260px, Sodegaura park 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 64,901 in 28,156 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 680 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Sodegaura located in the central western Chiba prefecture, about 25 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 within 30 to 40 kilometers from central Tokyo. The city is on the

Kantō Plain The is the largest plain in Japan, and is located in the Kantō region of central Honshū. The total area of 17,000 km2 covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, ...

and faces

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...

to the west with a 28.7 kilometer shoreline. The shoreline is mostly reclaimed land with an industrial area centered on the petrochemical complex; then main urban area is also on the coast, centered on

Sodegaura Station is a passenger railway station in the city of Sodegaura, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Sodegaura Station is served by the Uchibo Line, and lies 24.4 kilometers from the terminus of the l ...

. The city measures approximately 14.0 kilometers from east to west and 13.5 kilometers from north to south.

Surrounding municipalities

Chiba Prefecture * Ichihara *

Kisarazu is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 136,023 in 63,431 households and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kisarazu is located in the midwest ...

Climate

Sodegaura 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 Sodegaura is 15.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1584 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Sodegaura has increased over the past 60 years.

History

Sodegaura is mentioned in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

chronicle ''

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

'' in connection with the ''

Yamatotakeru , originally , was a Japanese semi-legendary prince of the Yamato dynasty, son of Emperor Keikō, who is traditionally counted as the 12th Emperor of Japan. His name written in kanji can vary, in the '' Nihon Shoki'' it is spelled 日本武尊 a ...

'' mythology, and at that time applied to the entire western coastline 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 ...

. Modern Sodegaura was part of Kimitsu District from 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 ...

. Sodegaura Town was formed on March 31, 1955 from the merger of the town of Shōwa with the neighboring village of Nagaura and a portion of the village of Negata. It expanded through merger with the town of Hirakawa on November 3, 1971. On April 1, 1991 it was elevated to city status.

Government

Sodegaura 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 22 members. Sodegaura contributes one member to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Chiba 12th 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

Sodegaura is an important part of the

Keiyō Industrial Zone , also known as the Keiyō Industrial Region, the Keiyō Industrial Area, or the Keiyō Industrial Belt, is an industrial zone on the northeastern coast of Tokyo Bay that crosses 8 cities in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The zone spans from the wester ...

. The industrial

Port of Chiba The is the largest seaport in Japan, located in Chiba Prefecture on the interior of Tokyo Bay. The Port spans across the cities of Ichikawa, Funabashi, Narashino, Chiba, Ichihara, and Sodegaura. History Port activity has existed in the area ...

ranges from

Funabashi is a 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 populated city (after p ...

in the north to Sodegaura in the south. Heavy industry, especially

oil refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...

and

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...

processing, is located on

reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lak ...

in the city. Sodegaura is the site of one of the Tokyo Bay area's five major

liquefied natural gas terminal A liquefied natural gas terminal is a facility for managing the import and/or export of liquefied natural gas (LNG). It comprises equipment for loading and unloading of LNG cargo to/from LNG carrier, ocean-going tankers, for transfer across the si ...

s, which is jointly operated by

Tokyo Gas , founded in 1885, is the primary provider of natural gas to the main cities of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Yamanashi, and Nagano. , Tokyo Gas is the largest natural gas utility in Japan. Timeline *October 1, ...

and

Tokyo Electric Power Company , also known as or TEPCO, is a Japanese electric utility holding company servicing Japan's Kantō region, Yamanashi Prefecture, and the eastern portion of Shizuoka Prefecture. This area includes Tokyo. Its headquarters are located in Uchisaiw ...

Education

Sodegaura has seven public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Culture

A stretch of bayside highway in Sodegaura along Tokyo Bay is colloquially known as "Chibafornia," a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsChiba 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

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, due to its resemblance to Southern California. The area has been used for television commercial and music video filming.

Transportation

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 are ...

–

Uchibō Line The is a railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) adjacent to Tokyo Bay, paralleling the western (i.e., inner) shore of the Bōsō Peninsula. It connects Soga Station in the city of Chiba to Awa-Kamogawa Station in the ...

* -

–

Kururi Line The is a railway line in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Kisarazu Station in Kisarazu to Kazusa-Kameyama Station in Kimitsu. The railway route extends through three cities, Kimitsu, K ...

* -

Highway

* * * * * *

Sister city relations

Itajaí Itajaí () is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It is located on the northern central coast of Santa Catarina and is part of the Vale do Itajaí Mesoregion, on the right bank of the Itajaí-Açu river mouth. It lies at th ...

, Brazil, from January 31, 1979

Notable people from Sodegaura

Nozomi Hiroyama is a Japanese former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. Hiroyama played over 400 games during his career which included spells in Japan, France, Portugal, Paraguay, Brazil and United States, as well as earn ...

, professional soccer player

References

External links

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