260px, Chiba Gas LNG storage tank in Tomisato 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 49,914 in 23,753 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 930 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Tomisato is located in the northern center of Chiba prefecture, about 25 kilometers from the prefectural capital at Chiba, and 50 to 60 kilometers from central Tokyo. It is also within 5 kilometers of

Narita International Airport , also known as Tokyo-Narita International Airport or simply Narita Airport, formerly and originally known as , is the secondary international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the only other one being Haneda Airport (HND). It is about e ...

Neighboring municipalities

Chiba Prefecture * Narita * Sanmu * Shibayama * Shisui * Yachimata

Climate

Tomisato 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 Tomisato is 14.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1475 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Tomisato population statistics
/ref> the population of Tomisato has recently plateaued after several decades of strong 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 ...

, Tomisato was part of

Shimōsa Province was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture as well as the bordering parts of Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo (the parts that used to be located east of the lower reaches of the old Tone River prior to the ...

and was an area where 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 ...

had numerous ranches for raising horse. 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 ...

, Tomisato Village was founded on April 1, 1889 within Inba District, Chiba Prefecture with the establishment of the modern municipalities system, and the government encouraged the settlement of the area by farmers. During the 1960s and 1970s, the village was the center of the

Sanrizuka Struggle The Sanrizuka Struggle (三里塚闘争, ''Sanrizuka tōsō'') is a series of civil conflicts and riots involving the Government of Japan, Japanese government and the agricultural community of Sanrizuka, comprising organised opposition by farme ...

against the construction of the Narita International Airport. After then airport was completed, the population of the village grew rapidly. On April 1, 1985 it was elevated to town status, and later was elevated to city status on April 1, 2002.

Government

Tomisato 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 18 members. Tomisato 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

Tomisato is a regional commercial center whose economy is primarily agricultural. About 68% or more of the area is forest and farmland, and about 14% is residential area. The main crops are rice and watermelons. The city is also 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 workers at Narita Airport, with a commuting rate to Narita city of 27.5% (2010 census).

Education

Tomisato has eight public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

Tomisato itself is not currently served by passenger railway stations. The Narita Railway Company's Yachimata Line operated from 1914 to 1940. However, Narita Station and Keisei Narita Station in central Narita are both adjacent the Tomisato border.