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 63,190 in 26,204 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 1800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The name of the city comes from the word for "white" in Japanese,

Geography

Shiroi is located in northwestern Chiba Prefecture, with an elevation of 20 to 30 meters above sea level. It is approximately equidistant from central

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

(25 kilometers) and the prefectural capital at Chiba. The city is bordered by Lake Tega to the north.

Neighboring municipalities

Chiba Prefecture *

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 ...

* Inzai * Kamagaya * Kashiwa * Yachiyo

Climate

Shiroi 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 Shiroi is 14.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1371 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.2 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shiroi has recently plateaued after several decades of strong growth.

History

Shiroi Village was created within Inba District, Chiba Prefecture on April 1, 1885 with the early

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 ...

establishment of the modern municipalities system. From shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

until the early 1960s Shiroi was the site of a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Base (Shiroi AFB APO73). Shiroi was elevated to town status on September 1, 1964. As the Japanese economy grew in the 1970s, many people moved from the country to the cities, and the growth of Tokyo sent many residents out to suburbs in the Kantō countryside. Shiroi's real growth began during this period: its rail connection to Chiba city was completed in 1979, and it was linked directly to the Tokyo railway network in 1991. Shiroi was elevated to city status on April 1, 2001.

Government

Shiroi 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 21 members. Shiroi contributes one member to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Chiba 13th 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

Shiroi 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. During the Meiji period, Shiroi became a fruit-growing area. Local farmers planted

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry (botany), berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, ...

and grapes, but the most famous of Shiroi's fruits turned out to be nashi pears. In the springtime, the pear trees still bloom alongside the

sakura The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...

Education

Shiroi has nine public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

22px Hokusō Railway Company -

Hokusō Line The is a commuter rail line operated by the third-sector Hokusō Railway (controlled by the Keisei Electric Railway) in Japan. It runs between Keisei-Takasago Station in Katsushika, Tokyo and Imba Nihon-idai Station in Inzai, Chiba. It is p ...

* -

Highway

* *

Sister cities

Shire of Campaspe The Shire of Campaspe is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of and in August 2021 had a population of 38,735. It includes the towns of Girgarre, Echuca, Kyabram, Roc ...

, Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Local attractions

* Lake Tega

Noted people from Shiroi

* Akihiro Hyodo- professional soccer player

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Chiba Prefecture