Kanagawa Prefecture
| Kanagawa Prefecture | |||||||||
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| Capital | Yokohama | ||||||||
| Region | Kantō | ||||||||
| Island | Honshū | ||||||||
| Governor | Shigefumi Matsuzawa | ||||||||
| Area (rank) | 2,415.42 km² (43rd) | ||||||||
| - % water | 2.3% | ||||||||
| Population (January 1, 2009) | |||||||||
| - Population | 8,965,000 (2nd) | ||||||||
| - Density | 3,711.6 /km² | ||||||||
| Districts | 6 | ||||||||
| Municipalities | 34 | ||||||||
| ISO 3166-2 | JP-14 | ||||||||
| Website | www.pref.kanagawa.jp/ | ||||||||
| Prefectural symbols | |||||||||
| - Flower | Golden-rayed lily (Lilium auratum) | ||||||||
| - Tree | Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) | ||||||||
| - Bird | Common gull (Larus canus) | ||||||||
| - Fish | |||||||||
 Symbol of Kanagawa Prefecture |
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| Template ■ Discussion ■ WikiProject Japan | |||||||||
Kanagawa Prefecture (神奈川県 Kanagawa-ken) is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Honshū, Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.
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History
The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period (around 400 BC). About 3000 years ago, Mount Hakone produced a volcanic explosion which resulted in Lake Ashi on the western area of the prefecture.
It's believed that the Yamato Dynasty ruled this area from 5th century onwards. In the ancient era, its plains were very sparsely inhabited.
Kamakura in central Sagami was the capital of Japan during the Kamakura period (1185–1333).
In medieval Japan, Kanagawa was part of the provinces of Sagami and Musashi.
During the Edo period, the western part of Sagami Province was governed by the daimyo of Odawara Castle, while the eastern part was directly governed by the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo (Tokyo).
Commodore Matthew Perry landed in Kanagawa in 1853 and 1854 and signed the Convention of Kanagawa to force open Japanese ports to the United States. Yokohama, the largest deep-water port in Tokyo Bay, was opened to foreign traders in 1859 after several more years of foreign pressure, and eventually developed into the largest trading port in Japan. Nearby Yokosuka, closer to the mouth of Tokyo Bay, developed as a naval port and now serves as headquarters for the U.S. 7th Fleet and the fleet operations of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. After the Meiji Period, many foreigners lived in Yokohama City, and visited Hakone. The Meiji Government developed the first railways in Japan, from Shinbashi (in Tokyo) to Yokohama in 1872.
The epicenter of the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923 was deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay. It devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region.[1] The sea receded as much a quarter of a mile from the shore at Manazaru Point, and then rushed back towards the shore in a great wall of water which swamped Mitsuishi-shima.[2] At Kamakura, the total death toll from earthquake, tsunami, and fire exceeded 2,000 victims.[3] At Odawara, ninety percent of the buildings collapsed immediately, and subsequent fires burned the rubble along with anything else left standing.[4]
Yokohama, Kawasaki and other major cities were heavily damaged by the U.S. bombing in 1945. Casualties amounted to more than several thousand. After the war, General Douglas MacArthur, the chief commander of Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers for the Occupation of Japan, landed in Kanagawa, before moving to other areas. U.S. military bases still remain in Kanagawa, including Camp Zama (Army), Yokosuka Naval Base, Naval Air Station Atsugi (Navy).
In 1945, Kanagawa was the 15th most populous prefecture in Japan, with the population of about 1.9 million. In the years after the war, the prefecture underwent rapid urbanization as a part of the Tokyo Greater Zone. The population was about 8.9 million as of 2008,[5] and Kanagawa became the second most populous prefecture in 2006.
Geography
Kanagawa is a relatively small prefecture located at the southeastern corner of the Kantō Plain[6] wedged between Tokyo on the north, the foothills of Mount Fuji on the northwest, and the Sagami Bay[6] and Tokyo Bay on the south and east. The eastern side of the prefecture is relatively flat and heavily urbanized, including the large port cities of Yokohama and Kawasaki.
The southeastern area nearby the Miura Peninsula is less urbanized, with the ancient city of Kamakura drawing tourists to temples and shrines. The western part, bordered by Yamanashi Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture on the west,[7] is more mountainous and includes resort areas like Odawara and Hakone. The area, stretching 80 km from west to east and 60 km from north to south, contains 2,400 sq km of land, accounting for 0.64 % of the total land area of Japan.[7]
Topography
Topographically, the prefecture consists of three distinct areas. The mountainous western region features the Tanzawa Mountain Range and Hakone Volcano. The hilly eastern region is characterized by the Tama Hills and Miura Peninsula. The central region, which surrounds the Tama Hills and Miura Peninsula, consists of flat stream terraces and low lands around major rivers including the Sagami River, Sakai River, Tsurumi River, and Tama River.[7]
The Tama River forms much of the boundary between Kanagawa and Tokyo. The Sagami River flows through the middle of the prefecture. In the western region, the Sakawa River runs through a small lowland, the Sakawa Lowland, between Hakone Volcano to the west and the Ōiso Hills to the east and flows into Sagami Bay.[6]
The Tanzawa Mountain Range, part of the Kantō Mountain Range, contains Mount Hiru (1,673 m), the highest peak in the prefecture. Other mountains measure similar mid-range heights: Mount Hinokiboramaru (1,601 m), Mount Tanzawa, (1567 m), Mount Ōmuro (1588 m), Mount Himetsugi (1,433 m), and Mount Usu (1,460 m). The mountain range is lower in height southward leading to Hadano Basin to the Ōiso Hills. At the eastern foothills of the mountain range lies the Isehara Plateau and across the Sagami River the Sagami Plateau.[6]
Cities
Nineteen cities are located in Kanagawa Prefecture:
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Towns and villages
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Mergers
Transportation
Kanagawa's transport network is heavily intertwined with that of Tokyo (see: Transportation in Greater Tokyo). Most air travel to Kanagawa goes through Tokyo International Airport or Narita International Airport. Shin-Yokohama and Odawara stations on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen are located in the prefecture, providing high-speed rail service to Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and other major cities.
