is a core city located in

Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the northeast. N ...

, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital,

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

. On 1 June 2019, 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 247,739 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 581 persons per km² (1,505 persons per square mile). The total area is . The city includes a part of

Saikai National Park is a marine national park located in Nagasaki prefecture of northwest Kyūshū, Japan. It consists of the coastal regions of Matsuura Peninsula, extending northward from the port city of Sasebo and encompasses the Kujūku Islands, with over 2 ...

. Located in the southern part of the city is the Dutch-styled

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

Huis Ten Bosch Huis ten Bosch ( nl, Paleis Huis ten Bosch, ; English: "House in the Woods") is a royal palace in The Hague, Netherlands. It is one of three official residences of the Dutch monarch; the two others being the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague a ...

''. The island of

Ukujima Ukujima (, also called Uku Island) is an island in the northernmost part of the Gotō archipelago, about 50 km west of the mainland of Kyushu, Japan. It is administratively part of Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture. The entire island lies wi ...

is also administered as part of Sasebo city.

History

The area of present-day Sasebo was a small fishing village under the control of nearby Hirado Domain until shortly 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 ...

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 ...

Admiral

Tōgō Heihachirō Marshal-Admiral Marquis , served as a '' gensui'' or admiral of the fleet in the Imperial Japanese Navy and became one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. He claimed descent from Samurai Shijo Kingo, and he was an integral part of preserving ...

, when surveying the coasts of northwestern Kyūshū for the site of a navy base, selected his location based on its protected, deep-water harbor, geographic proximity to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and

Korea 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 ...

, and the presence of nearby coal fields. Sasebo Naval District, founded in 1886, became the major port for the Japanese navy in its operations in the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the p ...

and

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, and remained a major naval base to the end 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Along with the base facilities, the navy also constructed the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, which included major shipyards and repair facilities. Sasebo City was founded on April 1, 1902. The city which had 206,000 inhabitants in 1945 suffered severe damage by

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

on June 29, 1945, during

. 48% of the city was destroyed. Sasebo was one of the original 17 targets selected for the dropping of the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

. After the end of the war, part of the base facilities were taken over by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, forming

U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo is a United States Navy base, in Sasebo, Japan, on the island of Kyūshū. It provides facilities for the logistic support of forward-deployed units and visiting operating forces of the United States Pacific Fleet a ...

. Some parts of the base are shared with the

Japan Self-Defense Forces The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, th ...

, in particular the

JMSDF , 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 (IJN) ...

, though the primary base of the JGSDF's Western Army Infantry Regiment is also among the facilities there.

Mergers

*On April 1, 2005, the towns of Sechibaru and Yoshii (both from Kitamatsuura District) were merged into Sasebo. *On March 31, 2006, the towns of Kosaza and Uku (both from Kitamatsuura District) were merged into Sasebo. *On March 31, 2010, the towns of Emukae and Shikamachi (both from Kitamatsuura District) were merged into Sasebo.

Economy

Shipbuilding and associated heavy industries continue to dominate the economy of Sasebo. Adjacent to the naval base is the Sasebo Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. shipyard. The Port of Sasebo has an active fishing fleet, and many oyster and pearl farms are located on the Kujū-ku Islands. The Mikawachi district has a 400-year-old pottery manufacturing industry.

Sasebo Station is the major railway station in the city of Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, in Japan. The Sasebo Line of the Kyushu Railway Company and the Nishi-Kyūshū Line of the Matsuura Railway provide local and regional service and connections to the extens ...

is the westernmost station in the JR passenger train system and is about two hours by train from

Hakata Station is a major railway station in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. It is the largest and busiest railway terminal in Kyushu, and is a gateway to other cities in Kyushu for travelers coming from Honshu by rail travel. The San'yō Shinkansen from Osaka end ...

in the city of

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

(via the Midori line) and about an hour and half from

Nagasaki Station is a railway station in Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It is the terminus of the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen and the Nagasaki Main Line. The station is connected by the ''Kamome'' Shinkan ...

in the city of

. Across the street from Sasebo Station is the Sasebo Bus Center, which provides connecting service to many local destinations.

Geography

Climate

The climate is similar to that of

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...

. Rainy season lasts from early June to mid-July, and the summer is hot and humid. During the winter, there may be light snowfall and some freezing. According to the

Japan Meteorological Agency The , abbreviated JMA, is an agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It is charged with gathering and providing results for the public in Japan that are obtained from data based on daily scientific observation an ...

(JMA), Sasebo 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 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, nota ...

''Cfa'') with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is somewhat lower in winter.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Sasebo in 2020 is 243,223 people. Sasebo has been conducting censuses since 1920.

Transportation

The nearest airport is

Nagasaki Airport is an international airport located west of the railway station in the city of Ōmura and north northeast of the Nagasaki railway station in the city of Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The airport terminal and runway 14/32 are on ...

in the city of

Ōmura Omura (小村) or Ōmura (大村) are Japanese surnames, but may also refer to: * Ōmura, Nagasaki, a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan * Omura's whale (''Balaenoptera omurai''), a species of rorqual about which very little is known People ...

. The Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) provides rail transportation on the Sasebo Line, whose terminal is at

. The daily Midori Express provides transportation to/from

. Bus service to the Fukuoka Airport is also available from the Sasebo Bus Center. Three national highways crisscross the city: Route 35,

204 __NOTOC__ Year 204 ( CCIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cilo and Flavius (or, less frequently, year 957 ''Ab urbe c ...

, and 498.

Mayors of Sasebo (from 1902)

Points of interest

* Hirado, to the north, was a foreign trade port and where William Adams is buried (

James Clavell James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was an Australian-born British (later naturalized American) writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best ...

based his novel ''

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 Kamaku ...

'' (1975) on Adams' life) * Huis Ten Bosch (theme park), inspired by a Dutch trading post in nearby Hirado *Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Museum * Kōzakihana, westernmost point on the island of Kyūshū * Kujū-ku Islands *, a large church which was built in a neogothic style in 1930, is the symbol of Sasebo. It is opposite the main railway station in Miura-cho district.Chris Taylor: ''Japan'', p. 632. Berlin 1998. Sasebo is the only Japanese city which uses the symbol of a Christian church as part of its seal/flag. * Saikai Pearl Sea Resort * Sasebo Zoological Park and Botanical Garden * Tenkaihō * Ureshino, to the south, has hot springs resorts

Cityscape

Sister city relations

Sasebo has sister-city relations with three places outside Japan and one within the country: *

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

, United States *

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia *

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong' ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

, China *

Kokonoe, Ōita is a small town located in Kusu District, Ōita Prefecture, Japan. It promotes its nine onsen, which are occasionally closed due to flooding; it is also the summer headquarters of Labo Camp Kujū, part of the LABO language program. Kokonoe co ...

References

External links

Sasebo City official website

Sasebo Tourist Information site

Sasebo, Japan, Photo Gallery

* {{Authority control Cities in Nagasaki Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan