) | 15.4 (59.7) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.6 (34.9) | 2.2 (36.0) | 5.3 (41.5) | 10.4 (50.7) | 15.3 (59.5) | 19.2 (66.6) | 23.0 (73.4) | 24.2 (75.6) | 21.0 (69.8) | 15.5 (59.9) | 9.8 (49.6) | 4.4 (39.9) | 12.7 (54.8) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 75 (3.0) | 79 (3.1) | 125 (4.9) | 117 (4.6) | 132 (5.2) | 165 (6.5) | 137 (5.4) | 112 (4.4) | 189 (7.4) | 206 (8.1) | 106 (4.2) | 65 (2.6) | 1,508 (59.4) |
Average precipitation days | 5 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 97 |
Average relative humidity (%) | 66 | 68 | 68 | 73 | 77 | 83 | 84 | 81 | 80 | 77 | 75 | 69 | 75 |
Mean daily sunshine hours | 7.2 | 6.8 | 7.6 | 8.4 | 9.2 | 8.8 | 9.2 | 9.0 | 7.9 | 6.9 | 6.6 | 6.8 | 7.9 |
Source: [9] |
Kawasaki is located on the right bank of the Tama River, which flows into the Tokyo Bay here. The city lies like a narrow band between Tokyo in the northeast and Yokohama in the southwest. The city connects the two major cities and is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, the largest and most densely populated urban areas in the world.
The eastern area along the coast of Tokyo Bay is a densely populated industrial zone, part of the Keihin Industrial Zone. In contrast, the western districts in the Tama Hills consist largely of residential areas for commuters in the Tokyo / Yokohama region.
Kawasaki has seven wards (ku):
Name | Color | Map of Kawasaki | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Rōmaji | Kanji | |||
1 | Asao-ku | 麻生区 | Leaf green | |
2 | Kawasaki-ku (administrative center) | 川崎区 | Lime green | |
3 | Miyamae-ku | 宮前区 | Orange | |
4 | Nakahara-ku | 中原区 | Blue | |
5 | Saiwai-ku | 幸区 | Teal | |
6 | Takatsu-ku | 高津区 | Purple | |
7 | Tama-ku | 多摩区 | Pink |
In the northeast, Kawasaki borders the Special wards of Tokyo (starting at Tokyo Bay) Ōta and Setagaya, in the northwest the cities (-shi) belonging to Tokyo Prefecture (-shi) Komae, Chofu, Machida, Inagi, Tama enclose the place. The opposite southwest side is entirely occupied by the districts of Tsurumi, Kōhoku, Tsuzuki and Aoba in the city of Yokohama. With the completion of the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, the city of Kisarazu, located on the opposite side of the Tokyo Bay in Chiba Prefecture, also became a neighbor in December 1997.
Two rivers cross the urban area. The Tama unites with the tributaries Misawa, Yamashita, Gotanda, Nikaryō main river and Hirase; Katahira, Asao, Shimpukuji, Arima, E, Shibu and Yagami flow into the Tsurumi.
The land on the coast of the city is crossed by a network of canals (Tama Canal, Suehiro Canal, Chidori Canal, Yakō Canal, Daishi Canal, Mizue Canal, Shiohama Canal, Iriesaki Canal, Asano Canal, Ikegami Canal, Minami-Watarida Canal, Tanabe Canal, Shiraishi Canal and the Sakai Canal). In addition, the historic Nikaryō Yōsui canal still exists in the hinterland.
Per Japanese census data, [10] the population of Kawasaki has seen sustained growth over the past 70 years.
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1940 | 300,777 | — |
1945 | 252,923 | −15.9% |
1950 | 319,226 | +26.2% |
1960 | 445,520 | +39.6% |
1965 | 632,975 | +42.1% |
1970 | 854,866 | +35.1% |
1975 | 973,497 | +13.9% |
1980 | 1,014,951 | +4.3% |
1985 | 1,088,624 | +7.3% |
1990 | 1,173,603 | +7.8% |
1995 | 1,202,820 | +2.5% |
2000 | 1,249,905 | +3.9% |
2005 | 1,327,011 | +6.2% |
2010 | 1,425,678 | +7.4% |
2015 | 1,475,213 | +3.5% |
2020 | 1,538,262 | +4.3% |
Kawasaki is governed by Mayor Norihiko Fukuda, an independent elected on 27 October 2013. [11] The city assembly has 63 elected members. Mayor Fukuda was re-elected to a second term in office on 22 October 2017 with support from LDP and Kōmeitō against former municipal MP Akiko Yoshizawa and JCP-supported former primary school teacher Hirokazu Ichiko. [12] [13]
The 60-member city parliament of Kawasaki was re-elected in the unified elections in April 2023. The LDP won 17 seats and is the largest party in the assembly. [14]
Kawasaki was in June 2008 the second Japanese "government-designated city" (seirei shitei toshi) after Hiroshima, which allowed foreigners to participate in municipal referendums. [15]
In the 105-member prefectural parliament of Kanagawa, the seven districts of Kawasaki serve as constituencies, electing 18 deputies in total. [16] [17]
For the House of Representatives (Japan), Kawasaki comprises the constituencies Kanagawa 9 (Tama and Asao wards), 10 (Kawasaki and Saiwai wards) and 18 (Nakahara and Takatsu wards) and 19 (Miyamae ward, with Tsuzuki ward, Yokohama), following changes since the last general election in 2021. [18] In the 2021 election, the three seats went unchanged to Liberal Democrats Kazunori Tanaka and Daishirō Yamagiwa, and ex-Democrat Hirofumi Ryū of the Constitutional Democratic Party. [19]
# | Name | Entered office | Left office |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Taisuke Ishii (石井泰助) | October 18, 1924 | March 2, 1929 |
2 | Kahei Shundo (春藤嘉平) | March 11, 1929 | November 11, 1930 |
3 | Fumisuke Kudara (百済文輔) | August 22, 1931 | June 27, 1932 |
4 | Shigeharu Nakaya (中屋重治) | August 13, 1932 | March 27, 1935 |
5 | Ichiro Shibatsuji (芝辻一郎) | September 14, 1935 | September 13, 1939 |
6 | Hachiro Murai (村井八郎) | May 13, 1940 | May 12, 1944 |
7 | Kiyoo Ebe (江辺清夫) | May 23, 1944 | June 10, 1946 |
8-14 | Fujitaro Kanasashi (金刺不二太郎) | August 1, 1946 | April 29, 1971 |
15-19 | Saburo Itoh (伊藤三郎) | April 30, 1971 | October 18, 1989 |
20-22 | Kiyoshi Takahashi (高橋清) | November 20, 1989 | November 18, 2001 |
23-25 | Takao Abe (阿部孝夫) | November 19, 2001 | November 18, 2013 |
26-27 | Norihiko Fukuda (福田紀彦) | November 19, 2013 | Present |
Fujitsu's Main Branch is located in Nakahara-ku. [23] It was formerly Fujitsu's headquarters. [24]
Kawasaki has several factories and development bases of the companies of heavy industry (e.g., JFE Group, Nippon Oil Corporation) and high technology (Fujitsu, NEC Corporation, Toshiba, Dell Japan and Sigma Corporation [25] ).
