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

Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

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 81,836 in 34,883 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 187 persons per km². The total area of the city was .

Geography

Kashiwazaki is located in a coastal region of south-central Niigata Prefecture. Part of the city is within the borders of the Sado-Yahiko-Yoneyama Quasi-National Park. The highest elevation is the summit of Mount Gozu at 912 meters.

Surrounding municipalities

** Izumozaki ** Jōetsu ** Kariwa ** Nagaoka ** Tōkamachi

Climate

Kashiwazaki has a Humid climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kashiwazaki is . The average annual rainfall is with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in February, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kashiwazaki has been declining for the past 30 years.

History

The area of present-day Kashiwazaki was part of ancient

Echigo Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen Province, Uzen, Iwashiro Province, Iwashiro, Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Shinano Province, Shinano, and Etchū Province, ...

and developed as a post station on the Hokuriku-dō highway. Under 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 ...

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 ...

Japan, parts of what is now Kashiwazaki were under the control of Shiiya Domain, a minor '' fudai'' feudal domain ruled by a junior branch of the Hori clan, while other parts were ''

tenryō 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 war ...

'' territory under direct control of the shogunate, or were exclaves of Kuwana Domain (Ise Province), Kaminoyama Domain (Mutsu Province), Nagaoka Domain (Echigo Province) or Yoita Domain (Echigo Province). Pre-modern Kashiwazaki was located within the holdings of Kuwana Domain. The modern town of Kashiwazaki was established on April 1, 1889, within Kariwa District, Niigata with the establishment of the municipalities system. During 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 discovery of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

in the area led to an economic boom and increase in population. Kashiwazaki was elevated to city status on 1 July 1940. (It was the fifth city created within

). On November 1, 1968, Kashiwaza absorbed the village of Kurohime, followed by the town of Kitajō on May 1, 1971 (both from Kariwa District). The city annexed part of the town of Kakizaki (from Nakakubiki District) on April 1, 1989 and the towns of Nishiyama and Takayanagi (both from Kariwa District) on May 1, 2005.

2007 earthquake

On July 16, 2007, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit off the coast of Kashiwazaki, killing 11 people, and injuring more than 700, causing massive power outages, a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

warning, and other disasters. The quake forced the

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant The is a large, modern (housing the world's first advanced boiling water reactor or ABWR) nuclear power plant on a site.TEPCO Official Press Release (Japanese)First in Japan – Use of the Full Area for Power Plant Buildings, Reinforced Concr ...

to shut down for 10 months as of May 2008.

Government

Kashiwazaki 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 legislature of 26 members. The city contributes two members to the Niigata Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Niigata 2nd 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

Kashiwazaki has traditionally been a center for

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

, machinery, glassware and lumber processing. The city is home to the

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant The is a large, modern (housing the world's first advanced boiling water reactor or ABWR) nuclear power plant on a site.TEPCO Official Press Release (Japanese)First in Japan – Use of the Full Area for Power Plant Buildings, Reinforced Concr ...

, the largest nuclear generating station in the world by net

electrical power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...

rating. Bourbon, a major confectionery company in Japan, is headquartered in Kashiwazaki.

Education

Colleges and universities

* Niigata Institute of Technology * Niigata Sangyo University

Primary and secondary education

Kashiwazaki has 27 public elementary schools and 12 public middle schools operated by the city. There are five public high schools operated by the Niigata Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

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 ...

- Echigo Line * - - - - - - -

Shin'etsu Main Line The is a railway line, consisting of three geographically separated sections, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It was originally one continuous line connecting and via . Since the opening and later extension of ...

* - - - - - - - - -

Highway

Hokuriku Expressway – Yoneyama IC, Kashiwazaki IC, Nishiyama IC * * * * * * *

Sister cities

* Emeishan City,

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, China, friendship city since August 2, 1994

Local attractions

* Shimoyachi Site, a National Historic Site. * Kashiwazaki is host to many cultural events every year, including the ''Kaze no Jin'' festival in May, ''En Ma Ichi'' in June, ''DonGALA'' in July, and ''Gion'', also in July.

Notable people from Kashiwazaki

* Ikuo Hirayama, former governor of Niigata Prefecture * Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, first president of Sōka Gakkai * Mihiro, singer and actress * Makoto Ogawa, singer (former member of

Morning Musume , formerly and commonly known as and colloquially referred to as , is a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon, Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most to ...

) * Ikue Ōtani, actress * Daisuke Sakaguchi, voice actor * Motoei Shinzawa, manga artist * Kakuei Tanaka, politician and the 64th and 65th

Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Force ...

* Makiko Tanaka, politician * Hiroki Yagami, manga artist *

Akiko Yajima is a Japanese voice actress from Kashiwazaki, Niigata. Her best-known role is as the title character Shinnosuke Nohara in the long-running anime series '' Crayon Shin-chan''. She also voices Mipple in the original '' Futari wa Pretty Cure' ...

, voice actress

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Niigata Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan