Tottori, Tottori

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**Tottori City**
**鳥取市**
Location
Country	Japan
Region	Chūgoku
Prefecture	Tottori Prefecture
Physical characteristics
Area	237.20 km²
Population (as of 2003)
Total	151,722
Location	°′″N, °′″E
Symbols
Tottori City City Hall
Official website: Tottori City

Coordinates: °′″N, °′″E

Tottori (鳥取市; -shi) is the capital city of Tottori Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan.

As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 151,722 and a density of 639.64 persons per km². The total area is 237.20 km².

The city seen from the castle ruins hill

Street in front of Tottori's train station

Within Japan the city is best known for its sand dunes which are a popular tourist attraction, drawing visitors from outside of the prefecture. The sand dunes are also important as a centre for research into arid agriculture, in collaboration with the nearby Tottori University of Environmental Studies.

The city's main street (Wakasa, or "young cherry blossom" street) runs north from the station and terminates at the foot of the Kyushouzan ("eternal pine") mountain. Around this mountain lies the oldest part of the city. Its centre is the now ruined Tottori Castle, once the property of the Ikeda daimyo family. It is open to the public, and is the site of the Castle Festival in Autumn each year. In the vicinity are temples, museums, and public parks. The city also host the precturally famous Shan-shan festival in the autumn, which features teams of people dressing up and dancing with large umbrellas; the name 'Shan-shan' is said to come from the sound made by the small bells and pieces of metal attached to the umbrellas, which are very large. An exceptionally big example of a Shan-shan umbrella graces the main foyer of Tottori Station.

Tottori has two university which are national university and environmental university and both are at the Tottori city. Also there is a junior college at the Kurayoshi city. But there is almost no interchange between these three schools.　Generally it is said that tottori people are introverted. So it needs something happen.

The city is served by a JR rail line to Tottori Station. Travel time from Osaka is approximately 2 hours 30 minutes.

Redistricting ("gappei") of the city's borders in November 2004 increased its size to include a number of surrounding areas.

The city was founded on October 1, 1889.

[edit] Twin towns

	Kushiro, Japan (Hokkaidō) since October 4th, 1963
	Himeji, Japan (Hyoko) since March 8th, 1972
	Iwakuni, Japan (Yamaguchi) since October 13th, 1995
	Hanau, Germany (Hesse)
	Chongju, South Korea (Chungchongbuk-Do)

[edit] Trivia

Tottori and its famous sand dunes were featured in the anime series, Honey and Clover.

Tottori has many spas.For example,Sikano, Misasa, Daisenn, Tougou and so on.

Tottori's water is delicious. Tottori is near the nippon ocean. And this is very simple city. it is no good that is not convenient to public transportation, but, so it is delicious water and air.