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

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, 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 ...

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 had 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 109,941 living in 50,485 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 5,200 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kamagaya is located in the northwestern corner of Chiba Prefecture, approximately 20 kilometers from the prefectural capital of Chiba. It is located on the Shimōsa Plateau, with an elevation of seven to thirty meters above sea level. The Otsu River, which flows into Lake Teganuma, is in the north, and the Okashiwa and Nego Rivers, and the tributaries of the Ebi River, flow into

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...

, to the south. The 140th east meridian line runs through the center of the city.

Neighboring municipalities

Chiba Prefecture *

Funabashi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 644,668 in 309,238 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . It is the Greater Tokyo Area's 7th most populat ...

* Ichikawa * Kashiwa *

Matsudo file:Matsudo City Hall 2.jpg, 260px, Matsudo City Hall is a Cities of Japan, city in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 499,533 in 242,918 households and a population density of 8,138 persons per km2. The total are ...

* Shiroi

Climate

Kamagaya has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kamagaya is 15.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1389 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kamagaya population statistics
/ref> Kamagaya's population experienced rapid growth in the late 20th century and has plateaued in the early 21st.

History

The area around Kamagaya has been inhabited since prehistory, and archaeologists have found

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

shell midden A midden is an old landfill, dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bone, bones, feces, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, Lithic flake, lithics (especially debitage), and other Artifact (archaeology), ...

s in the area. During the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

, the area was controlled by the

Sōma clan The was a Japanese clan, Japanese samurai clan that ruled the northern Hamadōri region of southern Mutsu Province in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The S ...

. Kamagaya flourished in the

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 ...

1603–1868 when the area was largely ''

tenryō 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 war ...

'' territory within

Shimōsa Province was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture as well as the bordering parts of Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo (the parts that used to be located east of the lower reaches of the old Tone River prior to the ...

controlled directly by 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 ...

. One part of present-day Kamagaya was part of the Kogane Ranch, which raised war horses for the army of the

. In the Edo period Kamagaya was also a thriving ''

shukuba were Stage station, staging post stations during the Edo period in Japan, generally located on one of the Edo Five Routes or one of its sub-routes. They were also called ''shuku-eki'' (宿駅). These stage stations, or "" developed around them, ...

'' post on the Kioroshi Road, which connected present-day

Inzai 260px, Inzai City Hall is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 111,266 in 45,717 households and a population density of 900 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Inzai is loca ...

on the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano River) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the ...

to Edogawa-ku in Tokyo. The road was utilized to bring fresh fish and other marine products from the Tone River region to the capital Edo. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, it became part of Chiba Prefecture. Kamagaya Village was one of several villages created on April 1, 1889 under Inba District with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. In 1945, the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

appropriated the former Musashino Country Club, turning the

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 teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

into an air field. The base was turned over to the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

after World War II, becoming Shiroi Air Base, and was transferred to the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force The , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...

in 1959, becoming JMSDF Shimofusa Air Base. Kamagaya became a town on August 1, 1968, and was elevated to city status on September 1, 1971.

Government

Kamagaya 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 council of 24 members. Kamagaya contributes two members to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Chiba 13th district Chiba 13th district (千葉県第13区, ''Chiba-ken dai-ju-sanku'' or simply 千葉13区, ''Chiba-ju-sanku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan located in Chiba Prefecture. Areas covered ...

of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy

Kamagaya, formerly a farming area, is now a regional commercial center. Due to its numerous train connections it serves as a transportation hub and

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 Chiba and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. Kamagaya's trademark produce is the round,

Nashi Pear ''Pyrus pyrifolia'' is a species of pear tree native to southern China and northern Indochina that has been introduced to Korea, Japan and other parts of the world. The tree's edible fruit is known by many names, including Asian pear, Persian pea ...

, and there are many pear

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s dotted about the city, whose white blossoms open toward the end of the

cherry blossom The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...

season.

Education

Kamagaya has nine 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.

Transportation

Railway

Tobu Railway is a Japanese commuter railway and ''keiretsu'' holding company in the Greater Tokyo Area as well as an intercity and regional operator in the Kantō region. Excluding the Japan Railways Group companies, Tobu's rail system is the second longes ...

– Tobu Noda Line * – Keisei Logo

Keisei Electric Railway The (stylized as K'SEI since 2001) is a major private railway in Chiba Prefecture and Tokyo, Japan. The name ''Keisei'' is the combination of the kanji 京 from and 成 from , which the railway's main line connects; the combination uses diffe ...

–

Keisei Matsudo Line The is a railway line in Japan owned by Keisei Electric Railway. The line runs between Matsudo Station in Matsudo, Chiba, and Keisei-Tsudanuma Station in Narashino, Chiba. The line, known as the Shin-Keisei Line from December 1947 until its m ...

* – – Shin-Kamagaya – – Hokuso railway logo

Hokusō Railway – Hokusō Line * Shin-Kamagaya Keisei Logo

Keisei Electric Railway – Narita Sky Access * Shin-Kamagaya

Highway

Local attractions

* Kamagaya Daibutsu

Sister cities

Whakatāne Whakatāne ( , ) is a town located in the Bay of Plenty Region, Bay of Plenty Region in the North Island of New Zealand, east of Tauranga and northeast of Rotorua. The town is situated at the mouth of the Whakatāne River. The Whakatāne Dis ...

, New Zealand, since November 16, 1997

References

External links

Official Website

Kamagaya International Friendship Association (KIFA)
{{Authority control Cities in Chiba Prefecture