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 ...
on the southeastern flank of
Mount Fuji
, or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...
in
Shizuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...
,
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 88,370 in 36,096 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 450 persons per km². The total area of the city is .
Geography
Gotemba is located in far eastern Shizuoka Prefecture at an altitude of .
Mount Fuji
, or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...
is located to the west, and
Mount Hakone
, with its highest peak Mount Kami (1,438 meters), is a complex volcano in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan that is truncated by two overlapping calderas, the largest of which is 10 × 11 km wide. The calderas were formed as a result of ...
to the east, with the
Tanzawa Mountains
The are a mountain range in the Kantō region in Japan. The mountain range covers the northwestern part of Kanagawa Prefecture and touches the prefecture borders of Shizuoka Prefecture to the west and the Yamanashi Prefecture to the north.
Mou ...
to the north and
Mount Ashitaka
is an eroded stratovolcano in the area south-east of Mount Fuji, Japan. Its highest peak, high,Karátson, D "Erosion calderas: origins, processes, structural and climatic control,"''Bulletin of Volcanology'' Vol. 61 (1999), pp. 179 DF 6 of ...
to the south. The area is noted for its numerous
golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
s, with the
Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters
The Taiheiyo Masters, titled since 2001 as the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. Founded in 1972, it was promoted as the Pacific Masters and for a few years was the richest golf tournament in the ...
taking place annually.
Surrounding municipalities
*Shizuoka Prefecture
**
Oyama
**
Susono
270px, Susono with Mount Fuji
is a city located in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 51,216 in 21,858 households, and a population density of 370 persons per km². The total area of the city is .
Mot ...
**
Fujinomiya
is a city located in central Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 132,507 in 56,655 households, and a population density of 340 persons per km². The total area of the city is .
History
The city name comes from ...
**
Fuji Fuji may refer to:
Places China
* Fuji, Xiangcheng City (付集镇), town in Xiangcheng City, Henan
Japan
* Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan
* Fuji River
* Fuji, Saga, town in Saga Prefecture
* Fuji, Shizuoka, city in Shizuoka Prefectur ...
*
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...
**
Hakone
is a town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 11,293 and a population density of 122 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many hot springs and views of ...
Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Gotemba has grown 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 is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Gotemba is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .
[
]
History
Gotemba was the location of the earliest known settlement founded in the region of Shizuoka which dates back 2,000 years ago. The inhabitants of the area (including Gotemba) were not ethnically Japanese and were likely Ainu.
Gotemba was the site of a ''shōen
A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4'').
Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...
'' belonging to Ise Shrine
The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and .
The Inner ...
in the Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...
. During 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 ...
the area was part of Odawara Domain
250px, Odawara Castle, Headquarters of the Odawara Domain
was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located primarily in western Sagami Province (modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture). It was centered on Odawara Castle in what is now the city of Odawar ...
. After the start of the Meiji period
The is 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 colonization ...
, it became part of Shizuoka Domain
was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The domain centered at Sunpu Castle is what is now the Aoi-ku, Shizuoka. From 1869 it was briefly called .
History
During the Muromachi period, Sunpu was the capital of the ...
until the abolition of the han system
The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...
in 1871 and the establishment of Shizuoka Prefecture. The opening of Gotemba Station
is a railway station on the Gotemba Line in the eastern part of the city of Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan, operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). It is one of the gateway stations to Mount Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes (including L ...
on what was then the Tōkaidō Main Line on February 1, 1889, spurred development of the area. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, Gotemba Town was created within Suntō District, along with Fujioka Village, Harasato Village, Ino Village, Tamaho Village, and Takane Village.
However, the opening of the Tanna Tunnel
is a railroad tunnel in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan operated by JR Central’s Tōkaidō Main Line. This 7.8 km long tunnel shortened the trunk route between Tokyo and Kobe by omitting a detour round the mountains between Atami and Numazu. ...
on December 1, 1934, resulted in the route of Tōkaidō Main Line shifting south to Atami
is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 36,865 in 21,593 households and a population density of 600 persons per km2. The total area of the city is .
