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 central

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 139,578 in 57,593 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 2000 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Yaizu is a noted port for

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 often ...

Geography

Yaizu is located in central Shizuoka Prefecture, on a heavily indented coastline of Suruga Bay, 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 continen ...

. The climate, tempered by the warm

Kuroshio Current The , also known as the Black or or the is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin. It was named for the deep blue appearance of its waters. Similar to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Ku ...

offshore is maritime temperature, with hot, humid summers and short cool winters.

Surrounding municipalities

*Shizuoka Prefecture **

Suruga-ku, Shizuoka is one of three wards of Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan, located in the southern part of the city. The north east of Suruga-ku faces Aoi-ku; the north west faces Shimizu-ku; the south west faces Yaizu city and south east faces Suruga Bay. Suruga- ...

** Shimada ** Fujieda ** Yoshida

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Yaizu has been increasing over the past 70 years.

Climate

The city has a climate 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 Yaizu is 16.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2176 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 6.3 °C.

History

Yaizu is an ancient settlement, with

Yaizu Shrine 270px, ''Haiden'' of Yaizu Jinja is a Shinto shrine in the city of Yaizu in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is also referred to as the .The main festival of the shrine is annually on August 13. Enshrined ''kami'' The primary '' kami'' ...

claiming to have been founded in the 5th century during the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

, and numerous

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』� ...

tumuli are found within the city limits. 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 ...

, Yaizu developed as a port under

Tanaka Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Suruga Province in what is now modern-day Fujieda, Shizuoka. It was centered around Tanaka Castle.

, and fish from Yaizu was frequently supplied to the retired ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

at nearby

Sunpu Castle was a Japanese castle in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle".Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)Shizuoka It was also referred to as or . His ...

. In the October 1, 1886, establishment of the modern municipalities system 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, Yaizu Village was established within Mashizu District, Shizuoka prefecture. Mashizu District merged into neighboring Shida District in 1896. The following year, in 1897, author

Lafcadio Hearn , born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (; el, Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χέρν, Patríkios Lefkádios Chérn, Irish language, Irish: Pádraig Lafcadio O'hEarain), was an Irish people, Irish-Greeks, Greek-Japanese people, Japanese writer, t ...

began his residence in Yaizu. Yaizu was elevated to town status on June 28, 1901. Yaizu Fishing Cooperative was established in 1903, and started to take frozen catch from Yaizu to Tokyo's

Tsukiji fish market is a major tourist attraction for both domestic and overseas visitors in Tokyo. The area contains retail markets, restaurants, and associated restaurant supply stores. Before 2018, it was the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the wor ...

from 1908. Shipbuilding facilities, primarily for the production of fishing vessels, was established in 1924. The Yaizu Fishing Cooperative began the first

wireless communication Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

with its fishing fleet in Japan in 1925, but overfishing soon led to collapse of

bonito Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned predatory fish in the family Scombridae – a family it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish. Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of ...

stocks in 1926, resulting in a five-year fishing moratorium. After the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Yaizu fishing industry was again hit hard by the requisition of entire Yaizu fishing fleet (113 vessels) and crewmen by

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

in 1941. Only 10 vessels survived the war. Yaizu was elevated to city status on March 1, 1951. On November 1, 1953, Toyota Village merged into Yaizu City. The city name gained international prominence over the

Daigo Fukuryū Maru was a Japanese tuna fishing boat with a crew of 23 men which was contaminated by nuclear fallout from the United States Castle Bravo thermonuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. The crew suffered acute radiation syndrome (ARS) ...

Incident, in which a Yaizu-based fishing vessel was irradiated by atomic testing at

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Second ...

on March 1, 1954. The city further expanded on January 1, 1955, by annexation of the neighboring villages of Higashi Mashizu, Kogawa, Ōtomi, and Wada, and on April 1, 1957, when Hirohata Village was divided between Yaizu and Fujieda cities. Yaizu port underwent a major expansion in March 1968. The city was the site of the 2001 Japan Airlines mid-air incident on January 31, 2001. On November 1, 2008, the town of Ōigawa (from Shida District) was merged into Yaizu.
Ministry of Land & Infrastructure

Government

Atami 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. The city contributes three members to the Shizuoka Prefectural Assembly.

