260px, Nakanoshima Park is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the town 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 8,162 in 2987 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 353 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 34.7%. The total area of the city is .

Geography

Goka is located in the flatlands in the very western portion of Ibaraki Prefecture, bordered by Saitama Prefecture to the west and south, Chiba Prefecture to the east. The

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano River) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the ...

, along with the

Edo River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It splits from the Tone River at the northernmost tip of Noda City in the Sekiyado district, crosses through Nagareyama and Matsudo, and empties into Tokyo Bay at Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. The E ...

and Naka River pass through the town. Goka is approximately 50 kilometers from central Tokyo.

Rivers

* Naka River *Gongendo River(Lake Miyuki) *Fuyugi-otoshi River *Goka-otoshi River

Place names

*Motokurihashi *Kawatsuma *Kotesashi *Shinkōya *Kofukuda *Ōfukuda *Sanno-yama *Sanno *Egawa *Kōshu *Goka-mirai *Fuyugi *Maebayashi *Shaka *Harajukudai

Neighboring municipalities

Chiba Prefecture * Noda Ibaraki Prefecture * Koga *

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its '' kofun'', keyhole-shaped burial mounds dating from the fifth century. The ''kofun ...

Saitama Prefecture * Kuki * Satte

Climate

Goka has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Goka is 14.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1326 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Goka population statistics
/ref> the population of Goka peaked around the year 2000 and has declined since.

History

The area of present-day Goka was part of

Shimōsa Province was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture as well as the bordering parts of Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo (the parts that used to be located east of the lower reaches of the old Tone River prior to the ...

and was transferred to Ibaraki Prefecture in 1875 after the start of the

Meiji period The was 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 colonizatio ...

. The area was organized into the village of Goka within Nishikatsushika District, Ibaraki with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on 1 April 1889. The district was abolished in 1896, becoming part of Sashima District. Goka was raised to town status on 1 June 1996.

Government

Goka 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 ...

town council of 10 members. Goka, together with neighboring Bandō and Sakai, contributes two members to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Ibaraki 7th 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 ...

Economy

Industrial park

*Doyobu, Kawatsuma, Egawa, Ōsaki, Ondashi and Goka IC industrial park

Company office and plant

*KATO WORKS Company Limited, Ibaraki plant *Kewpie Corporation, Goka plant *KIKKOMAN SoyFoods Company, Ibaraki plant *Kyodo Printing Company Limited, Goka plant *SHINCHOSHA Publishing Company Limited, Goka Office *Yakult Honsha Company Limited, Ibaraki plant

Public institutions

Education

Goka has one public elementary school and one public middle school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school. *Goka-nishi elementary school *Goka-higashi elementary school *Goka junior high school

Public facilities

*Goka town hall *Goka post office *Goka Harajukudai post office *Goka town B&G Marine center *Environmental purification center *Kawatsuma water purification plant

Fire department

*Koga fire department(Koga-city) **Goka branch

Police department

*Ibaraki prefectural police, Sakai police station(Sakai-town) **Motokurihashi police box **Kofukuda police box

Transportation

Railway

Goka does not have any passenger railway service. The near station is on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

's Utsunomiya Line( Tohoku Main Line) and or on the Tōbu Nikkō Line.
Tohoku Shinkansen pass through northern part of the town.

Expressway

* – Goka Interchange

Highway

* ** Roadside station Goka (government-designated rest area)

Prefectural road

*Prefecture Route 267 *Prefecture Route 268

Bus

*Route Bus(operated by Asahi bus) **Goka town hall - Tatsudō - Satte station *Community transportation "Gokarin-go" (operated by Asahi bus, operation route depending on the time of day except Sunday and holidays) **

Minami-kurihashi station is a railway station located in the city of Kuki, Saitama, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Tōbu Railway. The station is numbered "TN-03". Lines Minami-Kurihashi Station is served by the Tōbu Nikkō Line, and is 10.4 km ...

- Saiseikai Kurihashi Hospital - Goka town hall - Goka Egawa-honson (Morning and evening time route) **Beisia Supermarket Kurihashi Store - Minami-kurihashi station - Saiseikai Kurihashi Hospital - Goka town hall - Motokurihashi-ikenari - Dōmu Park - Tatsudō - Roadside station Goka - Goka Egawa-honson(Daytime route)

Local attractions

*Kurihashi castle ruins *Tōshōji temple *Ana-yakushi ancient tomb *Fuyugi A・B shellmound *Nakanoshima Park *Dōmu Park *Roadside station Goka *Information and disaster station Goka

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Ibaraki Prefecture