260px, Chiba Prefectural Boso no Mura museum (townscape of merchant houses) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

located in

Chiba Prefecture is a 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 Prefecture to the n ...

, Japan. , the town had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...

of 20,325 in 9138 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

of 630 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Sakae is located in the northern center of Chiba prefecture, about 30 kilometers from the prefectural capital at Chiba, and about 45 to 55 kilometers from the center of Tokyo. The town is within the

Kanto Plain Kantō (Japanese) Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain * Kantō region *Kantō-kai, organized crime group *Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ...

, and the northwestern and southern parts of the town are flat with

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre ...

s. The eastern plateau is 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 ...

, with many forests and fields. 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) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the Kant ...

flows to the north of the town.

Neighboring municipalities

Chiba Prefecture * Narita *

Inzai 260px, Inzai City Hall is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 105,463 in 42,388 households and a population density of 850 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Inzai is lo ...

* Tone * Kawachi

Climate

Sakae has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Sakae is 14.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1382 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.1 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Sakae population statistics
/ref> the population of Sakae more than doubled between 1980 and 1990 before peaking around the year 2000 and going into decline.

History

Sakae village was founded on April 1, 1889 through the merger of seven small hamlets in Shimohabu District with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. On the same day, Fukama Village in Inba District was founded through the merger of 15 small hamlets. On December 28, 1892, Sakae Village was promoted to town status and renamed Ajiki Town. On April 1, 1897, Shimohabu District was abolished, and Ajiki Town became part of Inba District. On December 1, 1955, the town of Ajiki and the village of Fukama merged to form the new town of Sakae. In a border of adjustment on January 1, 1956, Sakae annexed a portion of neighboring

Kawachi, Ibaraki 260px, Joso Bridge across the Tone River at Kawachi is a town located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 8,298 in 2986 households and a population density of 183 persons per km². The percentage of the popula ...

to gain its current borders.

Government

Sakae 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, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

town council of 14 members. Sakai, together with neighboring Inzai contributes two members to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Chiba 13th district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called Parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional ...

of the lower house of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

Economy

Sakae is a regional commercial center with light manufacturing, primarily related to the

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...

industries.

Education

Sakae has four public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is 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 ar ...

–

Narita Line The Narita Line ( ja, 成田線, ) is the name for a combination of three railway lines located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The main line connects Sakura Station and Matsugishi Station (as ...

Highway

Local attractions

*Ryukaku-ji - Buddhist temple founded in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara, Nara, Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remai ...

, containing numerous Kofun period burial mounds

Notable people from Sakae

Masafumi Togano is a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player. He is currently with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan's Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. Th ...

, professional baseball player

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Chiba Prefecture Sakae, Chiba