
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
Gunma Prefecture
is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...
,
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 372,369 in 167,345 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 810 persons per km
2. The total area of the city is . Takasaki is famous as the hometown of the
Daruma doll, theoretically representing the Buddhist sage
Bodhidharma and in modern practice a symbol of good luck. Takasaki has been the largest city in Gunma Prefecture since 1990 after overtaking
Maebashi.
Geography
Takasaki is located in the southwestern part of
Gunma Prefecture
is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...
in the flat northwestern part of the
Kantō Plain
The , in the Kantō region of central Honshu, is the largest plain in Japan. Its 17,000 km2 covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Tochigi Prefe ...
. The city is located approximately 90 to 100 kilometers from central Tokyo.
Mount Akagi,
Mount Haruna and
Mount Myogi can be seen from the city, and the southern slopes of Mount Haruna are within the city limits. 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 River) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the ...
, Karasu River and Usui River flow through the city. Although Takasaki is located over 100 kilometers from the coast, much of the city is low-lying, and the elevation of the city hall and central city area is only 97 meters above sea level. The land rises to the northern and western parts of the city to a maximum elevation of 1690 meters.
Surrounding municipalities
Gunma Prefecture
is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...
*
Annaka
*
Fujioka
*
Higashiagatsuma
*
Kanra
*
Maebashi
*
Naganohara
*
Shibukawa
*
Shintō
*
Tamamura
Nagano Prefecture
is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,007,682 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture ...
*
Karuizawa
Saitama Prefecture
is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...
*
Kamisato
Climate
Takasaki 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 ''Cwa'') characterized by warm summers and cold, windy winters (
karakkaze) with occasional snowfall. The average annual temperature in Takasaki is . The average annual rainfall is , with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .
Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Takasaki has recently plateaued after a long period of growth.
History
During the
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 ...
, the area of present-day Takasaki was the center of the
Takasaki Domain, a
feudal domain held by a branch of the
Matsudaira clan 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 ...
in
Kōzuke Province. The area also prospered from its location on the
Nakasendō highway connecting
Edo with
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
.
Post stations located within the borders of modern Takasaki were:
Shinmachi-shuku,
Kuragano-shuku, and
Takasaki-shuku.
Following 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 ...
, Takasaki was briefly capital of Gunma Prefecture, before the capital was moved to Maebashi in 1881.
Takasaki Town was created within
Gunma District, Gunma on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to city status on April 1, 1900. On April 1, 1927, Takasaki annexed the neighboring villages of Tsukasawa and Kataoka, followed by Sano on October 1, 1937. The city largely escaped damage in World War II. Following the war, it continued to expand its borders by annexing the village of Rokugo on April 1, 1951, Shintakao and Nakamura as well as Yawata and Toyooka from
Ushi District on January 20, 1955. This was followed by Orui village and Sano village from Tano District on September 30, 1956. The city celebrated its 360th anniversary in 1963 and annexed the town of Kuragano on March 31 of the same year. On September 1, 1965 the village of Gunnan was annexed.
In September 1987, five-year-old Yoshiaki Ogiwara, the son of a local firefighter, was abducted and subsequently murdered in Takasaki. The murder received heavy media coverage across Japan.
On April 1, 2001 Takasaki was proclaimed a
Special City (Tokurei-shi), which gave it greater autonomy.
On January 23, 2006, the towns of
Gunma,
Kurabuchi and
Misato (all from
Gunma District), and the town of
Shinmachi (from
Tano District) were merged into Takasaki. On October 1, 2006, the town of
Haruna (from
Gunma District) was merged into the expanded city of Takasaki. Gunma District was dissolved as a result of this merger. On June 1, 2009, the town of
Yoshii (from
Tano District) was merged into expanded city of Takasaki.
[Information at kokudo.or.jp](_blank)
Takasaki was elevated to a
Core city with even greater autonomy on April 1, 2011.
Government
Takasaki 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 38 members. Takasaki contributes nine members to the Gunma Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the
Gunma 4th district and
Gunma 5th 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 ...
.
Successive mayors
Source:Takasaki City
Economy
Takasaki is a regional commercial center and transportation hub, and is a major industrial center within Gunma Prefecture. Companies headquartered in Takasaki include
CUSCO Japan, an automotive parts manufacturer, and
Yamada Denki, a home appliance retailer.
Education
Universities and colleges
*
Gumma Paz College
*
Ikuei Junior College
*
Jobu University
*
Niijima Gakuen Junior College
*
Takasaki City University of Economics
*
Takasaki University of Commerce
*Takasaki University of Commerce Junior College
*
Takasaki University of Health and Welfare
*Takasaki University of Health and Welfare Junior College
Primary and secondary education
Takasaki has over sixty public elementary schools and 25 public middle schools operated by the city government and eight public high schools operated by the Gunma Prefecture Board of Education. In addition, the city operates one public high school and there are five private high schools. The prefecture also operates five special education schools for the handicapped.
