| Toyokawa 豊川市 |
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| — City — | |||
| New Year day in Toyokawa Inari | |||
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| Location of Toyokawa in Aichi | |||
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Toyokawa
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Japan | ||
| Region | Chūbu, Tōkai | ||
| Prefecture | Aichi | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Minoru Yamawaki | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 160.63 km2 (62 sq mi) | ||
| Population (June 2011) | |||
| • Total | 181,514 | ||
| • Density | 1,130/km2 (2,926.7/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) | ||
| City Symbols | |||
| - Tree | Japanese Black Pine | ||
| - Flower | Dwarf azalea | ||
| Phone number | 0533-89-2111 | ||
| Address | 1-1 Suwa-chō, Toyokawa-shi, Aichi-ken 442-0068 | ||
| Website | City of Toyokawa HP | ||
Toyokawa (豊川市 Toyokawa-shi) is a medium-sized city of about 180,000 people located in the eastern part of Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The city, founded on June 1, 1943, originally comprised the three formerly independent Hoi-gun (district) towns of Toyokawa (豊川町), Ko (国府町), Ushikubo (牛久保町), and the village of Yawata (八幡村). Toyokawa is blessed with a good balance of industry, commerce, agriculture and forestry spread over its 160 km2 boundary, and is situated in an area rich in history, traditions, and culture.
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Toyohashi is located in an area of rolling hills in southeastern Aichi Prefecture. It has a short coastline with Mikawa Bay on the Pacific Ocean to the southwest.
The area of modern Toyokawa was settled in prehistoric times. During the Nara period, the kokubunji of Mikawa Province was established in 741. The temple of Toyokawa Inari, a popular pilgrimage destination, dates from 1441. A number of daimyō clans under the Tokugawa shogunate originate in what are now parts of Toyokawa, most notably the Makino clan. The area prospered during the Edo period with two post towns along the Tōkaidō, Goyu-shuku and Akasaka.
After the Meiji Restoration, on October 1, 1889 the area was organized into several villages within Hoi District, Aichi Prefecture, including Toyokawa Village. On March 13, 1893, Toyokawa was promoted to town status. In 1939 the massive Toyokawa Naval Arsenal was established, one of the largest producers of machine guns, aviation ordinance and ammunition in the Empire of Japan. It was also had sections that produced military-issue katana, bayonets, and glass lenses for use in cameras, binoculars, and similar equipment. During World War II, many thousands of civilians were conscripted or volunteered to work at the Arsenal, and towards the end of the war, included hundreds of middle school students and high school girls.
Toyokawa City was founded on June 1, 1943 by the merger of Toyokawa town with neighboring Ushikubo Town and Yawata Village.
On August 7, 1945 the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal was targetted by a flight of B-29 bombers. About 2,500 people were killed during the Toyokawa Air Raid. Toyokawa was one of the last places to be targeted using conventional explosive and incendiary bombs in the closing days of World War II, occurring the day after Hiroshima was destroyed by an atomic bomb.[1]
Following the war, on April 12, 1955 Toyokawa annexed Mikami village from Yana District. This was followed by the neighboring town of Goyu from Hoi District on April 1, 1959. Toyokawa further expanded on February 1, 2006 by annexing Ichinomiya, On January 15, 2008 the towns of Otowa and Mito became part of Toyokawa, and finally on February 1, 2010 the town of Kozakai likewise was merged into Toyokawa city.
Toyokawa is at present officially sister cities with only Cupertino, California in the United States,[2] but the city is currently investigating the possibility of sister city or friendship city status with others, including cities such as Santa Rosa City in the Province of Laguna, and Tagbilaran City in the Province of Bohol, both in the Philippines, and the Wuxi New District in the Jiangsu Province of China. Cupertino and Toyokawa have been sister cities for over 30 years and have an ongoing student exchange program. Toyokawa has sent a delegation of students every year from the beginning of the program thirty years ago, while Cupertino first sent a delegation of students beginning in 1984. Although the number of students visiting has in the past varied, for each year since 2004 sixteen students from Toyokawa and from the following year twelve students from Cupertino have been chosen to represent their respective cities and countries in the exchange.
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