260px, Akashi City Hall 260px, Akashi from Akashi Castle is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in southern

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

, Japan. , the city had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 305,925 in 137,288 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

of 6,200 people per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Akashi is located in southern Hyōgo prefecture, and is a long and narrow municipality along the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

. It is separated from Awaji Island by Harima Bay; however, the terminus of the

Akashi Kaikyō Bridge The is a suspension bridge that links the city of Kobe on the Japanese island of Honshu and on Awaji Island. It is part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, and crosses the busy and turbulent Akashi Strait (''Akashi Kaikyō'' in Japanese). ...

, which connects

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

to Awaji Island and to

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

, is not in Akashi but in Tarumi-ku, Kōbe. The 135th meridian east line that determines

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...

passes through the city.

Neighbouring municipalities

Hyōgo Prefecture * Inami * Harima * Kakogawa * Kōbe

Climate

Akashi has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfa'') with hot summers and cool to cold winters. Precipitation is significantly higher in summer than in winter, though on the whole lower than in most parts of Honshū, and there is no significant snowfall. The average annual temperature in Akashi is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Akashi was on 13 August 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 30 January 2003.

Demographics

History

Akashi is mentioned in a ''waka'' (five-line, 31-syllable poem) written by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro in the 7th century and it is the setting for one of the chapters of the 11th-century novel ''

The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian period, in the early 11th century. It is one of history's first novels, the first by a woman to have wo ...

''. It developed as the

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

of Akashi Domain during the

Edo Period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, from 1617 to 1871 due to its location dominating the San'yōdō highway connecting the Kinai region with western Japan. The famous swordsman

Miyamoto Musashi , was a Japanese swordsman, strategist, artist, and writer who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 62 duels. Miyamoto is considered a ''Kensei (honorary title), kensei'' (swo ...

is claimed to have laid out the design of the castle town. The town of Akashi was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to city status on November 1, 1919. The city annexed the neighboring villages of Hayashizaki on February 11, 1942 and Okubo, Uozumi and Futami on January 10, 1951 to reach its present dimensions. A proposal to merge with the city of Kobe was rejected by a referendum in 1955. The city suffered from the

Great Hanshin earthquake The Great Hanshin Earthquake (, ) occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region of Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum intensity of 7 o ...

of 1995 with 4,839 houses were completely or partially destroyed and nine fatalities. On July 21, 2001, 11 people were killed and 247 were injured during a

crowd crush Crowd collapses and crowd crushes are catastrophic incidents that can occur when a body of people becomes dangerously overcrowded. When numbers are up to about five people per square meter, the environment may feel cramped but manageable; when nu ...

after a fireworks show. Five city officials were subsequently convicted of negligence in connection with the incident. Akashi became a

Core city In urban planning, a historic core city or central city is the municipality with the largest 1940 population in the present metropolitan area (metropolitan statistical area). This term was retired by the US census bureau and replaced by the term ...

on April 1, 2018 with increased local autonomy.

Government

Akashi 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 consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

city council of 30 members. Akashi contributes four members to the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Hyōgo 9th district of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

. Akashi is governed by Mayor Fusaho Izumi, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Economy

Akashi is located within the Hanshin Industrial Area and Harima Seaside Industrial Area and has succeeded in attracting many companies to its Futami Seaside Industrial Park. the city has long been noted for aviation-related instrumentation manufacturers and electronic component manufacturers. Yamato Scale, a leading global manufacturer of commercial weighing and packaging equipment, is headquartered in the city. Due to its transportation connections and location, numerous bedroom communities have developed for commuters to Kobe and Osaka, which is estimated to exceed 30% of the working population. The city has also been noted since the Edo Period for its production of ''

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

''.

Education

Akashi has 28 public elementary schools, 13 public middle schools and one public high school operated by the city government and seven public high schools operated by the Hyōgo Prefectural Department of Education. There is also one national elementary school. The city also operates one special education school for the handicapped. The nursing school of University of Hyogo is located in Akashi. The city also has the National Institute of Technology Akashi College (NITAC( (). The city once had a North Korean school, and Akashi Junior College ().

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, ...

– San'yō Shinkansen *

– San'yō Main Line ( JR Kobe Line) * - - - - Sanyo electric railway logo-5

Sanyo Electric Railway - Main Line * - - - - - - - - - - -

Highways

Daini-Shinmei Road * (Kobe, Okayama, Hiroshima, Shimonoseki) * (Kobe, Tokushima) * (Maizuru) * (Kobe, Okayama) * (Maizuru) * (Nishiwaki, Asago)

Ferries

* Akashi Awaji Ferry and Awaji Jenova Line to Awaji Island

Sister cities

Akashi is twinned with: *

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California, United States, and the second largest city in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the ci ...

, United States, sister city since 1968 *

Wuxi Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...

, China, friendship city since 1981

Local attractions

* Akashi Castle, National Historic Site * Akashi Municipal Planetarium, which stands on the meridian of 135 degrees east longitude, which is used to determine

. * Akashi Park Stadium is a track and field stadium that can hold 20,000 spectators. * Kakinomoto Shrine *''Uonotana'' (Uo-no-Tana, , literally "fish-shelf"), a market where local fishermen display an array of fresh seafood caught in the Akashi Strait. File:Port of Akashi,明石港 DSCF1831.jpg, Port of Akashi File:山陽電鉄明石駅・明石天文台より俯瞰P9160007.jpg, Sanyo Akashi Station File:Port of Akashi,明石港地蔵のある路地 DSCF1956.jpg, Old town area File:Akashi-uontana,2010年末-魚の棚商店街 DSCF0215.JPG, Uontana File:Akashi Minicipal Planetarium.jpg, Akashi Municipal Planetarium

Culture

Akashi is known for ''

Akashiyaki is a small round dumpling from the city of Akashi, Hyōgo, Akashi in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The dumpling is made of an egg-rich Batter (cooking), batter and Octopus as food, octopus dipped into ''dashi'' (a thin fish broth) before eating. Mo ...

'', a kind of ''

takoyaki Takoyaki ( or ) is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter (cooking), batter and cooked in a special molded pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus as food, octopus (''tako''), tempura scraps (''tenkasu' ...

'' particular to the region. Small pieces of octopus (''tako'') are placed inside a ball-shaped mold containing a mixture of flour and eggs, and this is then fried. ''Akashiyaki'' is often eaten by dipping in a thin soup. People who live in Akashi call it ''"tamagoyaki"''(tamago, or , literally "egg").

Notable people from Akashi

* Yumi Kokamo, long-distance runner * Mami Kingetsu, voice actress * Airi Taira, actress * Yuma Nakakita, singer from Japanese Boy group &TEAM

References

External links

Akashi City official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akashi, Hyogo Cities in Hyōgo Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Port settlements in Japan