Hitachi, Ibaraki

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Hitachi (日立市; -shi) is a city located on the Pacific Ocean in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Its name could be directly translated as "sunrise", but probably more appropriately adapted to "prosperous wealth" (the historical kanji name for the area is 常陸).

1 Geography
2 History
3 Interesting Sites
4 Transportation
5 External links

[edit] Geography

As of March 1, 2005, the city has an estimated population of 201,634 and the density of 894 persons per km². The total area is 225.45 km².

[edit] History

Hitachi was officially designated a city on September 1, 1939. On November 1, 2004 the neighboring town of Juou merged into the city.

The name Hitachi is well known throughout the world due to Hitachi company founded in the city in 1910 by Odaira Namihei. Today, Hitachi company is one of the world's largest manufacturing and consumer electronics companies.

[edit] Interesting Sites

Being a predominantly industrial city Hitachi was badly damaged in World War II and very few older buildings now remain in the downtown area. However the city is not without interesting local sites.

Like much of Japan many of the city's public spaces are dedicated to symbolising the struggle for peace in the post-war world. It is in this spirit that one must consider Heiwa Dori (Peace Street), Hitachi's prettiest street. Every April there is a major procession down the broad tree-lined boulevard to celebrate the arrival of the cherry blossom season (Sakura Matsuri). Giant colourful floats called furyumono are carried by the local people.

Hitachi also has a small zoo on the nearby Mount Kamine.