is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. , the city had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 64,690 in 26,510 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of 500 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Asahi is located in far northeastern Chiba Prefecture, approximately 50 kilometers from the prefectural capital at

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

and 80 to 90 kilometers from central Tokyo. Located at the northern end of the Kujukuri Plain, the southern part faces Kujukuri Beach and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and the

Shimōsa Plateau The is a plateau on the Kantō Plain in central Honshu, Japan. The plateau covers most of northern Chiba Prefecture. The plateau was historically richly agricultural, but in the 20th century the western and central Shimōsa Plateau became one of ...

extends to the northern part.

Surrounding municipalities

Chiba Prefecture *

Chōshi is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 59,174 in 27,160 households and a population density of 700 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Chōshi is located in the northeas ...

Sōsa is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 35,674 in 14,688 households and a population density of 350 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Sōsa is located in far northeaste ...

* Katori * Tōnoshō

Climate

Asahi has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Asahi is 15.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1559 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.2 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Asahi has remained relatively steady over the past 70 years.

History

The

Chiba clan The Chiba clan (千葉氏 ''Chiba-shi'') was a Japanese '' gōzoku'' and samurai family descending from the Taira clan. The clan was founded by Chiba Tsunetane, the son of Taira no Tadatsune. The Chiba governed in Shimōsa Province, and the cl ...

, or branches of it, ruled the Shimōsa region for about 400 years from the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

. During the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, the Chiba clan gained the protection of such powerful clans as the Odawara Hōjō clan, allowing them to get a stronger foothold over the area. They lost control when the Hōjō clan was overthrown in 1590 by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

. After that, General Kiso Yoshimasa settled in the region. He restored the Ajito Castle, which was the inspiration for the name "Asahi." When poet Nonoguchi Takamasa visited the area in 1852, he wrote a poem about the general, from which the name "Asahi," which can mean "rising sun," was taken: "from Shinano / adoring the rising sun / he came to the eastern land / and there remains the evidence of his earthly life" In the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, various agricultural changes in the region occurred. The first was the reclamation of the "Sea of Camellias", a vast lake, which was drained into the Pacific Ocean to create the fertile Higata Hachiman-goku. The second was spurred on by the arrival of agrarian scholar Ohara Yugaku in 1835 and other ''

kokugaku ''Kokugaku'' ( ja, 國學, label=Kyūjitai, ja, 国学, label=Shinjitai; literally "national study") was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Tokugawa period. Kokugaku scholars worked to refo ...

'' scholars who helped to revive agriculture in the area. During this same time, while Iioka Sukegoro was helping to develop the fishing industry, fishermen from the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolita ...

moved to the area to take advantage of the bountiful fishing grounds available. The town of Asahi was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was raised to city status on July 1, 1954. On July 1, 2005, the city of Asahi, the town of Hikata (from Katori District), and the towns of Iioka and Unakami (both from Kaijo District) merged on equal terms to form the new Asahi city. The city was damaged during the March

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

. Around 15 people were killed, 2,265 buildings were damaged, with 427 buildings destroyed, 716 people were left homeless, and heavy damage was done to the town's port and fishing boat fleet.

Government

Asahi has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

city council of 20 members. Asahi contributes one member to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Chiba 10th district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called Parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional r ...

of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

Economy

The local economy is dominated by

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

, agricultural and seasonal tourism to its beach resorts.

Agriculture

Asahi City's agricultural output is ranked first in Chiba Prefecture and ninth in Japan. The city's location on the coast of the

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

gives it easy access to abundant fishing grounds created by the intersection of the Japan Current and the Okhotsk Current. Iioka fishing port has the second highest volume of fish unloaded in Chiba Prefecture.

Flowers

* Cyclamens *

Garland Chrysanthemum ''Glebionis coronaria'', formerly called ''Chrysanthemum coronarium'', is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family. It is native to the Mediterranean region. It is cultivated and naturalized in East Asia and in scattered locations in N ...

Petunia ''Petunia'' is genus of 20 species of flowering plants of South American origin. The popular flower of the same name derived its epithet from the French, which took the word ''petun'', meaning "tobacco," from a Tupi–Guarani language. A tende ...

* Transvaal (

Bellis perennis ''Bellis perennis'' (), the daisy, is a European species of the family Asteraceae, often considered the archetypal species of the name daisy. To distinguish this species from other plants known as daisies, it is sometimes qualified as common dais ...

) *

Rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...

Fruits, Vegetables, and Grains

Cherry tomato The cherry tomato is a type of small round tomato believed to be an intermediate genetic admixture between wild currant-type tomatoes and domesticated garden tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumbtip up to the size of a golf bal ...

es *

Cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

s (including heart-shaped and star-shaped) *

Mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the na ...

Parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...

* Pickling Melons (Muskmelon) *

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

* Slender green peppers *

Strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

* Takami Melons *

Tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

es *

Zucchini The zucchini (; plural: zucchini or zucchinis), courgette (; plural: courgettes) or baby marrow (''Cucurbita pepo'') is a summer squash, a vining herbaceous plant whose fruit are harvested when their immature seeds and epicarp (rind) are st ...

Seafood and Meat

Flounder Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuaries. Taxonomy The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related species, thou ...

* Infant

Anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

* Inshore Oysters *

Pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

Sardines "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...