Railway
- East Japan Railway Company
- Tōkaidō Main Line
- Nambu Line
- Tsurumi Line
- Yokohama Line
- Negishi Line
- Yokosuka Line
- Sagami Line
- Chūō Main Line
- Central Japan Railway Company
- Tōkaidō Shinkansen
- Gotemba Line
Education
The Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education manages and oversees individual municipal school districts. The board of education also directly operates most of the public high schools in the prefecture.
Sports
The sports teams listed below are based in Kanagawa.
Facilities
Football and athletics
- Nissan Stadium (International Stadium of Yokohama) - in Yokohama, the final venue of 2002 FIFA World Cup and FIFA Club World Cup in 2005-2007
- Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium (Mitsuzawa Stadium) - in Yokohama, only for football
- Todoroki Athletics Stadium - in Kawasaki, the final venue of 2007 IFAF World Cup (American football).
- Hiratsuka Athletics Stadium
Baseball
- Yokohama Stadium - for baseball and American football
- Kawasaki Stadium - former homeground of Taiyo Whales (now Yokohama BayStars) and Lotte Orions (now Chiba Lotte Marines).
- Yokosuka Stadium
Indoor
- Yokohama Arena - also for music concert
- Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium - a volleyball venue of 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo
- Todoroki Arena - in Kawasaki
- Odawara Arena
Others
- Enoshima Yacht Course - used for 1964 Summer Olympics.
- Hakone Ekiden Course - from Tokyo to Hakone, 108.0 km, mostly on Japan National Route 1 and Route 15. Runners run on the divided route for ten parts on January 2 (to Hakone) and January 3 (to Tokyo) every year.
- Lake Sagami - hosted canoeing and rowing for the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Teams
Soccer (football)
- Kawasaki Frontale (Kawasaki) - Todoroki Athletics
- Yokohama F. Marinos (Yokohama, Yokosuka) - Nissan Stadium
- Yokohama F.C. (Yokohama) - Mitsuzawa Ballpark
- Shonan Bellmare (Hiratsuka, Odawara and some cities and towns in central and western area of Kanagawa) - Hiratsuka Athletic Stadium (football) and Odawara Arena (futsal)
Baseball
- Yokohama BayStars (Yokohama) - Yokohama Stadium, and Yokosuka Stadium (for its farm team, "Shonan Searex").
Volleyball
- NEC Red Rockets (Kawasaki) - Todoroki Arena
Tourism
- The city of Kamakura is famous as the location of many Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.
- Yokohama Chinatown is the largest Chinatown in Japan, larger than Chinatowns in both Kobe and Nagasaki, and one of the largest in the world.
In popular culture
- Stephen Sondheim's stage musical Pacific Overtures, about the "opening" of Japan to Western influence by Commodore Perry, contains the song "Welcome to Kanagawa".
- The Hinata Inn and surrounding town from the manga and anime series Love Hina takes place in Kanagawa.
- The Japanese manga series Elfen Lied takes place in Kanagawa. Mainly in Kamakura and Enoshima (Fujisawa).
- The main team in the Japanese manga series Slam Dunk, Shohoku, is from Kanagawa.
- The Japanese anime series S-CRY-ED takes place in Kanagawa Prefecture, after a seismic event raises it from the ground.
- The Japanese manga and anime series Kenkō Zenrakei Suieibu Umishō takes place in the fictional Kanagawa city of Umineko.
References
Notes
- ↑ Hammer, Joshua. (2006). Yokohama Burning: the Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II, p. 278.
- ↑ Hammer, pp. 114-115.
- ↑ Hammer, pp. 115-116.
- ↑ Hammer, p. 113.
- ↑ Prefectural demographics (Japanese) (Translate: Google, Babelfish)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Kanagawa terrain (Japanese) (Translate: Google, Babelfish)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Overview of the prefectural geography (Japanese) (Translate: Google, Babelfish)
Bibliography
- Hammer, Joshua. (2006). Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II. New York: Simon & Schuster. 10-ISBN 0-743-26465-7; 13-ISBN 978-0-743-26465-5 (cloth)
External links
- Official Kanagawa Prefecture homepage
- Official Kanagawa Living homepage
- KANAGAWA NOW JAPAN Kanagawa Prefectural Tourist Association website (English)
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Kanagawa Prefecture
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