is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

located in

Shizuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Pref ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the city has an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 145,032 in 59,480 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

of 750 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Fujieda is a member of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

’s Alliance for Healthy Cities (AFHC).

Geography

Fujieda is located in the Shida Plateau in central Shizuoka Prefecture between the Abe River and the Ōi River. The area enjoys a warm

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

with hot, humid summers and mild, cool winters.

Neighboring municipalities

*Shizuoka Prefecture ** Shimada ** Shizuoka ** Yaizu

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Fujieda grown rapidly over the past 50 years.

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Fujieda is 15.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2159 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.7 °C.Fujieda climate data
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History

Under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan, much of the area of present-day Fujieda was part of Tanaka Domain, and its

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

formed part of the eastern outlying fortifications of Sunpu. The town also developed as Fujieda-juku, a

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

on the Tōkaidō highway connecting

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

with

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

. During the cadastral reform of the early

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

in 1889, Fujieda-juku became Fujieda Town within Shida District Shizuoka Prefecture. Fujieda Station on the

Tōkaidō Main Line The Tōkaidō Main Line () is one of the most important railway corridors in Japan, connecting the major cities of Tokyo and Kobe via Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. The line, with termini at Tokyo Station, Tokyo and Kōbe St ...

railway opened on April 16, 1889, leading to development of the surrounding area. On March 31, 1954, Fujieda merged with neighboring Aoshima Town and four neighboring villages to form Fujieda City. Setoya Village merged on February 15, 1955 and Hirohata Village on April 1, 1957. On January 1, 2009, the neighboring town of Okabe (from Shida District) was merged into Fujieda. Shida District was dissolved as a result of this merger.

Government

Fujieda 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 consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

city legislature of 22 members.

Economy

Fujieda is primarily a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for nearby Shizuoka. The local economy is dominated by agriculture (tea, strawberry, rice, ''

shiitake The shiitake (; ''Chinese/black mushroom'' or ''Lentinula edodes'') is a macrofungus native to East Asia, which is cultivated and consumed around the globe. Taxonomy The fungus was first described scientifically as '' Agaricus edodes'' by ...

'') and light manufacturing, including pharmaceuticals, beverages, and food processing.

Education

Fujieda has 17 public elementary schools and ten public junior high schools operated by the city government. and three public high schools operated by the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education. There are also two private middle schools and three private high schools. The prefectural also operates one special education school for disabled children. In addition,

Shizuoka Sangyo University is a private university in Iwata city, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan a ...

has a campus in Fujieda, and the agricultural fields for Shizuoka University are also located in the city.

Sport

Fujieda is represented in the J. League of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

by its local club

Fujieda MYFC are a Japanese professional football club based in Fujieda, Shizuoka. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football. It was previously funded by online subscribers and was the first of its kind in Japan. Th ...

, currently competing in

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

, the second tier of Japanese professional football. In the 1980s and 1990s the city was represented in the

Japan Soccer League ; JSL) was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL Cup, JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professi ...

and former Japan Football League by local clubs Fujieda City Hall SC, which still competes in the prefectural divisions, and Chuo Bohan SC/Fujieda Blux, which moved out of town in 1994 to become Avispa Fukuoka. The city also home of Fujieda Higashi High School, four-time winners of

All Japan High School Soccer Tournament The All Japan High School Soccer Tournament (全国高等学校サッカー選手権大会, Zenkoku kōtō gakkō sakkā senshuken taikai, 全国高校サッカー選手権大会, Zenkoku kō kō sakkā senshuken taikai) of Japan, commonly known as ...

. Notable alumnus including

Makoto Hasebe is a Japanese professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. He is currently the assistant coach of Japan national team. Hasebe started his professional playing career with Urawa Red Diamon ...

and

Masashi Nakayama , nicknamed "Gon" during his playing career, is a Japanese professional football manager and former player. He was the J.League Most Valuable Player in 1998, J.League Top Scorer in 1998 and 2000, and J.League Best XI in 1997, 1998, 2000, 20 ...

Transportation

Railway

Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and occasionally as JR Tokai (). The term ''Tōkai'' refers to the southern portion of Central Japan, ...

Highway

* - Fujieda Bypass, Okabe Bypass

Sister cities

* Penrith,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia, since November 3, 1984 * Yangju,

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

, South Korea, since August 24, 2009

Local attractions

* Tanaka Castle * Shida Gunga ruins, National Historic Site * Utsunoya Pass, a National Historic Site *Gardens of Renge-ji temple

Notable people from Fujieda

* Motoyuki Akahori, professional baseball player * Shin Asahina, professional soccer player * Shizuo Fujieda, novelist *

, professional soccer player * Toshiya Ishii, professional soccer player * Tatsuya Ishikawa, professional soccer player *

, professional soccer player * Hiroshi Nanami, professional soccer player *

Kunio Ogawa was a Japanese novelist born in Fujieda, Shizuoka. Ogawa was a graduate of the Japanese literature department at Tokyo University. In 1957, Ogawa wrote a book titled ''Aporon no shima'' (Isles of Apollo) after taking a trip to the Mediterranean. ...

, novelist * Kentaro Ohi, professional soccer player * Ryu Okada, professional soccer player * Yoshikazu Suzuki, professional soccer player * Daiya Tono, professional soccer player * Takeshi Watanabe, professional soccer player * Nobuhisa Yamada, professional soccer player

References

External links

Fujieda City official website
{{Authority control Cities in Shizuoka Prefecture