Education

Asahi has 15 public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education.

High schools

* Chiba Prefecture, Asahi City Agricultural High School * Chiba Prefecture, Toso Technological High School

Junior high schools

* Daiichi Public Junior High School * Daini Public Junior High School * Hikata Public Junior High School * Iioka Public Junior High School * Unakami Public Junior High School

Elementary schools

* Chuou Public Elementary School * Chuwa Public Elementary School * Higata Public Elementary School * Iioka Public Elementary School * Kojou Public Elementary School * Kotoda Public Elementary School * Kyouwa Public Elementary School * Manzai Public Elementary School * Oumei Public Elementary School * Sangawa Public Elementary School * Takisato Public Elementary School * Tomiura Public Elementary School * Toyohata Public Elementary School * Tsurumaki Public Elementary School * Yasashi Public Elementary School

Transportation

Railways

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

–

Sōbu Main Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It connects Tokyo with the east coast of Chiba Prefecture, passing through the cities of Funabashi, Chiba, and Chōshi. Its name derives from the ol ...

* Higata -

Asahi Asahi (朝日, 旭, or あさひ) means "morning sun" in Japanese and may refer to: Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi (旭� ...

- Iioka - Kurahashi The

Shiosai The is a limited express train service in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It runs from and to on the Bōsō Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture. Station stops ''Shiosai'' services operate over the Sōbu Main Line, stop ...

Limited Express service stops at Asahi and Iioka stations.

Highways

City landmarks

Administered by Chiba Prefecture

* Chiba East Prefectural Library * General Sports Center, Toso Stadium * Iioka Gyobu Misaki Observatory and Lighthouse * Toso Culture Center

Administered by Asahi City

* Asahi Chuo Hospital * Asahi City Public Library * Asahi Sports-no-Mori Park * Asahi Park Golf Course * Fukuro Park * Iioka swimming area * Manzai Nature Park * Ohara Yugaku Memorial Hall and Historical Park * Taki-no-Sato Nature Park * Unakami Community Athletic Park * Unakami Camp Park * Yasashigaura swimming area (nicknamed "The Mecca of Surfing")

Temples and Shrines

Ryufuku-ji Temple * Kamakazu Ise Daijin-gū * Kumano Shrine * Rai Shrine * Ryūfuku-ji *

Tamasaki Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Ichinomiya neighborhood of the town of Ichinomiya in Chōsei District, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Kazusa Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on September 13, and ...

Other

* Kampo no Yado hotel and hot springs (run by

Japan Post Holdings is a Japanese publicly traded Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is mainly engaged in postal and logistics business, financial window business, banking business and life insuran ...

)

Events

Annual

* Iioka Shiosai Marathon – first Sunday of February * Fukuro Park Cherry Blossom Festival - April 1 - May 5 * Asahi Iioka Port / Seafood Festival - end of May * Iioka Fireworks Festival – last Saturday of July * Iioka "YOU You" Festival – last Saturday and Sunday of July * Summer Fest at Yasashigaura - beginning of August * Citizens'

Tanabata , also known as the Star Festival ( 星祭り, ''Hoshimatsuri''), is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair re ...

Festival – August 6 and 7 * Asahi Beach Sand Sculpture displays * Hebizono-deshimizu Cosmos Festival - beginning of October * Ikiiki Asahi Citizens' Festival - middle of October * Hikata Furusato Festival - middle of November * Unakami Industry Festival - end of November

Other

* 2010

National Sports Festival of Japan The is the national premier sports event of Japan. It consists of three stages. The skating and ice hockey stage takes place in January, the skiing stage takes place in February, and the main Autumn tournament takes place in September and Octob ...

Table Tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

tournament (Held at Sports-no-Mori Park from September 30 to October 4) * Goshinkosai Festival at Kumano Shrine (held every 12 years) * Goshinkosai Festival at Dairi Shrine (held every 33 years) * Miroku-sanbaso procession of Kurahashi (held every 20 years)

Sister and Friendship Cities

* - Chino,

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

(

Sister City A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

) * - Nakagusuku,

Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city o ...

(Friendship City)

Mascots

Asahi City uses characters from

Tetsuya Chiba is a Japanese manga artist famous for his sports stories. Chiba's works include ''Ashita no Joe'', his best known work, and ''Notari Matsutarō''. Many of his early titles are still in print due to continued popularity. Life He was born in Ch ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

works as official mascots, including Mukai Taiyo from "Ashita Tenki ni Naare" as the mascot of Asahi Park Golf Course. Framed art and messages from

can be seen in many public buildings. Tetsuya Chiba lived in Asahi (then Iioka-machi) during his childhood.

Noted people from Asahi

* Noriko Arai,

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

Hiromichi Ishige Hiromichi Ishige (石毛宏典, born September 22, 1956) is a retired Japanese professional baseball player and manager in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He played most of his career for the Seibu Lions. The 1986 Pacific League Most Va ...

, professional baseball player *

Shoya Tomizawa (10 December 1990 – 5 September 2010) was a Japanese motorcycle racer. After a successful career in the All Japan Road Race Championship, he switched to MotoGP and competed in the 250cc class during 2009. In the 2010 season he rode in the newly ...

, professional motorcycle racer

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Cities in Chiba Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan