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 ...

located in

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 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 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 42,494 in 18242 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 72 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kasai is located almost in the center of the Harima Plain, with forests in the north and low mountains in the south. The city measures approximately 12.4 kilometers east–west, and 19.8 kilometers north–south. The main rivers that flow here are the Manganji River, which is one of the tributaries of the Kako River, and the Fukkoji River, which is a tributary of the Manganji River.

Neighbouring municipalities

Hyōgo Prefecture * Fukusaki * Himeji * Ichikawa * Kakogawa * Katō * Nishiwaki * Ono * Taka

Climate

Kasai 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 ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kasai is 14.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1606 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.5 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kasai population statistics
/ref> the population of Kasai has remained relatively steady over the past 70 years.

History

The area of the modern city of Kasai was within ancient Harima Province. In 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 ...

, it was mostly '' tenryō'' territory administered directly by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

with a small portion of the area under the control of Himeji Domain. The village of Hōjō was established within Kasai District with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Hōjō was elevated to town status on January 15, 1955. On April 1, 1967 Hōjō merged with the neighboring towns of Izumi and Kasai to form the city of Kasai.

Government

Kasai has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 15 members. Kasai contributes one member to the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Hyōgo 4th 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

The economy of Kasai is centered around agriculture.

Education

Kasai has 11 public elementary schools and four public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high school operated by the Hyōgo Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

Hōjō Railway Company – Hōjō Line * - - - - - -

Highway

Chūgoku Expressway *

Public transport

Kasai is highly dependent on private vehicles as the main form of transportation. Public transport is an inter-prefecture highway bus, inter-city bus (Shinki bus), KIX airport limousine bus (Hakuro bus), domestic-bus (Kasai city community bus, Happy bus) and Taxi.

Sister cities

* Pullman, Washington,

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Local attractions

* Ichijō-ji, the temple's pagoda, completed in 1171, is a National Treasure of Japan *Hyōgo Prefectural Flower Center *Maruyama Park, where one can find the world's largest globe clock (Guinness certified) and reputedly the world's longest roller slide *Rakan-ji, famous for its Gohyaku-Rakan statues (the 500 disciples of Buddha) *

Tamaoka Kofun Cluster The is a group of seven ''kofun'' burial mounds located in the Shinya, Tamaoka and Tamano neighborhoods of the city of Kasai, Hyōgo, Kaisai, Hyōgo Prefecture, in the Kansai region of Japan. The Tamaoka Kofun was individually designated a Natio ...

, National Historic Site

Noted people from Kasai

* Kiichi Inoue, politician * Shiro Miya, musician

References

External links

*
Kasai City official website
* Cities in Hyōgo Prefecture Kasai, Hyōgo {{Hyogo-geo-stub