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

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

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 175,292 in 81,985 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 8400 persons per km². The total area of the city is

Geography

Narashino is located in far northwestern Chiba Prefecture, bordered by

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...

to the southwest, and the prefectural capital of Chiba to the east. It is approximately 20 to 30 kilometers from central Tokyo. The city is located on the

Shimōsa Plateau The is a plateau on the Kantō Plain in central Honshu, Japan. The plateau covers most of northern Chiba Prefecture. The plateau was historically richly agricultural, but in the 20th century the western and central Shimōsa Plateau became one of ...

and reclaimed land fill on Tokyo Bay, with a large difference in elevation from the inland area to the coastal area.

Surrounding municipalities

Chiba Prefecture * Chiba *

Funabashi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 644,668 in 309,238 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . It is the Greater Tokyo Area's 7th most populat ...

* Yachiyo

Climate

Narashino 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 Narashino is 15.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1410 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Narashino population statistics
/ref> the population of Narashino increased rapidly between 1950 and 1990 and has grown at a slower pace since.

History

The area around Narashino has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Archaeologists have found

shell midden A midden is an old landfill, dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bone, bones, feces, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, Lithic flake, lithics (especially debitage), and other Artifact (archaeology), ...

s and numerous other remains from

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

, as well as burial tumuli from the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

. However, for most of its history, the area was a sparsely populated wetland and swamp along the northern shore of Edo Bay. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, was founded within Chiba District on April 1, 1889 on the merger of five small hamlets with a total population of 4500 people. The area only began to develop with the coming of the railway, and Tsudanuma was raised to town status on March 3, 1903, with a population of 6000. The Narashino area of Tsudanuma was used for cavalry maneuvers by the

Imperial Guard An imperial guard or palace guard is a special group of troops (or a member thereof) of an empire, typically closely associated directly with the emperor and/or empress. Usually these troops embody a more elite status than other imperial force ...

and the early

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

, and was visited by the Meiji Emperor early in 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 ...

(1868 – 1912). A

prisoner of war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, ...

was built in 1904 to house

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

from the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

of 1904-1905 and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The Imperial Japanese Army Narashino School was the main training school for cavalry, and later for tank warfare. On August 1, 1954, Tsudanuma merged with a portion of the neighboring city of Chiba (the former town of Makuhari) to form the new city of Narashino.

Neighborhoods

* Akanehama * Akitsu * Fujisaki * Hanasaki * Higashi-Narashino * Izumicho * Kanadenomori * Kasumi * Mimomi * Moto-Okubo * Okubo * Saginuma * Saginumadai * Shibazono * Shin-ei * Sodegaura *

Tsudanuma is a district of Narashino, Narashino City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, consisting of 1-chōme to 7-chōme. The name “Tsudanuma” is also used to refer to the area around Tsudanuma Station ranging over Narashino and Funabashi, Chiba, Funabashi ci ...

* Yashiki * Yatsu * Yatsumachi

Government

Narashino 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. Narashino contributes two members to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Chiba 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

Narashino is a regional commercial center and a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for nearby Chiba and Tokyo, with 32,7% of the residents commuting to Tokyo per the 2010 census, and 11.7% to Funabashi and 10.5% to Chiba. The coastal area, mostly on

reclaimed land Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamatio ...

is part of the

Keiyō Industrial Zone , also known as the Keiyō Industrial Region, the Keiyō Industrial Area, or the Keiyō Industrial Belt, is an industrial region, industrial zone on the northeastern coast of Tokyo Bay that crosses 8 cities in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The zone sp ...

and is home to much heavy industry, especially related to chemical processing.

Transportation

Railways

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 ...

– Sōbu Main Line :

–

Keiyō Line The is a railway line connecting Tokyo and Chiba in Japan, paralleling the edge of Tokyo Bay. It is operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line forms part of what JR East refers to as the around Tokyo, consisting of the Ke ...

: -

Keisei Electric Railway The (stylized as K'SEI since 2001) is a major private railway in Chiba Prefecture and Tokyo, Japan. The name ''Keisei'' is the combination of the kanji 京 from and 成 from , which the railway's main line connects; the combination uses diffe ...

- Main Line : - - - Keisei Logo

- Chiba Line : Keisei Tsudanuma Keisei Logo

Keisei Electric Railway - Matsudo Line : Keisei Tsudanuma -

Highways

* * * *

Education

* Chiba Institute of Technology *Narashino has 16 public elementary schools and eight public middle schools operated by the city government, and four public high schools operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education.

Local attractions

*Akitsu Baseball Stadium *Chiba International General Swimming Center *

Frontier Soccer Field , known under current sponsorship as is a football stadium in Narashino, Chiba, 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 b ...

(naming rights from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2018), formerly known as Akitsu Soccer Stadium. * Ōnomatsu stable

Notable places

Yatsu-higata is a tidal flat in Narashino, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, 2 km from Tokyo Bay. Once a part of the largest tidal flats in Japan, much of the area has been Land reclamation, reclaimed. Forty hectares of wetland were designated a Ramsar Site i ...

(谷津干潟), a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

for

migratory birds Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and mortality. The ...

. The spring and summer months see an increase of jellyfish and small crabs to the wetlands. * Yatsu Rose Garden (谷津バラ園), a rose garden which displays over 6,000 individual blossoms in May and October. The garden was founded with Yatsu Yūen (谷津遊園), an

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

which was managed by Keisei Electric Railway and closed in 1982. When the park was closed, the city bought the garden, and has managed it since that time.

Sister cities

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

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 ...

Noted people from Narashino

Daiki Arioka is a Japanese singer, actor, tarento, and model as well as member of Hey! Say! JUMP. He is under the management of Johnny & Associates. Career On June 2, 2003, he joined Johnny & Associates as a trainee. As a Johnny's Jr., he was a member ...

, Hey! Say! JUMP * Kazuya Fukuura, professional baseball player for the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

(1994–present) * Kota Hattori, professional soccer player * Hideaki Kitajima,– professional soccer player for Kashiwa Reysol (1997-2002, 2006-2012) * Makoto Sunakawa, professional soccer player * Daichi Suzuki, swimmer, Olympic gold medalist in 100m backstroke at

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

* Masaaki Takada, professional soccer player * Hōō Umagorō, sumo wrestler

References

External links

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