Kawasaki is twinned with the following cities in Japan and worldwide.
Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 and third-densest at 3,800 inhabitants per square kilometre (9,800/sq mi). Its geographic area of 2,415 km2 (932 sq mi) makes it fifth-smallest. Kanagawa Prefecture borders Tokyo to the north, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northwest and Shizuoka Prefecture to the west.
Sagamihara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 May 2021, the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is 328.91 square kilometres (126.99 sq mi). Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city in the prefecture, after Yokohama and Kawasaki, and the fifth most populous suburb of the Greater Tokyo Area. Its northern neighbor is Machida, with which a cross-prefectural merger has been proposed.
Tsuzuki-ku (都筑区) is one of the 18 wards of the city of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 199,258 and a density of 7,130 persons per km2. The total area was 27.93 km2.
Kawasaki Station is a junction passenger railway station located in the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company.
Takatsu-ku (高津区) is one of the 7 wards of the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 215,158 and a density of 13,150 persons per km². The total area is 16.38 km².
Miyamae-ku (宮前区) is one of the 7 wards of the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 217,251 and a density of 11,670 persons per km². The total area was 18.61 km².
Nakahara-ku (中原区) is one of the 7 wards of the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of November 2014, the ward had an estimated population of 244,565 and a density of 16,637 persons per km². The total area was 14.70 km².
Kawasaki-ku (川崎区) is one of the seven wards of the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 216,826 and a density of 5,530 persons per km2. The total area was 39.21 square kilometres (15.14 sq mi). Kawasaki-ku has the home to the second largest Koreatown in Japan.
Saiwai-ku (幸区) is one of the 7 wards of the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 153,255 and a density of 15,250 persons per km2. The total area was 10.05 km2.
Tsurumi-ku (鶴見区) is one of the 18 ku (wards) of the city of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 270,433 and a density of 8,140 persons per km². The total area is 33.23 km².
Tama-ku (多摩区) is one of the seven wards of the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward has an estimated population of 211,221 and a population density of 10,310 persons per km2. The total area is 20.49 km2.
Keikyū Kawasaki Station is a junction passenger railway station located in the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Keikyu Corporation. The station is one of two main rail transportation hubs in central Kawasaki.
Musashi-Shinjō Station is a passenger railway station located in Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company.
Asao-ku (麻生区) is one of the 7 wards of the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 167,792 and a density of 7,210 persons per km². The total area was 23.28 km².
Shin-Yurigaoka Station is a junction passenger railway station located in the Manpukuji neighborhood of Asao-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan and operated by the private railway operator Odakyu Electric Railway.
Suzukichō Station is a passenger railway station located in Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Keikyū.
Kawasaki-Daishi Station is a passenger railway station located in Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Keikyū.
The Yokohane Route, signed as Route K1, is one of the tolled routes of the Shuto Expressway system serving the Greater Tokyo Area and is one of seven of the routes in the system serving Kanagawa Prefecture. The route is a 19.7-kilometer (12.2 mi) long radial highway running southwest from the southern terminus of the Haneda Route in Ōta near Haneda International Airport in Tokyo to the Kariba Route in Naka-ku, Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture. Alongside the Haneda Route, it connects Tokyo's Inner Circular Route in central Tokyo to Yokohama.
The Yokohama North Route, signed as Route K7, is one of the tolled routes of the Shuto Expressway system serving the Greater Tokyo Area and is one of seven of the routes in the system serving Kanagawa Prefecture. The route is a 8.2-kilometer (5.1 mi) long expressway running west from the northern terminus of the Daikoku Route at a junction with the Yokohane Route in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, to the Daisan Keihin Road in Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture. Alongside the Daikoku Route, it connects northern Yokohama to the region-spanning Bayshore Route.
The Kawasaki Route, signed as Route K6, is one of the tolled routes of the Shuto Expressway system serving the Greater Tokyo Area and is one of seven of the routes in the system serving Kanagawa Prefecture.