English education
Takasaki developed its own unique English curriculum and implemented it at all of the primary and middle schools in the city.
Primary school students in 1st through 4th grades have English lessons (formally called 'foreign language activities') once a week, while 5th and 6th grades have proper English lessons twice a week. This totals 35 hours (only 34 for 1st grade) of English education for 1st through 4th graders and 70 hours for 5th and 6th graders.
The main emphasis on primary school English in Takasaki is communication; students are actively encouraged to listen to authentic English and express themselves to their peers. In order to achieve this, Mayor Tomioka pushed to increase the number of Assistant Language Teachers in the city.
Commonly referred to as ALTs, they are native English speakers hired from abroad to come and assist Japanese teachers during English class. Takasaki employs many ALTs through
The JET Program. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Takasaki had at least 1 ALT assigned to every primary and middle school in the city. The Takasaki Board of Education claims that Takasaki was the first in all of Japan to have English lessons starting in 1st grade, to have English twice a week for older students, and to assign at least 1 ALT to every school.
In 2014, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (also abbreviated as MEXT) acknowledged the need to increase students' English ability in order to succeed globally.
In 2016, MEXT then designated Takasaki as a pilot city to test out upcoming changes to the nationwide English curriculum; the changes were modeled after the existing Takasaki curriculum. It was decided that the changes would officially begin in stages; primary schools would adapt the new curriculum nationwide in 2020, middle schools in 2021, and secondary schools in 2022.
In 2019, MEXT did a survey to see how both primary and middle school students were performing in all subjects at the prefectural level. It was found that students in Gunma Prefecture placed in the top 6 prefectures across all subjects, and for the first time tied with Tokyo for first place in English.
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 ...
–
Hokuriku Shinkansen
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 ...
–
Jōetsu Shinkansen
*
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 ...
–
Takasaki Line,
Shōnan-Shinjuku Line,
Ueno-Tokyo Line
* - -
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 ...
–
Jōetsu Line
* - -
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 ...
–
Shinetsu Main Line
* - -
Jōshin Dentetsu
* - - - - - - - - -
Highway
* – Takasaki-Tamamura Smart Interchange – Takasaki Junction – Takasaki Interchange – Maebashi Interchange
* – Yoshii Interchange
* – Takasaki Junction
*
*
*
*
*
Local attractions
*
Haruna Shrine
*
Lake Haruna
*
Minowa Castle
*
Mount Haruna
*
The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma
*
Shorinzan Daruma Temple
*The sound of a ''
suikinkutsu'' in the Suikintei Garden of former Yoshii town is designated as one of the
100 Soundscapes of Japan by the
Ministry of the Environment
*
Takasaki Byakue Dai-Kannon, the 10th largest Kannon statue in Japan
*
Takasaki Castle
Events
*Kannonyama Candle Festival
* Takasaki Festival & Fireworks
*Takasaki Film Festival
*Takasaki Marching Festival
King of Pasta
Gunma is one of the leading producers of wheat in all of Japan.
As such, dishes that utiliize wheat flour play in important role in local food culture. Takasaki is said to have many pasta shops per capita and in recent years has been called the pasta town.
Since 2009, Takasaki has held an annual competition called King of Pasta; citizens can buy mini portions of pasta dishes from participating restaurants and vote for the best one.
Sport
*
Arte Takasaki -
football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
club
Sister cities
Takasaki is
twinned with:
*
Battle Creek,
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
, United States, since 1981
*
Muntinlupa,
Metro Manila
Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...
, Philippines, since 2006
*
Plzeň
Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...
, Czech Republic, since 1990
*
Santo André,
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
, Brazil, since 1981
Friendship cities
*
Chengde,
Hebei
Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
, China, since 1987
*
Kanazawa
is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture in central Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was .
Etymology
The name "Kanazaw ...
,
Ishikawa, Japan, since 2008
Notable people
*
Takeo Fukuda, former
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 ...
*
Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan
*
Yutaka Higuchi, musician (
Buck-Tick)
*
Kyosuke Himuro, musician (
Boøwy)
*
Tomoyasu Hotei, musician (Boøwy)
*
Fujio Masuoka, inventor of
flash memory
Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...
*
Kanai Mieko (born in Takasaki 1947), writer
*
Hirofumi Nakasone,
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
*
Yasuhiro Nakasone, former Prime Minister of Japan
*
Kiyoshi Ogawa, Imperial Japanese Navy kamikaze pilot
*
Hakubun Shimomura, politician
* German architect
Bruno Taut lived for some time in Takasaki
*
Kenji Tsukagoshi, navigator and aviator
*
Toll Yagami, musician (
Buck-Tick)
Singaporean actress
Jeanette Aw became an official PR ambassador for the city after starring in
Ramen Teh, which was set and filmed in Takasaki.
References
External links
Official Website
{{Authority control
Cities in Gunma Prefecture
Takasaki, Gunma