260px, Hirakata 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 ...

in northeastern

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nar ...

, Japan. , 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 usi ...

of 397,681 in 183075 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 RosenberPopu ...

of 6100 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Hirakata is located in northeastern of Osaka Prefecture, almost halfway between the metropolis of Osaka and Kyoto. It is on the left bank of the

Yodogawa River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefec ...

, and forms a triangle of and north–south. It is bordered by the Ikoma Mountains to the east.

Neighboring municipalities

Osaka Prefecture *

Neyagawa 270px, Neyagawa Green City is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 228,802 in 111,545 households and a population density of 9,300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Neyagaw ...

* Katano * Takatsuki * Shimamoto Kyoto Prefecture *

Yawata is a city located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. the city has an estimated population of 70,433 and a population density of 2,893 persons per km². The total area is 24.35 km². The city was founded on November 1, 1977 and currently has ...

* Kyōtanabe Nara Prefecture * Ikoma

Climate

Hirakata 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 Hirakata is . The average annual rainfall is with June as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Hirakata rose rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s, and less rapidly since. Eriko Aoki, author of "Korean children, textbooks, and educational practices in Japanese primary schools," stated that the city's location in proximity to both Osaka City and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

contributed to its population growth of ten times its previous size from around 1973 to 2013.Aoki, Eriko. "Korean children, textbooks, and educational practices in Japanese primary schools" (Chapter 8). In: Ryang, Sonia. '' Koreans in Japan: Critical Voices from the Margin'' (Routledge Studies in Asia's Transformations).

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

, October 8, 2013. , 9781136353055. Start: p
157
CITED: p
169170

Ethnic Koreans

As of 2013 the city has about 2,000

ethnic Koreans The Korean diaspora (South Korea: or , North Korea: or ) consists of around 7.3 million people, both descendants of early emigrants from the Korean Peninsula, as well as more recent emigres from Korea. Around 84.5% of overseas Koreans live ...

. Most Hirakata Koreans,Aoki, Eriko. "Korean children, textbooks, and educational practices in Japanese primary schools" (Chapter 8). In: Ryang, Sonia. ''Koreans in Japan: Critical Voices from the Margin'' (Routledge Studies in Asia's Transformations).

, October 8, 2013. , 9781136353055. Start: p
157
CITED: p
170
including children of school age, use Japanese names.Aoki, Eriko. "Korean children, textbooks, and educational practices in Japanese primary schools" (Chapter 8). In: Ryang, Sonia. ''Koreans in Japan: Critical Voices from the Margin'' (Routledge Studies in Asia's Transformations).

, October 8, 2013. , 9781136353055. Start: p
171
Many Koreans in Hirakata operate their own businesses. Hirakata has the "mother's society" or "Omoni no Kai", a voluntary association of ethnic Korean mothers. It also has branches of the

Chongryon The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan,
" ''

and

Mindan Mindan ( ko, 민단), or the Korean Residents Union in Japan (), is one of two main organizations for Koreans living in Japan, the other being Chongryon. Mindan has ties to South Korea and was established in 1946 in Tokyo, Japan. Currently, a ...

, Japan's two major Korean associations. Hirakata has no particular Korean neighborhoods. There were about 3,000 ethnic Koreans in Hirakata in the pre-

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

period. In the 1930s Hirakata Koreans, fearful of keeping their own jobs, had negative attitudes towards Osaka-based Koreans who were looking for employment after having lost their jobs. Military construction was the most common job sector of that era's Korean population. Eriko Aoki stated that in 2013 there was still a sense of difference between the Koreans in Hirakata and the Koreans in Osaka.

History

The area of the modern city of Hirakata was within ancient

Kawachi Province was a province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as . Geography The area was radically different in the past, with Kawac ...

. The place name of "Hirakata" is very old, appearing in the ''

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 ...

'', '' Nihon Shoki'' and other ancient texts. During the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after ...

, the early Buddhist temple of Kudara-dera indicates the settlement of many immigrants from

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder J ...

in the

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

from an early time. During 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 Japan ...

, the hills from Katano to part of Hirakata were called "Katano ga Hara" and were a hunting ground for the imperial family and were famous for cherry blossoms. The Osaka Kaidō, an extension of the Tōkaidō highway passed through the area, and in 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 character ...

Hirakata-juku developed as a post station on the highway and a river port on the Yodo River. The Hirakata Town was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Hirakata was elevated to city status on August 1, 1947. On April 1, 2001, Hirakata was designated as a special city of Japan. On April 1, 2014, Hirakata became a Core city with increased local autonomy.

Government

Hirakata 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 multi ...

city council of 32 members. Hirakata, together with neighboring Katano, contributes four members to the Osaka Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Osaka 11th district 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 paral ...

Mayors

* Sōichirō Terashima (in office 1947 – 1955, 1959 – 1967) former mayor of Hirakata-chō * Harufumi Hatakeyama (1955–1959) * Tomizō Yamamura (1967–1975) * Kazuo Kitamaki (1975–1991) * Kazuo Ōshio (1991–1995) * Hiroshi Nakatsuka (1995–2007) * Osamu Takeuchi (2007–2015) * Takashi Fushimi (2015–present)

Economy

Hirakata's modern industry began with the munitions industry supplying to 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 Emper ...

and numerous civilian textile and clothing manufacturers. In the post-war era, the former munitions plants were transformed into

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

s, or public housing complexes to support Hirakata's growth as a

commuter town 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 ...

for Osaka and Kyoto. Textile and clothing production remain major industries in Hirakata.

