was a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

located in Awa District,

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 t ...

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 n ...

. As of October 1, 2004, the town 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 usi ...

of 12,527 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematicall ...

of 342 persons per km². The total area was 36.64 km².

Geography

Chikura was located at southern end of Chiba Prefecture, at the southeast extremity of Bōsō Peninsula, facing 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 conti ...

. The town had a temperate

maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

with hot, humid summers and mild, cool winters. Chikura is the

cable landing point A cable landing point is the location where a submarine or other underwater cable makes landfall. The term is most often used for the landfall points of submarine telecommunications cables and submarine power cables. The landing will either be d ...

for several

submarine communications cable A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables laid beginning in the 1850s carried tel ...

s. The Chikura cable station is next to Setohama beach and lands: *

APCN 2 APCN 2 or Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 is a submarine telecommunications cable linking several countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It has landing points in: * Chongming, Shanghai, China *Shantou, Guangdong Province, China *Lantau Island, Isl ...

C2C Trenitalia c2c Limited,Companies House extract company no 789726 ...

CUCN CUCN or China-US Cable Network was a submarine communications cable, submarine telecommunications cable linking several countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It was retired from service in December 201 It has cable landing point, landing points in ...

* FASTER *

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a ...

History

Asai Village was created on April 1, 1889 within Asai District, which became part of Awa District from April 1, 1897. It became a town on June 25, 1900, and was renamed Chikura on October 1, 1920. The town expanded through merger with Nanaura, Takeda, and Chitose villages in 1954. On March 20, 2006, Chikura, along with the towns of

Maruyama Maruyama may refer to: * Maruyama (surname), a Japanese surname and list of people with the name * Maruyama, Chiba, a town in Japan * Maruyama Park in Kyoto * Mount Maru (disambiguation), a number of different mountains in Japan * 5147 Maruyama, a ...

, Shirahama, Tomiura, Tomiyama and Wada, and the village of Miyoshi (all from Awa District), was merged to create the city of

Minamibōsō is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 37,143 in 17,175 households and a population density of 160 persons per km². The total area of the city is , making it the fifth largest city in Chiba P ...

Economy

The economy of Chikura was largely based on

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 oft ...

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

(primarily herbs and flowers), and summer tourism.

Transportation

Highway

Japan National Route 128 National Route 128 is a national highway of Japan connecting Tateyama, Chiba and Chūō-ku, Chiba is one of the six wards of the city of Chiba in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and is the seat of the city government, and the location of the ...

Japan National Route 410 is a national highway located entirely within Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It connects the cities of Tateyama and Kisarazu, spanning the Bōsō Peninsula in a south–north routing. The highway has a total length of . Route description National ...

Railway

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 ar ...

– Uchibō Line ** -

Local events

The area has an annual summer festival, Chikura Matsuri. The only

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The ''honden''Also called (本殿, meanin ...

in town is Takabe-jinja Shrine, which is devoted to the God of Cooking. Twice a year, a special ceremony is held where a fish is cleaned and prepared without being touched by the priests' hands. The Minamibōsō Two Day Flower Walk is held every first weekend of March. In this framework, there is a close relationship and exchange program with the city of

Blankenberge Blankenberge (; french: Blankenberghe; vls, Blanknberge) is a city and a municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Blankenberge proper and the settlement of Uitkerke. On 1 December 2014, ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, and th
link Two Day March of Flanders
In the summer the area is a very popular place as beach resort and surfing.

External links

Chikura official website
part of Minami Boso site)

Dissolved municipalities of Chiba Prefecture Minamibōsō {{Chiba-geo-stub