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

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 town 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 7,122 in 3030 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 160 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Shibayama is located in northeastern Chiba Prefecture, about 30 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 50 to 60 kilometers from the center of Tokyo. The town is a hilly area, located almost in the center of the

Shimōsa Plateau The is a plateau on the Kantō Plain in central Honshu, Japan. The plateau covers most of northern Chiba Prefecture. The plateau was historically richly agricultural, but in the 20th century the western and central Shimōsa Plateau became one of ...

Narita International Airport Narita International Airport ( ja, 成田国際空港, Narita Kokusai Kūkō) , also known as Tokyo-Narita, formerly and originally known as , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Haneda Airport ...

is located to the north of the town on the border between Shibayama and Narita. Most airport service facilities are located on the Narita side: however, Shibayama has developed a local industrial base due to the airport's presence, and hosts three major industrial areas. The remainder of the town is agricultural, and much of it is covered with

rice paddies A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Aust ...

and areas of vegetable production. As it lies directly beneath one of the main approach paths to the airport,

noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is main ...

and

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

issues have caused it to be a center of anti-airport activism.

Surrounding Municipalities

Chiba Prefecture * Narita *

Tomisato file:Gas holder tomisato.JPG, 260px, Chiba Gas LNG storage tank in Tomisato is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 49,914 in 23,753 households and a population density of 930 perso ...

* Sanmu * Yokoshibahikari * Tako

Climate

Shibayama 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 Shibayama is 14.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1517 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.7 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shibayama has decreased since its peak in the 1950s.

History

Shibayama Town was established on July 1, 1955 by the merger of the villages of Chiyoda and Nikawa.

Government

Shibayama 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 ...

town council of 12 members. Shibayama, together with neighboring Sanmu and the other municipalities of Sanmu District collectively contributes two members to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Chiba 11th district Chiba 11th district (千葉県第11区, ''Chiba-ken dai-jūikku'' or simply 千葉11区, ''Chiba-jūikku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan. It is located in the eastern portion of Chi ...

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

In 2007

Nippon Cargo Airlines , or NCA, is a cargo airline with its head office on the property of Narita International Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, outside Tokyo. It operates scheduled cargo services in Asia and to Europe and North America. Its main base is Narita ...

signed an order with

Taisei Corporation is a Japanese corporation founded in 1873. Its main areas of business are building construction, civil engineering, and real estate development. Taisei's headquarters are located at Shinjuku Center Building in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Ta ...

for the construction of a crew training center. Construction on the crew center, located in Shibayama, was to begin in September 2007. The company scheduled for the facility to become operational in September 2008.Accelerated progress toward independent operations "Order placed for construction of a crew training center and an engineering & maintenance hangar"
"
Archive
Nippon Cargo Airlines. Retrieved on February 20, 2012.

Education

Shibayama has one public elementary school and one public middle school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

* Shibayama Railway Company –

Shibayama Railway is a third-sector railway company in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It operates Japan's shortest independent railway line,� ...

Highway

* , which connects Sōsa, Chiba and

Funabashi, Chiba 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 pa ...

Local attractions

Haniwa of Shibayama

Haniwa The are terracotta clay figures that were made for ritual use and buried with the dead as funerary objects during the Kofun period (3rd to 6th centuries AD) of the history of Japan. ''Haniwa'' were created according to the ''wazumi'' technique, ...

'',

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

funerary objects of 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 ...

(250 – 538 AD) are designated a cultural symbol for Shibayama. The main north-south road in Shibayama, Prefectural Route 62, is designated "Haniwa Avenue" in the town, and is lined with large-scale reproductions of ''haniwa'' statues. The Haniwa come from the many

burial mounds A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a ...

located in Shibayama, primarily from the

Shibayama Kofungun Shibayama may refer to: *Shibayama, Chiba, a town in Japan * Shibayama Tsutomu, Japanese anime director *Shibayama Railway is a third-sector railway company in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It operates Japan's shortest independent railway line,

. Shibayama is home to the Shibayama Kofun Haniwa Museum, located in close proximity to the Shibayama Kofungun. The Shibayama Haniwa Festival is held annually on the second Sunday of November. Created in 1982, the festival is a day-long which centers on a procession of adults dressed as local Kofun-period rulers, and elementary and middle school children dressed as , a term that means "ancient people". The festival ends after dark with a bonfire at the Shibayama Kumano Shrine that symbolizes the funeral service of a local Kofun-period ruler.

Shibayama Niōson Temple

Kannonkyō-ji, a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

of the

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

sect, is popularly known in the town as the Shibayama Niōson Temple. It dates, by tradition, to 781 and contains a 3-tiered

pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

. The pagoda is designated a Chiba Prefectural Important Cultural Property. The temple also features a museum with displays of ''haniwa'' as well as Buddhist art and artifacts.

Notable people

Shirō Ishii Surgeon General was a Japanese microbiologist and army medical officer who served as the director of Unit 731, a biological warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army. Ishii led the development and application of biological weapons at Unit 73 ...

, Imperial Japanese Army biological warfare specialist and war criminal * Teiichi Suzuki, Imperial Japanese Army general and politician

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Chiba Prefecture Shibayama, Chiba