is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in Sōraku District, Kyoto Prefecture,

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 town has a population of 36,198. The total area is . Seika, although largely agriculturally based, has in recent years become the center of a national project, the

Kansai Science City is an unincorporated city located in the , a border region between Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara Prefectures in Kansai region, Japan. The name is commonly shortened to or . The name Keihanna is constructed by extracting a representative kanji from Kyo ...

, and has been referred to as the "New Culture Capital" of Japan. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation ( NTT),

Matsushita Electric formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb s ...

Kyocera is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommuni ...

and many other companies have facilities in the town.

History

Archaeological records indicate that people have inhabited modern-day Seika since at least the

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...

. Seika is home to Inayazuma Castle, where part of the Yamashiro Riots of 1485 took place. The area around Seika has historically been considered a cultural corridor between the two ancient capitals of

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 ci ...

and

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

. The area that is now Seika was previously occupied by several agricultural villages. In 1931, the villages of Hōsono, Komada, and Inada merged to form the village of Kawanishi, which in turn merged with the village of Yamadashō to form the village of Seika. In 1955, the village of Seika was incorporated as the town of Seika. Beginning in the 1960s, Seika has experienced rapid growth as commuters to Kyoto, Osaka and Nara move into the town. The town's population tripled in the span of 35 years, growing from 10,929 people in 1970 to 34,236 people in 2005. According to the 2005 census, Seika is the fastest-growing municipality in Japan.

Geography

Seika is located at the southern tip of Kyoto Prefecture, bordered by the Kizu River to the east and the Keihanna Hills to the west. Due to its position adjacent to the Kizu River, the eastern part of Seika has rich, fertile land ideal for agricultural production. The hilly western and southern parts of Seika, by contrast, are largely residential.

Nature

Seika's largest peak is Dakeyama (嶽山), at 259.5 meters. It is located on the west side of Seika near the border of Kyotanabe city.

Neighborhoods

*Inuidani (乾谷) *Ueda (植田) *Kita-inayazuma (北稲八妻) *Sakuragaoka (桜が丘) *Zakuro (柘榴) *Shimokoma (下狛) *Sugai (菅井) *Seikadai (精華台) *Hikaridai (光台) *Higashibata (東畑) *Hishida (菱田) *Housono (祝園) *Housono-nishi (祝園西) *Minami-inayazuma (南稲八妻) *Yamada (山田)

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Seika has increased in recent decades.

Sightseeing and events

Seika is home to Keihanna Plaza, a large building in the Kansai Science City boasting an auditorium and other facilities, as well as a large

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

known for projecting lasers into the sky at night. Keihanna Commemorative Park, which includes a large botanical garden, can also be found in the town. Additionally, the Kansai branch of the Diet Library is located in Seika. Seika is home to several large festivals held annually. The Strawberry Hunt Festival is famous and has many visitors. Another well-known event is the Igomori Festival, which dates back to 770 A.D. and features a large, blazing torch being carried through the darkness of the night. Seika's main event is the Seika Festival, a large fair held every November featuring a large variety of different booths and performances, among other attractions. Several notable temples and shrines are located in Seika. These include Hosono Shrine, where the Igomori Festival takes place, and Raikoji Temple, where the protagonists of

Chikamatsu Monzaemon was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' has written that he is "widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatis ...

's play ''Love Suicides on the Eve of the Koshin Festival'' are buried.

Economy

Agriculture

While strawberries are Seika's most famous product, the town is also known for its shrimp taro and green chili peppers.

Industry

The presence of the Kansai Science City makes research and technology core components of Seika's economy. Currently the following companies have facilities in Seika:
Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute InternationalNTT West
*

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

*NICT

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

* Shimadzu Corp. *

Nidec is a Japanese manufacturer and distributor of electric motors. Their products are found in hard-disk drives, electric appliances, automobiles and commercial and manufacturing equipment. The company has the largest global market share for the ti ...

Locally Based Companies

In addition to the companies with facilities in Seika, companies headquartered in Seika include:
ActivelinkTakakoSilex

Government

The current mayor of Seika is Kaname Kimura. Seika has a town council composed of 21 members.

Transportation

Rail

Seika is served by two rail companies,

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 ...

and

Kintetsu ''Kintetsu'' is the abbreviation of , or Kintetsu Railway, a Japanese railway corporation. It may also refer to: Companies * Kintetsu Group Holdings, the holding corporation of the Kintetsu Railway ** Kintetsu Bus, a bus company and a subsidiary ...

. The JR Gakkentoshi Line connects Seika to Osaka, while

Kyoto Line provides service to Kyoto and, via connection to the

Nara Line The is a commuter rail line in the Osaka–Kobe–Kyoto metropolitan area, operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Its official termini are Kizu Station in Kizugawa and Kyōto Station in Kyoto, within Kyoto Prefecture; however ...

Yamato-Saidaiji Station is a railway station owned by Kintetsu Railway and located in Saidaiji Kunimichō Itchōme, a suburb of the city of Nara in Japan. The station is also called or . Lines *Kintetsu **Nara Line (A26) ** Kyoto Line, Kashihara Line (B26) Yamato-Sai ...

, to Nara and Osaka. The JR Rapid train and Kintetsu Express train stop at Seika's

Hōsono Station is a passenger railway station located in the town of Seika, Soraku District, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and there is a transfer at this station to the nearby Shin-Hōsono Station on Kint ...

and Shin-Hōsono Station, respectively. JR Shimokoma Station as well as the Kintetsu Komada and Yamadagawa stations are also located in Seika.

Bus

Seika is served by the Seika Kururin Bus and Nara Kōtsū Bus.

Roads

Seika is connected by the Zakuro and Yamadagawa Bypasses to National Route 163, which runs between Osaka and

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

. The Keinawa Expressway also connects to Seika via the Seika-Shimokoma, Seika-Gakken, and Yamadagawa Interchanges.

Education

Postsecondary

Kyoto Prefectural University , or for short, is one of the public universities in Japan. Its campus is located in Nakaragi-cho, Shimogamo, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Jap ...

, Seika Campus

Private and charter schools

* Kyoto Kōgakkan High School

Public schools

* Seikadai Elementary School * Higashihikari Elementary School * Yamadasho Elementary school * Kawanishi Elementary School * Seihoku Elementary School * Seika Junior High School * Seika Nishi Junior High School * Seika Minami Junior High School * Minamiyamashiro Special Education High School

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Seika is twinned with: *

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, United States, since 2005

Neighboring municipalities

* Kyoto Prefecture ** Kyōtanabe **

Kizugawa is a city located in southern Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is the southernmost city in the prefecture and it is named after the Kizu River, a tributary of the Yodo River, which runs through the city. Kizugawa City is a part of the Kansai Science ...

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama P ...

** Ikoma **

Notable people

Misato Watanabe is a Japanese pop singer. Discography Albums * ''Eyes'' (2 October 1985) * ''Lovin' you'' (2 July 1986) * ''Breath'' (15 July 1987) * ''Ribbon'' (28 May 1988) * ''Flower bed'' (1 July 1989) * ''Tokyo'' (7 July 1990) * ''Lucky (Misato Watanabe ...

Tsuyoshi Nishioka is a Japanese former professional baseball infielder. He played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Chiba Lotte Marines and Hanshin Tigers, as well as Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins. Nishioka played in the 2006 ...

References

External links

* *
Official website

Official Kyoto Across Cultures Blog
{{Authority control Towns in Kyoto Prefecture Kansai Science City