Companies with offices in Hirakata

* Komatsu Osaka plant * Sanyo Electric Co R&D

Education

Colleges and universities

Kansai Gaidai University , almost always abbreviated ''Kansai Gaidai'' (関西外大), is located in Hirakata, Osaka, Japan. It is a private university focusing on foreign language studies. Kansai is the proper name of the large region where it is located, which include ...

* Osaka Dental University * Kansai Medical University * Setsunan University * Osaka International University * Osaka Institute of Technology *National Tax College

Primary and secondary education

Hirakata has 45 public elementary schools and 19 public middle schools operated by the city government and six public high schools operated by the Osaka Prefectural Department of Education, and one by Osaka City. There is also one private elementary school, two private middle schools and three private high schools. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. Prefectural senior high schools * * * * * * Municipal high schools * – In Hirakata Private senior high schools: * * *

Transportation

Railway

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and i ...

– Katamachi Line (Gakkentoshi Line) * - - Keihan railway logo

Keihan Electric Railway - Keihan Main Line * - - - - - Keihan railway logo

Keihan Electric Railway - Katano Line * - - -

Highway

Second Keihan Highway The , also called as Daini-Keihan Road, is a national highway and 6-laned Regional High-Standard Highways ( expressway) in Japan, leading from Fushimi-ku, Kyoto through Kansai Science City to Kadoma, Osaka. This road is a bypass of Japan National ...

* Daini Keihan Road (toll road) * * *

Sister city and friendship city relations

* Shimanto, Kōchi, Japan – Friendship city agreement concluded in 1974 (with former Nakamura city) *

Betsukai, Hokkaidō is a town located in Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkaido, 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 o ...

, Japan – Friendship city agreement concluded in 1987 *

Takamatsu, Kagawa 270px, Takamatsu City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Takamatsu city center 270px, View from Yashima to Takashima port is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 414,134 in 190120 households and a popu ...

, Japan – Friendship city agreement concluded in 1987 (with former Shionoe town) *

Changning District () is a district of Shanghai. It has a land area of and had a population of 620,000 . The district government is located at 1320 Yuyuan Rd. Zhongshan Park is located in the district. Economy Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport is located ...

, Shanghai, China – Sister city agreement concluded in 1987 * Logan City, Queensland, Australia – Sister city agreement concluded in 1995

Local attractions

* Hirakata Park, an amusement park which includes roller coasters made of wood."Hirakta Park" at Osaka-info.jp
; retrieved August 28, 2013. * Kudara-dera ruins * Kinyakurumazuka Kofun * Kuzuha Battery Site

Notable people from Hirakata

* Hikaru Nakamura,

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

chess player This list of chess players includes people who are primarily known as chess players and have an article on the English Wikipedia. A * Jacob Aagaard (Denmark, Scotland, born 1973) * Manuel Aaron (India, born 1935) * Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan, ...

* Janne Da Arc, Japanese

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Some ...

rock band * Iori Kogawa, Japanese

AV Idol An or is a type of pornographic film actress in Japan. It is a sub-category of the idol culture in Japanese pop entertainment. AV idols work in the pornographic business, often both as an actress as well as a model as the video performances ...

Koichiro Yoshinaga is a Japanese former Nippon Professional Baseball catcher/infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two ...

, Japanese former

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the cat ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

* Airi Shimizu, Japanese gravure idol, actress and variety ''

tarento Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in America were described as " ...

'' *

Yuji Naka , credited in some games as YU2, is a Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer. He is the former head of the Sega studio Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series on the Sega Mega ...

, Japanese video game programmer,

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

, and producer who made

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers m ...

* Satoshi Hashimoto, Japanese actor and

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...

Nobukazu Takemura Nobukazu Takemura (竹村延和 ''Takemura Nobukazu'') is a Japanese musician and artist. Born in Hirakata, Osaka in August 1968, he became interested in music at a young age by listening to the radio, and began to make music at home with a ta ...

, Japanese musician and artist * Haruto Shirai, Japanese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player * Kenji Honnami, former Japanese

player * Yuki Kuniyoshi, professional Japanese

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

* Junichi Okada, singer, actor and member of popular Japanese boy band V6 *

Katsuhisa Inamori is a former Japanese footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rule ...

, former Japanese

player * Midori,

violinist and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

ian *

Kenji Moriwaki is a Japanese comedian and radio personality. Moriwaki is represented with Shochiku Geino. He graduated from Hirakata Municipal Tonoyama First Elementary School, Hirakata Municipal First Junior High School, Rakuminami High School, and Momoyama G ...

, Japanese comedian and radio personality * Masahito Noto, Japanese

player *

Hirofumi Mukai is a Japanese professional boxer. He was a 2 times world title challenger. Professional career Mukai challenged Pongsaklek Wonjongkam with the WBC Flyweight title on the line on December 23, 2011, but the fight ended in a first round techni ...

, Japanese

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

* Yohei Takeda, Japanese

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

* Hisaya Morishige, Japanese actor and

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audienc ...

* Yuji Hino, Japanese professional wrestler * Yuka Ishii, Japanese writer * Takayuki Fukumura, Japanese

* Yoshimitsu Takashima,

Japanese politician Politics of Japan are conducted in a framework of a dominant-party bicameral parliamentary constitutional monarchy, in which the Emperor is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government and the head of the Cabinet, which ...

of the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic ...

, a member of the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or ...

in the Diet (national legislature)

References

External links

Hirakata City official website

www.city.hirakata.osaka.jp.e.cu.hp.transer.com
{{Authority control Cities in Osaka Prefecture