Kanegasaki, Iwate

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Location of Kanegasaki in Iwate Prefecture

Kanegasaki (金ヶ崎町, Kanegasaki-chō^?) is a town located in Isawa District, Iwate, Japan.

As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 16,188 and a density of 90.05 persons per km². The total area is 179.77 km².

The town rests at the confluence of the Kitakami and Isawa rivers and is bordered to the north by Kitakami-shi, to the east by Esashi-shi, and to the south by Ōshū-shi. In the mountains to the west, there is a large reservoir known as Sengaishi that is damed and used for irrigating the rice paddies in the plain below.

Kanegasaki is characterized by a variety of geographical features, including mountains and wide expanses of rice paddies to the west and a small merchant district and neighboring residential areas to the east. On the border of Kanegasaki and Esashi two neighborhoods (Jounai and Suwa-kouji) were once the location of a castle that sat at the border of the Nambu and Date han (feudal domains). Today, one can find several examples of gardens and houses that remain from the Edo period and that were residents of samurai prior to the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

Dairy farm in western part of Kanegasaki

Kanegasaki has a relatively diverse economy that includes rice paddies typical of the region, but also extensive dairy farms in the western portion of the town and a large industrial park. The industrial park has several different manufacturing facilities, such as a Toyota plant that produces Lexus automobiles (Kanto Jidousha) and a Fujitsu semiconductor facility. Along National Route 4, there are numerous retail outlets and there are a few small, family run stores still operating in the old merchant center of the town.

The town is known for having developed a system of Life-Long Learning Centers situated throughout the town that provide educational and other opportunities for the local residents.

Kanegasaki is a sister city of Amherst, Massachusetts.