Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka

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Shimizu-ku (清水区 Shimizu-ku?) is a ward of Shizuoka, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan. It started on April 1 in 2005, when Shizuoka city gained designation by government ordinance. Aoi-ku and Suruga-ku started at the same time. Its area is identical to former Shimizu city, which merged with former Shizuoka city on April 1, 2003. Shimuzu-ku added the town of Kanbara from Ihara District on March 31, 2006, and will add the town of Yui on November 1, 2008. As of August 1, 2007, Shimizu's area is 242.43 square kilometres and its population is 241,244.

Since ancient times, Shimizu has had good natural ports and thrived as a harbor town. Located on Miho Bay Miho Wan (三保湾 Miho Wan?), it has been a good natural harbour serving naval, land and sea transport hub. In addition, three post stations of Tōkaidō were located in Shimizu: Kanbara-juku, Okitsu-juku and Ejiri-juku, all of which brought prosperity to Shimizu. In the modern era, it exported green tea and became a base for global fishery, involving affiliated industries. However, owning to changes in industrial structures, the economy has slowed down recently.

A Japanese comic "Chibi Maruko-chan" put Shimizu on the national map. This comic is written by Momoko Sakura from Shimizu. Shimizu is famous for its enthusiasm in soccer. A J. League professional club Shimizu S-Pulse is just an example.

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[edit] Geography

It locates on the coast of Suruga Bay and covers a wide area from a coastal plain to mountains. The scenery of Mt. Fuji is beautiful and many pictures and paintings of the combination of Mt. Fuji and the Pacific Ocean have been taken at Shimizu Bay. Since Shimizu is relatively close to Yokohama, they are often compared with each other in terms of harbor, tourism and leisure.Shimizu-Bay is International port in Japan, many foreign ships and Aegis battleship come in this bay.

[edit] Transport

Shimizu has two trains line servicing the area. Locally, the Shizuoka-tetsudo, or Shizutetsu connects Shimizu with Shizuoka. Nationally, the Tōkaidō Main Line runs through Shimizu, with Shimizu Station serving the area. 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.

[edit] Economy

Shimizu was introduced in a school textbook of geography as a city with all three industries: agriculture, heavy industry and commerce.

[edit] Primary industry

It is well known for producing Japanese mandarin oranges, and you can find many farms for green tea in the mountainous area and around the Nihon-daira. Shimizu port is famous as the no.1 place for landing tuna and exporting green teas. Production of roses used to be the highest in Japan.

[edit] Heavy industry

The waterfront area is an industrial area and there are fish factories where they manufacture cans. However, since the oil shock, the industry position has continued to decline.

[edit] Commerce

There is a shopping mall at the Shimizu station, called Shimizu Ginza, and it used to be the city center of Shimizu. However, there is no department store now. Seiyu is only an urban shopping center, which is located at the corner in front of the station. Since many large suburban shopping centers have been expanding, the shopping mall in the downtown area is not as lively as it used to be. Lately,department stores like Nagasaki-ya, Marui, Seifu and Daiei have closed, one after the another. Moreover, since Shimizu emerged with Shizuoka, the plan is being implemented to move fundamental functions to the area around Higashi-shizuoka station. This will be the third central area in addition to Shimizu and Shizuoka. Some people fear a further deterioration of the center of Shimizu along with central Shizuoka.

[edit] Leisure

[edit] Soccer

Shimizu is famous as one of the top five cities where soccer is quite popular. It is called “soccer kingdom” and it is well known as the home town of a J. League team, Shimizu S-Pulse. The elementary schools and junior high schools equip fields with night lightings 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. However, since around 2000, soccer teams around Shimizu, including S-pulse, have not achieved good results in national competitions. In 2005, Kenta Hasegawa became the new manager of S-Pulse and is embarking on its reconstruction. In 2006, it excelled with the rise of young players and was ranked 4th of 17 teams.

[edit] Tourist Spot

[edit] Shimizu-ku in Fiction

Shimizu-ku is the location for the manga Chibi Maruko-chan.