Economy

The economy of Yaizu is dominated by the

industry. Yaizu Port was first in Japan in terms of tonnage of

and

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

in 2002, and third in terms of

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

. Local industries are centered on food processing, including the production of '' katsuobushi'', ''

shiokara , is a food in Japanese cuisine made from various marine animals that consists of small pieces of meat in a brown viscous paste of the animal's heavily salted, fermented viscera. The raw viscera are mixed with about 10% salt, 30% malted rice, ...

'', ''

tsukudani is small seafood, meat or seaweed that has been simmered in soy sauce and mirin. As a flavorful accompaniment to plain rice, tsukudani is made salty enough to not go bad, allowing high osmotic pressure to preserve the ingredients from microbial ...

'', and '' kamaboko'' (especially ''

narutomaki or is a type of ''kamaboko'', or cured fish ''surimi'' produced in Japan. Each cloud-shaped slice of ''naruto'' has a pink or red spiral pattern, which is meant to resemble the Naruto whirlpools in the Naruto Strait between Awaji Island ...

''). Agricultural products include

green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since the ...

melons A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a " pepo". Th ...

tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in color. Its scientific name varies. It has been treated as a separate species under the name ''Citrus tangerina'' or ''Citrus'' × ''tangerina'', or treated as a variety of ''Citrus retic ...

s, and tomatoes. Yaizu is also the home of the Hasegawa plastic model kit manufacturing company.Hasegawa website
Retrieved 6 September 2011. Yaizu is also home to one of

Sapporo Brewery is a Japanese beer brewing company founded in 1876. Sapporo is the oldest brand of beer in Japan. It was first brewed in Sapporo, Japan, in 1876 by brewer Seibei Nakagawa. The world headquarters of Sapporo Breweries is in Ebisu, Shibuya, Toky ...

's Largest factories, as well as the company's new product development division.

Transportation

Railway

Central Japan Railway Company -

Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...

** -

Highways

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 ...

Education

Shizuoka University of Welfare is a private university in Yaizu city, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, established in 2004. Departments The university specializes in social welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure ...

*Yaizu has 13 public elementary schools and ten public middle schools operated by the city government and three public high schools operated by the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education. The city also has one private high school. The prefectural also operates as fisheries vocational school in Yaizu.

Military facilities

Shizuhama Air Base is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force base located in the city of Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, in central Japan. It is the smallest air base in Japan with a functional runway. History Shizuhama Air Base was established in December 1944 as the Fujied ...

Sister city relations

Notable people from Yaizu

Midorifuji Kazunari is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Yaizu, Shizuoka. Known for being a '' katasukashi'' specialist, he debuted in sumo wrestling in September 2016 and made his ''makuuchi'' debut in January 2021. His highest rank has been ''maegashir ...

, sumo wrestler *

Itsuko Hasegawa is a Japanese architect. Biography Itsuko Hasegawa was born in Yaizu City, Japan in 1941. She studied at the Department of Architecture at Kanto Gakuin University, graduating in 1964. From then until 1969, she worked with Kiyonori Kikutake an ...

, architect *

Tetsuya Ishida Tetsuya Ishida (石田徹也, Ishida Tetsuya, June 16, 1973 – May 23, 2005) was a contemporary Japanese painter known for his surrealist portrayal of late-20th and early-21st century Japanese city life. His works typically depict hyperrealisti ...

, artist *

Yoshikiyo Kuboyama is a former Japanese football player. Playing career Kuboyama was born in Yaizu is a city located in central Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 139,578 in 57,593 households, and a population density of 200 ...

, professional soccer player * Tomohiro Matsunaga, Olympic silver-medalist wrestler *

Taisuke Muramatsu is a Japanese footballer who plays for Giravanz Kitakyushu. Club career After several clubs for which he played for, Muramatsu retired in February 2019 after one season with Giravanz Kitakyushu. National team career In July 2012, he was el ...

, professional soccer player *

Katayama Shinji Katayama Shinji (born September 6, 1979) is a former sumo wrestler from Yaizu, Shizuoka, Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka, Japan. His highest rank was ''maegashira'' 13. Career Katayama practised amateur sumo at Senshu University, finishing ...

, sumo wrestler *

Masaharu Suzuki is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. Club career Suzuki was born in Yaizu on August 3, 1970. After graduating from Shizuoka Gakuen High School, he joined Japan Soccer League club Nissan Motors (later ''Yo ...

, professional soccer player

References

External links

*
Yaizu City official website
* {{Authority control Cities in Shizuoka Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Port settlements in Japan