Geography
Atami is located in the far ea ...
, leaving Gotemba on the spur Gotemba Line
The is a railway line in Japan operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). It connects Kōzu Station in Odawara to Numazu via Gotemba.
The '' Mt. Fuji'' limited express service runs between Tokyo's Shinjuku Station and Gotemb ...
, which resulted in temporary depopulation. During the pre-war era, Gotemba was a major base area for the Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
, and still houses military facilities and a large training area (the East Fuji Maneuver Area) for the modern Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service b ...
and the United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
.
Gotemba was elevated to city status on February 11, 1955, through the merger of Gotemba Town with neighboring Fujioka Village, Harasato Village, Ino Village, and Tamaho Village. The city expanded through annexation of Takane Village on January 1, 1956 and the Furusawa District of Oyama Town on September 1, 1957. The Gotemba Interchange on the Tōmei Expressway was completed on May 25, 1969.
Government
Gotemba 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 legislature of 21 members.
Economy
Gotemba has a mixed economy. Agriculture has traditionally been dominated by 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 ...
, irrigated by water from Mount Fuji, and has been supplemented by the growing of various green vegetables and the raising of pigs. Development of light industries, especially in food processing and electronics has profited through Gotemba's location on the Tōmei Expressway, and Gotemba is noted for a number of golf courses and a spacious outlet shopping center.
Retailing company Chelsea Japan rented former Gotemba Family Land Amusement Park, and officially opened in July 2000 as Gotemba Premium Outlets
The is an outlet mall located in Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan, near Mount Fuji. It was opened on July 13, 2000, and contains over 200 stores. The mall is managed by Mitsubishi Estate Simon Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Mitsubishi Estate and Si ...
.
Education
Gotemba has ten public elementary schools and six public junior high schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education. The city also has one private high school, and the prefecture also operates one special education school for the disabled.
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 in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...
- Gotemba Line
The is a railway line in Japan operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). It connects Kōzu Station in Odawara to Numazu via Gotemba.
The '' Mt. Fuji'' limited express service runs between Tokyo's Shinjuku Station and Gotemb ...
** – -
Highway
* Tōmei Expressway
The is a national expressway on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is operated by Central Nippon Expressway Company. The expressway is designated as E1 under the "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering", because it parallels Nati ...
*
*
*
Sister cities
* – Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Mas ...
, United States (since August 22, 1960)
* – Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, in the U.S. state of Oregon with a small portion bordering Portland in the Tualatin Valley. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was 97,494 at the ...
, United States (since October 22, 1987)
Military installations
* JGSDF Camp Itazuma
* JGSDF Camp Komakado
* JGSDF Camp Takigahara
* East Fuji Maneuver Area
Local attractions
The Peace Pagoda
A Peace Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa; a monument to inspire peace, designed to provide a focus for people of all races and creeds, and to help unite them in their search for world peace. Most, though not all, peace pagodas built since World War II ...
built in 1964 by Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga is a noted symbol of the city.
Notable people
*Kenyu Horiuchi
is a Japanese voice actor. In 2002 he founded his own voice acting management office, Kenyu Office. He is best known for dubbing over Brad Pitt (Horiuchi met Pitt at Japan's Premiere of '' Bullet Train''), Charlie Sheen, Ben Stiller, Ben Affleck ...
, voice actor
*Nobuo Serizawa
is a Japanese professional golfer.
Serizawa played on the Japan Golf Tour, winning five times.
Professional wins (7) Japan Golf Tour wins (5)
Japan Golf Tour playoff record (0–4)
Other wins (1)
*1987 Acom Team Championship (with Tomohir ...
, professional golfer
A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...
References
External links
Gotemba City official website
Mount Fuji Gotemba Trail
{{Authority control
Cities in Shizuoka Prefecture