260px, Kasumigaura Bridge 260px, Kasumigaura History Museum 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

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 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 40,254 in 15,839 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 257 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 32.0%. The total area of the city is . . The city takes its name from the nearby lake,

Lake Kasumigaura is the second-largest lake in Japan, located 60 km to the north-east of Tokyo. In a narrower sense and officially, Lake Kasumigaura refers to a waterbody with an area of 167.63 km2. In a wider sense, Lake Kasumigaura can also refer ...

. The city has the distinction of having the longest name in Japan (in terms of the number of characters used), together with Ichikikushikino,

Kagoshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...

and Tsukubamirai. Much of the city is within the borders of the Suigō-Tsukuba Quasi-National Park.

Geography

Kasumigaura is located in central Ibaraki Prefecture, on a peninsula bordered by Lake Kasumigaura on two sides to the southeast and southwest. It is approximately 60 kilometers to the northeast of Tokyo.

Surrounding municipalities

Ibaraki Prefecture * Ishioka * Tsuchiura

Climate

Kasumigaura 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 cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kasumigaura is 13.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1311 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.7 °C.

Demographics

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

History

The village of Dejima was established within Niihari District on February 11, 1955 through the merger of the villages of Shimootsu, Minami, Ushiwata, Saga, Anshoku and Shishiko. It was elevated to town status on April 1, 1997 and was renamed Kasumigaura. The town of Kasumigaura merged with the neighboring town of Chiyoda on March 28, 2005, becoming the city of Kasumigaura.

Government

Kasumigaura 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 16 members. Kasumigaura contributes one member to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Ibaraki 6th 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

Kasumigaura has primarily an agricultural economy, with

lotus root ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as the pink lotus, sacred lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more of ...

s, and various fruits as the major cash crops. Aquaculture on Lake Kasumigaura also plays a role.

Education

Kasumigaura has eight public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government. The city does have a public high school, but it has one private combined elementary/middle school and one private high school.

Transportation

Railway

*Kasumigaura does not have any passenger railway service. The nearest train 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 ...

Jōban Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line officially begins at Nippori Station in Arakawa, Tokyo before the line officially ends at Iwanuma Station in Iwanuma, Miyagi. However, following ...

in neighboring Tsuchiura.

Highway

* – Chiyoda-Ishioka Interchange * *

Local attractions

Notable people from Kasumigaura

* Katsuhiko Saka, professional baseball player

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Ibaraki Prefecture